Maya Marketplace at Maax Na, Belize + 189 goods into the center for non-food producers could easily have been ac- complished with systems of tribute. For Beals, markets offered an efficient way to move goods and services across both distances and all levels of so- ciety. In modern markets, there is certainly some profit skimmed off by an elite, but for the most part, there are small increments of profit made by producers, specialized marketers, transporters, professional long-distance traders, and even stockpilers who hold goods until the price increases. While all this is certainly easier in an economy with currency, it does not rule out that an economic system that is both efficient and flexible could have worked well with a mix of currency and barter.‘ For instance, Feinman et al. (1984) make a similar argument for the emergence of markets in the first millennium B.C.E. in the Valley of Oaxaca, where the efficiency of centralized markets compensated for the intensification of the agricultural system Ethnographic accounts confirm that there were many more people involved in markets than just producers and consumers. Walter Little (2004a), who worked primarily with Kaqchikel market venders in high- land Guatemala, describes various market service trades—such as those that carry heavy loads, buy goods to resell in other locations, or store goods overnight for a fee. All transactions are small in cost, but at each point in this trajectory, non-producers are making small profits that can add to the final cost of a product. Scott Cook (1976) reports that in modern Oaxaca the people called regatén, who buy from the producers and then sell in do not make large profits but are able to make a living for their families, and often these families do not own agricultural land. It is actu- ally more efficient for the producers to focus only on production and to let someone else worry about marketing the goods. But Cook (1976:162) also notes that, at least for the metate producers he focused on in Oaxaca, many producers still prefer going to the market to sell at least some of their goods, primarily so they can be involved in the social activity that the marketplace provides. The existence of multiple participants in a market, each with some- thing to gain, is supported by ethnohistoric accounts of Maya marketplaces (King, this vol.). The Spanish wrote about numerous types of vendors, from long-distance to local traders and from merchants in specialized goods to producers selling items they manufactured themselves, The ethnohistory: also emphasizes the centrality of marketing in Maya life, whether in the Alta Verapaz or the Yucatan (King, this vol.). As Las Casas (1958:353) notes, it was a way for people of all walks of life to supply themselves with necessities. It was also a way for them to get together, socialize, and take190 + Shaw and King care of other business (Hutson 2000; King, this vol.; Shaw 2012; Stanish and Coben 2013). In short, contemporary and historic accounts tell us that efficiency, flexibility, and information exchange are inherent in markets. Marketers themselves are actually specialists in certain types of information. They know where producers are located (often widely distributed across the landscape) and where the demands for the products are. They also know how to move goods from one place to another. The need for this type of knowledge becomes more acute as more and more people become in- volved. Increasing complexity of trade and exchange and the emergence of specialized marketers could thus be predicted to go along with the pop- ulation increase documented for the Late Classic in both the central and eastern lowlands (Culbert and Rice 1990; King and Shaw 2003). This, in turn, might have led to greater structural otganization of market space, with the addition of such features as storage facilities or permanent stalls. Early market systems, perhaps during the Late Pres ssic or Early Classic periods, might not have needed much more than open plaza spaces to set up for periodic markets (cf, Speal 2014), with the exception of places like Chunchuemil, which early on had to rely on food and other goods that could not be produced in its impoverished environment (Dahlin 2009; Dahlin and Ardren 2002). With increased population, however, would come a growing need for better management of information and goods across the Maya area. Producers would be spread throughout the large residential zones. Greater community or regional specialization in pro- duction, suggested for the Late Classic by pottery and lithic studies (Ball 1993; Fry 1969; Hester and Shafer 1984, 1994; King 2000; Potter and King 1995; Rands 1964, 1967, 1974; P. Rice 1987; Shafer and Hester 1983, 1986, 1991; L. Sullivan and Sagebiel 2003; L. Sullivan etal. 2014), would create further need for the efficient movement of goods from one place to another. Competition for farming land might also have fueled the rise of specialized marketing as an occupation for the landless. Increased com- plexity in exchange would presumably lead to greater complexity in the physical space of the marketplace. While the large plazas in Maya sites may long have been locations for trade, the needs of specialized marketers moving large quantities of goods that had to be stockpiled and dispersed strategically (King, this vol ; Little 2004a) would have promoted the devel- opment of more permanent market fixtures. It may be no wonder, then, that marketplaces are most detectable in the Late Classic. While these ideas remain to be tested against further archaeological evidence, they provide a plausible framework for the development of192 + Shaw and King crossroads for religious, agricultural, and specialized craft activities would have made it a convenient choice for inhabitants and visitors alike intent on taking care of several types of business. Its location at the head of the La Lucha Bajo and near resource-specialized communities in the region would have made it even more attractive to potential vendors and buyers alike. While the market may well have existed from the beginning of site de- velopmentin the Late Preclassic / Early Classic, it saw its full fluorescence in the Late Classic with the addition of specialized structures to create an enclosed space dedicated to marketing. The placement of a monument in the road at the main entrance to the Maax Na market plaza signals the dif ference between that specialized space and other parts of the site. Internal spatial differences within the market hintat further functional variability Ashrine testifies to religious rituals associated with the space; differences in the buildings and access to them suggest parts of the market or, at least, of the market plaza were more restricted than others. The presence of specialized architectural features such as a judging stand / administrative building and rooms whose size is consistent with market stalls conforms. to models of Maya markets that we are beginning to develop from ethno- history and archaeology. The existence of differences in the distribution of macroartifacts in the plaza, specifically lithies, and the hint of subtle variations in soil chemistry all contribute to the picture of a complex, dif- ferentiated marketplace. Clearly, there is more work that remains to be done at the site to test our nterpretations. Similarly, more investigation is needed throughout the Maya area and beyond to test some of the proposed correlations that link behavior and place. Nonetheless, the research carried out to date, both at Maax Na and at other sites (as witness this volume) strongly supports the existence of a vibrant market system among the ancient Maya that long stem. Tt also suggests how that market system evolved. We are proposing that an increase in complexity in Maya regional economies, due to a dense and varied population, was linked to the emergence of specialized marketers, primarily in the Late Classic period. The logistical needs of the marketers led to some of the key features now argued to be market indicators, particularly stalls/stor- age units, such as those identified at Maax Na. Markets would likely have operated earlier, but with producers selling goods in large, multipurpose plazas. As time went on and centralized markets became an important component of economic exchange, an efficient system developed to ben- efit all members of society. This change no doubt happened earlier in pre-dated the better-known Postelassic sy