256 MARK L. LAWALL
( 2006 ; 2008 ), am I trying to use the paradigm of the bazaar to make sense of
ancient society as a whole.Markets
Recent archaeological approaches to market economies define market
exchange as those institutionalized transactions shaped by both social inter-
actions and self-interested rationalities, in which the factors of supply and
demand influence relative prices, quantities, and qualities of the commodities
that are available (Garraty 2010 : 5–8; Feinman and Garraty 2010 : 170–2; Ossa
2013 : 3). The effectiveness of supply and demand in shaping market behavior
and influencing prices depends both on the extent to which such condi-
tions are known to the actors and on some degree of free competition and
choice. Under such conditions, then, prices themselves can become a shortcut
to information about the economic qualities of products and help shape the
preferences of buyers and sellers. Distributions of marketed goods over a site
should depend primarily on households’ purchasing abilities and far less on
the social status of households (Hirth 1998 ). This definition separates the mar-
ket as a behavioral concept from the marketplace as one possible, indeed quite
effective, physical manifestation of the institutionalized nature of the market
(Garraty 2010 : 9–10). Each element of this conception of markets lends itself
to further elaboration, illustrating the range of behaviors and range of motiva-
tions, actions, and outcomes that can all be encompassed within this definition.Institutionalized Social Interactions
Markets are part of the broader social system, shaped by and shaping social
institutions, and involving social interactions between buyers and sellers.
Harvey and colleagues, in a recent volume on markets and institutions, out-
line a very useful model for situating markets in society without assuming the
socio-economic primacy of the market (Harvey and Randles 2010 ; Coriat
and Weinstein 2010 ). The starting point is the ‘bargaining transaction’ – any
exchange based on a mutually acceptable price and acceptable conditions.
How the transaction occurs, whether through reading a price tag and paying
the cashier or haggling up and down or some other means, is entirely open.
People come to the role of buyer or seller by any number of different paths,
motivations, needs, choices, and so on. Behind the sellers are activities creating
the supply; behind the buyers are activities creating demand. Within all three
areas – supply, transaction, and demand – repeated actions can create, change,
or even destroy supporting institutions. Such institutions may be overtly and
directly economic, that is, directly contributing to the exchange of goods,
or they may be indirectly related and more properly situated in the social or