Lithic Economies and Community Organization at La Laguna, Tlaxcala

Abstract

1 AbstractSite wide, assemblage based lithic analyses help to elucidate community dynamics including variability in domestic economies, technological skill and decision making, exchange networks, and ritual practices. In this study we present the results of an analysis of over 36,000 lithic artifacts from the site of La Laguna, Tlaxcala. We compare Middle/Late Formative period (ca. 600-400 B.C.) and Terminal Formative period (ca. 100 B.C.-A.D. 150) deposits to examine transformations associated with urbanization and state formation during this interval. The residents of La Laguna had relatively equal and ample access to obsidian, and most production was organized independently by households. We identify blade production zones and variability in consumption patterns suggestive of different domestic, communal, and ceremonial activities.The introduction of bloodletters, elaborate large bifacial knives, and zoomorphic eccentrics to the Terminal Formative assemblage may indicate the emergence of higher statuses, new social roles, and militaristic symbolism during this period.2 Lithic studies play a prominent role in reconstructions of ancient Mesoamerican domestic and ritual economies. Although analyses commonly employ data recovered from a particular site to evaluate macroregional trade and political economy models, site-based lithic assemblages are also of significant value in the analysis of intra-community dynamics (e.g. Hirth 2006). Analysis of lithic assemblages at the community level permits assessment of variability in household activities; the organization, technology, and sequencing of production; and the use of space within sites and particular structures

Stone Tool Functions, Household Activities, and Formative Lithic Economies in Northern Tlaxcala, Mexico

“…and 100 b.c.-a.d. 150)-to help develop microeconomic views of lithic economies in the central highlands. This investigation of 275 artifacts subjected to high-magnification use-wear analysis, coupled with results from previous technological and chemical sourcing studies (Carballo 2004(Carballo , 2009Walton and Carballo 2016) reveals several major findings. First, residents employed a multifunctional tool-use approach with blades manufactured from Mesa Central obsidian sources.…”

“…This model for an increasing scale of blade production in connection with more spatial restriction of the activity at Loma Torremote is supported by a contrasting model in northern Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley, where a different set of conditions lead to different testable expectations for the organization of domestic lithic production. The smaller and lower populated sites of Amomoloc, Tetel, Las Mesitas, and La Laguna were located farther from obsidian sources and regional exchange systems and settlement patterns were relatively dispersed, which created scenarios where all households provisioned themselves and independently conducted lithic production (Walton and Carballo 2016). Resource accumulation strategies shifted away from local cherts and Sierra Madre Oriental obsidian sources toward the use of Mesa Central obsidian sources and fewer raw material sources around 600 b.c.…”

Hongshan households and communities in Neolithic northeastern China

“…It is no accident that the speculative comparisons we are able to make for Hongshan societies feature Mesoamerica and the southeastern U.S.-two regions where our knowledge derives from a multipronged archaeology focused on households and communities that combines attention to elaborate burials and monumental architecture and public works with reconstruction of village life based on residential structures as well as systematic analysis of household artifact assemblages (e.g. Drennan 1976;Welch 1991;Santley and Hirth, eds., 1993;Wilson 2008;Knight 2016;Olson and Smith 2016;Walton and Carballo 2016). probably for communal activities (right).…”

The Household Functions of Obsidian Tools From the Early–middle Formative Village of Altica, Mexico

“…Population growth in central Mexico during the late Middle and early Late Formative periods led to regional urbanism and state formation, and these processes helped to provide consumers in the region with wider access to more refined tools created by obsidian knappers who innovated and improved their skills levels (Blanton et al 2005;Carballo 2016;Carballo et al 2007;De León et al 2009;Walton 2017). Due to this increasing demand fueled mostly by independent consumers (Hirth et al 2013), obsidian tool forms such as pressure blades, ritual bloodletters, ceremonial eccentrics, unifacial scrapers, bifacial knives, bifacial dart points, and lapidary products largely replaced expedient percussion technologies.…”

“…Due to this increasing demand fueled mostly by independent consumers (Hirth et al 2013), obsidian tool forms such as pressure blades, ritual bloodletters, ceremonial eccentrics, unifacial scrapers, bifacial knives, bifacial dart points, and lapidary products largely replaced expedient percussion technologies. Over the course of pre-Hispanic occupation in central Mexico, these tool forms were increasingly used for specialized tasks with certain materials, rather than multiple activities with different materials (Carballo 2011, 2012, 2016; Otis Charlton 1993; Pastrana and Carballo 2017; Walton 2017, 2020; Walton and Carballo 2016). Within this diachronic framework, this usewear study investigating the rural villagers of Early–Middle Formative Altica helps us to understand that their close proximity to an obsidian source as well as other sites that were exploiting it (Healan 2019) greatly impacted their decision to widely adopt a unifunctional tool-use approach rather than a multifunctional tool-use approach.…”