Microwear Analysis in the Southeast Maya Lowlands: Two Case Studies at Copan, Honduras

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Aoyama
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Microwear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Lithic Artifacts ◽  
Marine Shell

Based on the results of 267 replication experiments with obsidian, chalcedony, and agate tools conducted with a range of working materials, I have classified use-wear patterns using Keeley's high-resolution approach to establish a framework for interpretation of stone-tool use. This paper describes the results of microwear analysis of two assemblages of lithic artifacts from the late Late Classic period (A. D. 763-850) at Copán, western Honduras, and shows how the use-wear data can be interpreted within the archaeological contexts and help to investigate how ancient complex societies functioned as well as how and why they changed. Microwear analysis of chipped-stone artifacts collected in front of Structure 10L-16 and artifacts from Structure 10L-22A show clear differences between the two assemblages. In accordance with the archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence, the low use-intensity of chipped stone from the first structure could have originated from special use such as ritual, production of marine shell ornaments, etc., during the reign of Yax Pac. Marine shell craft production may have been carried out by members of the royal family or attached specialists serving the ruler. The relatively high use-intensity observable in the second assemblage may reinforce the hypothesis that the building was a Classic Maya popol na (council house) in which feasts or banquets were prepared. If this was the case, use-wear data might support epigraphic and iconographic evidence that suggests the weakening and eventual demise of centralized political authority at Copán in the ninth century.

Lithic Workshops Revisited: Comments on Moholy-Nagy

1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Hester ◽  
Harry J. Shafer
Keyword(s):  
Reliable Indicator ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
A Site ◽  
Regional Settlement

Moholy-Nagy (1990) has argued that concentrations of chipped-stone debitage from mesoamerican sites, including Colhá, Belize, represent dumps and not workshops as we have suggested (Shafer and Hester 1983, 1986). She emphasizes microdebitage as the most reliable indicator of workshop location. Her argument is supported by the use of ethnoarchaeological accounts of debitage deposition from stone- and glass-artifact manufacture. Our alternative view is that microdebitage is only one of several criteria for identifying the loci of intensive stone-tool making. The Colhá data are also used to demonstrate variability in behaviors related to the formation of debitage deposits and the visibility of workshop activity. We contend that identifying precise manufacturing loci is less important than assessing the overall scale of production at a site and that site"s role in regional settlement systems.

Testing the Producer-Consumer Model for Santa Rita Corozal, Belize

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Dockall ◽  
Harry J. Shafer
Keyword(s):  
Second Order ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Craft Specialization ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Exchange System ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Consumer Model ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Technological Analysis

The consumer aspect of stone-tool manufacture is an important factor for lithic studies concerned with craft specialization and exchange systems. The dynamic nature of stone-tool production/exchange/use systems can be understood through a technological analysis of producer site assemblages and a functional and technological examination of consumer sites. Chipped-stone assemblages from the producer site of Colhá, Belize, and the consumer site of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize, indicate opposing but interdependent roles within the same exchange system. Preclassic formal tools such as the oval biface and stemmed macroblade were manufactured at workshops in Colhá and exhibit a high degree of specialization and standardization in manufacture. These formal tools were then exchanged beyond the chert-bearing zone of northern Belize to consumer sites such as Santa Rita. Once these formal tools entered the consumption sphere they were used, broken, discarded, or recycled into a variety of second-order expedient tools.

Square pegs into round holes: a critique of Neeley & Barton

Antiquity ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (267) ◽  
pp. 130-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nigel Goring-Morris
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
The Past ◽  
Functional Factors

The Levantine Epipalaeolithic, c. 20,000–10,000 BP, represents one of the most intensively studied periods in prehistoric research in the past 30 years, with literally hundreds of sites being discovered and many systematically investigated. The researchers involved come from a diverse range of backgrounds and national 'schools', and include American, Australian, British, French and Israeli scholars. Some, myself included, see its variability in chipped stone tool morphology, techniques of manufacture and specific means of hafting to reflect, in addition to functional factors, the stylistic traditions of specific groups in the landscape (Bar-Yosef 1991a; Goring-Morris 1987; 1995). This evidence is further bolstered by chrono-stratigraphy, settlement patterns, inter- and intra-site organization and patterning, as well as other material culture residues (Goring-Morris 1989a; 1989b; 1991).

Cascade Phase Lithic Technology: An Example from the Lower Snake River

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Andrefsky
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Technological Characteristics ◽  
Major River ◽  
River Drainages

Chipped stone artifact data from several Cascade phase sites located on the lower Snake River are analyzed to evaluate lithic technological characteristics of the early Cascade phase. Interpretations based upon the stone tool assemblages suggest traditional generalizations about the early Cascade phase require some rethinking. Specifically, tool type and debitage type analysis indicate that early Cascade phase settlement organization was not necessarily oriented to a local riverine setting, rather, early Cascade phase populations were highly mobile and visited major river drainages during only part of an annual cycle. Analysis of lithic raw material shows that early Cascade phase populations prefer nonlocally available cryptocrystalline cherts and fine grained basalt for production of refined tools such as projectile points and that locally available coarse grained basalts were primarily used to make nonportable situational gear.

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