and evidence of extensive trade routes indicates the existence
of local and long-distance merchants.
Preclassic Period (ca. 1500 b.c.e.–ca. 150 c.e.) occupa-
tions centered on farming and craft specialization for the
creation of ritual objects, monumental architecture, and his-
torical stone monuments. In Maya culture, beginning about
600 b.c.e., the nobility were oft en scribes, since writing was
an elite occupation. In addition to functioning as scribes,
Maya elites were also artists. Rulers commissioned historical
and mythological sculptural programs in the form of stelae
(standing stone slabs). Specialized carvers, builders, and plas-
ter workers were needed to create structures and their asso-
ciated decoration. Like the Olmec, the Maya also employed
skilled jade workers to create ritual objects as well as painters
to produce elaborate murals and painted ceramics.
Th e rise of the fi rst sites with monumental architectural,
such as the platform mound of the Huaca de los Idolos (3000
b.c.e.), a late Preceramic Period (ca. 3000–ca. 1800 b.c.e.) site
situated on the coast of present-day Peru, signals a shift from
small, simple groups to more complex types of social organi-
zation. Th e construction of monumental architecture refl ects
a substantial investment of human labor along with the social
structure and leadership to oversee such construction. Th e
lack of sumptuous burials, however, also points to collective
labor and communal societies. Coastal sites such as these de-
pended on marine resources, such as fi sh and shellfi sh; ag-
riculture; and long-distance trade. Dependence on marine
resources also required textile workers to produce nets and
fi shing lines. Th is early specialization was connected to the
development of a Peruvian textile tradition whose achieve-
ments would become almost unparalleled in human history.
Th e development of large agriculturally based societies
did not begin until much later, in the Early Horizon Period
(ca. 800–ca. 200 b.c.e.). Th e Chavín culture, the fi rst of the
great Andean civilizations, was established in the Peruvian
highlands. Centered at the site of Chavín de Huántar, its
distinctive style was disseminated throughout the Andean
region. Chavín art drew upon various sacred sites for its re-
ligious iconography, which synthesized earlier traditions.
Artistic specialists, including textile artists, gold workers
(metallurgists), and ceramic artists, were employed to cre-
ate Chavín’s unique cultural program. Its ritual iconography
indicates the importance of the shaman, an occupation that
would continue to be prominent in Andean society. Burial
caches provide evidence of distinct elite burials that indicate
the stratifi cation of society and give evidence of craft special-
ists to provide funerary off erings.
During the Early Intermediate Period (ca. 200 b.c.e.–ca.
500 c.e.) further specialization in ceramics, textiles, and gold
work is apparent in the artistic production of such southern
coastal cultures as Paracas (ca. 600–ca.200 b.c.e.) and Nazca
(c a. 1–c a .70 0 c.e.). Th ese coastal farmers and fi shermen pro-
duced time-consuming works for burials. Th ese exquisite fu-
nerary goods refl ect their high value and an increased level of
skill from fi ber artists, potters, and metallurgists. Th e items
were deposited in elaborate burials that included mummies
wrapped in dozens of textiles and accompanied by numer-
ous ceramics and gold objects. Th e variety of these burial
caches refl ects the social hierarchy of the Early Intermedi-
ate Period. Th e image of the shaman (a religious practitioner
and healer), which becomes more prominent in Paracas and
early Nazca art, probably refl ects the high social status of
this occupation.See also agriculture; architecture; art; astronomy;
building techniques and materials; ceramics and pot-
tery; children; climate and geography; clothing and
footwear; crafts; economy; education; employment
and labor; food and diet; foreigners and barbarians;
gender structures and roles; government organiza-
tion; health and disease; household goods; hunting,
fishing, and gathering; literature; metallurgy; mili-
tary; mining, quarrying, and salt making; music and
musical instruments; nomadic and pastoral societ-
ies; religion and cosmology; ships and shipbuilding;
slaves and slavery; social organization; textiles and
needlework; trade and exchange; weights and mea-
sures; writing.FURTHER READING
James N. Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes: Th e Consuming Pas-
sions of Classical Athens (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997).
Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt (London: British Museum
Press, 1993).
Serge Sauneron, Th e Priests of Ancient Egypt (London: Cornell Uni-
versity Press, 2000).
Malcolm Todd, Everyday Life of the Barbarians: Goths, Franks, and
Va n d a l s (London: B. T. Batsford, 1972).
Ruth Tringham, Hunters, Fishers, and Farmers of Eastern Europe
6000–3000 b.c. (London: Hutchinson, 1971).
G. P. F. Van den Boorn, Th e Duties of the Vizier: Civil Administra-
tion in the Early New Kingdom (London: Kegan Paul, 1988).
Barbara Watterson, Women in Ancient Egypt (Stroud, U.K.: Sutton,
1998).818 occupations: further reading