Expedient lithic technology in complex sedentary societies: Use-wear, flake size, and edge angle on debitage from two ancient Maya sites

Archaic Period Lithic Technology, Sedentism, and Subsistence in Northern Belize: What Can Debitage at Caye Coco and Fred Smith Tell Us?

“…Lithic use-wear evidence for hunting, butchery, and consumption of animals is present at preceramic Crawford Bank/Crooked Tree (Stemp and Harrison-Buck 2019) and at ancient Maya sites (Aoyama 1999, 2009; Lewenstein 1987; Stemp 2001, Stemp et al 2010, 2021); however, neither Caye Coco nor Fred Smith yielded any stone tools with use-wear consistent with contact with meat/skin/fresh hide. There is also minimal evidence for hide-scraping and bone/antler-working, which is generally associated with hunter-gatherer campsites (Moore et al 2016:144).…”

“…It is assumed that the use of expedient tools relied on ready access to raw material, either through planned stockpiling or proximity to a reliable source (Andrefsky 1994; Nelson 1991:64; Parry and Kelly 1987). Ethnographic support for reduced residential mobility based on lithic technology at Caye Coco and Fred Smith can be demonstrated by semi-sedentary or sedentary populations who made substantial use of expedient technology consisting of informal, minimally shaped, minimally retouched/unretouched, and unhafted (or simply hafted) tools that were intended for immediate use and were used for short amounts of time (e.g., Gallagher 1977; Shott and Sillitoe 2005; Sillitoe and Hardy 2003; see also Stemp et al 2021; Vaquero and Romagnoli 2018). Only a few flakes from Caye Coco and Fred Smith were retouched, and there is no evidence that debitage was hafted, although some of the crude bifaces and unifaces were.…”

“…The selection of long flakes may be associated with a longer working edge on flakes used for longitudinal motions. It is also likely that longer and wider unhafted flakes were easier to hold, manipulate, and apply pressure than smaller ones (King 2018; Sillitoe and Hardy 2003:559; Stemp et al 2021; see also Gould 1977, 1980; Gould et al 1971; Hayden and Nelson 1981).…”

“…Most of the debitage has not undergone detailed analysis. Because debitage can reveal so much about the activities at archaeological sites (e.g., Aoyama 1999, 2009; Lewenstein 1987; Stemp 2001; Stemp et al 2010, 2021), we examine the chipped chert debitage from the island site of Caye Coco and the shore site of Fred Smith to assess strategies of raw material procurement, tool production, and tool use as a way to evaluate sedentism and subsistence practices.…”

Lithic Analysis of Andean Sedentary Societies: A Case Study from the Chachapoyas Region, Peru, and Potential Applications

“…Like most lithic analytical methods, use-wear studies were originally developed for use on assemblages generated by hunter-gatherers (Keeley and Newcomer 1977; Odell and Odell-Vereecken 1980). Elsewhere in the world, use-wear analysis has occasionally been employed in the study of sedentary groups’ tools, including obsidian and other lithic tools of the Maya (Aoyama 1995; Stemp et al 2010, 2019, 2021; Walton 2019), and of harvesting tools such as sickles and threshing sledges in the Near East (Anderson and Chabot 2001; Manclossi and Rosen 2019). In the Andes, however, there are few such studies, and they mainly have been of hunter-gatherer societies such as the preceramic period Ñanchoc Valley (Dillehay and Rossen 2000; see also Nesbitt et al 2019).…”