Evidence for Maya Household Subsistence and Domestic Activities: Use-Wear Analysis of the Chipped Chert Assemblage from Pook’s Hill, Belize

Stemp, W. James; Helmke, Christophe; Awe, Jaime J.

doi:10.1179/009346910x12707321520558

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The use-wear on the debitage is similar to that associated with subsistence and domestic activities at surface sites (Lewenstein, 1987;Sievert, 1992, p. 30 , Table 4.1; Stemp, 2001;Stemp et al, 2010). We therefore believe that most tool use first occurred outside the rockshelter, in association with basic subsistence and domestic tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The reliance on unmodified chert flakes and their usewear patterns suggest similarities to assemblages used in domestic activities at some surface sites in which there is an emphasis on wood (Lewenstein 1987;Stemp 2001;Stemp et al 2010). It is also possible that use-wear indicating contact with wood or plants might be the result of ritual activity or the production of ceremonial items (e.g., Morehart, 2005;Pendergast, 1974;Prufer et al, 2003;Sharon, 2003).…”

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, the use of debitage for the completion of many tasks and the kinds of motions and contact materials are consistent with subsistence and other utilitarian, domestic tasks that would be undertaken by the Maya in their daily lives (Lewenstein, 1987;Stemp, 2001;Stemp et al, 2010). Although the high percentage of tools with meat, bone, and hide polish might support some interpretations that ceremonial or ritual butchery or sacrifice of animals occurred in DVR1 (see Sievert, 1992, p. 40-41 , Table 4.4), few faunal remains, with the exception of jute shells, were recovered within the rockshelter.…”

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Use-wear analysis indicates that debitage was used for a fairly wide variety of tasks (Table 3). This observation has been made by use-wear analysts who have examined debitage from other Maya sites (e.g., Aoyama, 2009;Lewenstein, 1987;Stemp, 2001;Stemp et al, 2010).…”

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tool use for the lithic artifacts from Deep Valley Rockshelter was determined following a program of microscopic use-wear analysis similar to that used by Stemp (2001;Stemp et al, 2010Stemp et al, , 2013 for assemblages from other Maya sites. It involves both the low-power (403) and high-power (100 to 4003) microscopic examination of tool surfaces for edge-chipping, striations, and polishes related to human use.…”

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Ancientg Maya Stone Tools and Ritual Use of Deep Valley Rockshelter, Belize

Stemp¹,

Wrobel²,

Haley³

et al. 2015

JCKS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper discusses the technological and microscopic use-wear analyses of the chert debitage excavated from Deep Valley Rockshelter. This rockshelter, located in the Caves Branch River Valley of central Belize, was primarily used by the ancient Maya from the Late Preclassic to Terminal Classic periods and may demonstrate a pattern of rockshelter usage by the Classic period Maya. To test whether such a pattern exists, lithic data from Caves Branch Rockshelter and other rockshelters in Belize, specifically those in the Sibun Valley and the Ek Xux Valley, are compared. Interpretations are complicated, however, by the severe mixing of deposits, which makes segregating the lithic artifacts into different reduction or use events nearly impossible. Moreover, this mixing severely hampers reconstructions of diachronic change in stone-tool use in the rockshelter. While acknowledging these limitations, our analysis suggests that the lithics in the rockshelter are primarily the result of reduction and use-related activities that originally occurred at other nearby surface sites rather than in the rockshelter itself. Consequently, the chipped-stone artifacts recovered from this rockshelter most likely result from secondary deposition of debitage for ritual purposes and represent accumulation over many years. We suspect this type of secondary deposition of debitage was also occurring at other rockshelters in Belize, based on comparisons to the chipped stone assemblages from these locations. We cannot discount the possibility that some stone tool production and use may have originally occurred in Deep Valley Rockshelter, but support for this is minimal.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations