A Technological Typology of Prismatic Blades and Debitage From Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

A technological typology for the description and analysis of Mesoamerican obsidian industries is proposed, and its relative merits vis-à-vis Sheets's (1975a) “behavioral” typology are briefly explored. The typology is used to classify and describe a pristine deposit of obsidian-blade refuse recovered from the Early Classic Maya site of Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico. Analysis of this deposit revealed that the obsidian artifacts were manufacturing refuse resulting from the production of fine prismatic blades from polyhedral cores imported from highland Guatemala. The obsidian refuse was recovered from a workshop dump rather than from an actual workshop.

Prismatic Blade Production in the Lower Cacaulapa Valley, Honduras: Implications for a Late Classic Political Economy

“…All of the material was classified using a behavioral or technological typology (Clark 1997;Clark and Bryant 1997;Sheets 1975). This scheme classifies artifacts by their method of manufacture and is well suited for revealing the structure of lithic industries.…”

“…Nevertheless, there are a few common procedures that addressed recurring problems in reducing prismatic cores (Clark 1997;Clark and Bryant 1997;Crabtree 1968). These steps include platform rejuvenation, correction of blade removal errors, removal of inclusions, and platform preparation, all of which were identified in the Site PVC162 assemblage.…”

Lithic Economies and Community Organization at La Laguna, Tlaxcala

“…The full PALL lithic collection (n= 36,546) was analyzed using a technological framework that mixes elements of those developed by Clark and Bryant (1997) and Hirth and Flenniken (2006). As noted by Odell (2000), technological approaches to lithic analysis have the The two most common types of errors were overshot blades and hinge fractures on cores.…”

Ritual Use of Obsidian from Maya Caves in Belize: A Functional and Symbolic Analysis

“…In Mesoamerica, raw obsidian was transformed into prismatic blades through a series of variable production stages (Clark and Bryant 1997;Sheets 1975) that could occur across considerable units of space and time (see Healan 2009). While chunks of obsidian were typically reduced into macro-cores at or near the quarry, the successive steps, including further reduction to polyhedral core and actual blade making, often occurred elsewhere (e.g., Cobean 2002:151;Pastrana 2002:22-24).…”