Microwear Analysis in the Maya Lowlands: The Use of Functional Data in a Complex-Society Setting

Aldenderfer, Mark; Kimball, Larry R.; Sievert, April K

doi:10.1179/jfa.1989.16.1.47

Cited by 57 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Both of the lapidary tools were found in the elite community adjacent to the major center of Yaxha, the premier political entity in this portion of the central Peten lakes region during the Late Classic (Aldenderfer 1991b;Aldenderfer, Kimball, and Sievert 1989). Furthermore, they were associated with scraps of broken and cut jadestone, and the Yaxha community is the only one in the surveyed basins that had this material.…”

Section: Tool Forms and Microwear Data From The Central Peten Lakes Rmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…It is possible that this tool served in a specialist context if the microtraces on the dorsal surface are indicative of hafting. It is important to note, however, that this tool was found within an elite community context along with the macrodrill and other tools interpreted as wood wedges (Aldenderfer, Kimball, and Sievert 1989). This tool might be interpreted as a Late Classic "Swiss army knife," and could have served in a specialist context as a multipurpose tool used in earlier stages of work on wooden objects.…”

Section: Carpentry Specialty Toolsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…with different tool motions (drilling, piercing, scraping, whittling, etc.) (Aldenderfer, Kimball, and Sievert 1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Finally, the analysis of stone tool use from a modern perspective remains in its infancy in Maya archaeology. While scholars have speculated for years about the uses of tools found at Maya sites, it has only been within the past 10 years that more sophisticated studies of tool use have been attempted (see, for example Aldenderfer, Kimball, and Sievert 1989;Lewenstein 1987;Sievert 1990). While more Mayanists now study stone tools than ever before, few comprehensive models of stone tool use in a craft or specialist setting have been developed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This project studied the archaeological remains of a series of lakes in the central Peten, including Yaxha, Sacnab, Macanche, Salpeten, Quexil, and Petenxil ( Figure 1). Reduction sequences, tool forms, spatial variability in the distribution of reduction strategies and tool forms, and the results of a microwear analysis have been described elsewhere (Aldenderfer 1991a(Aldenderfer , 1991bAldenderfer, Kimball, and Sievert 1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Functional Evidence for Lapidary and Carpentry Craft Specialties in the Late Classic of the Central Peten Lakes Region

Aldenderfer

1991

Ancient Mesoam

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Although it has long been clear that craft specialists were present in Late Classic Lowland Maya society, it has proven difficult to identify chipped-stone lithics actually used in craft production. This article outlines a model, based on design theory, that can be used to identify the attributes of tools likely to have been used by lapidary and carpentry craft specialists, and tests it against an assemblage of tools analyzed through microwear analysis from Late Classic assemblages from the central Peten lakes region.

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Section: Tool Forms and Microwear Data From The Central Peten Lakes Rmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Carpentry Specialty Toolsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…with different tool motions (drilling, piercing, scraping, whittling, etc.) (Aldenderfer, Kimball, and Sievert 1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Functional Evidence for Lapidary and Carpentry Craft Specialties in the Late Classic of the Central Peten Lakes Region

Aldenderfer

1991

Ancient Mesoam

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Use-wear Analysis of Nonflint Lithic Raw Materials: The Cases of Quartz/Quartzite and Obsidian

Conte

Fernández

Astruc

et al. 2014

Use-Wear and Residue Analysis in Archaeology

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Recent developments in the analysis of lithic artifacts

Yerkes

Kardulias

1993

J Archaeol Res

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A review of recent research on lithic technology and functional analysis is presented. Our perception of the state of the art is based on a rev&w of the literature published during the past three years and on the topics that were covered at conferences and workshops on lithic analysis. While the goals have essentially remained the same since the turn of the century, concerns with chronology and the classification of lithic artifacts have given way to studies that treat stone implements as products of a dynamic system of human behavior. In order to understand stone artifacts and the people that made and used them, archaeologists must understand the processes involved in the acquisition, production, exchange, and consumption of lithic artifacts. In the past ten years, experimental studies involving the manufacturing and use of stone tools have been integrated with studies of refitted or conjoined lithic artifacts and microwear analysis. The result is a much more dynamic view of the variability in assemblages of lithic artifacts. In this review, we focus on replication and technological analysis of chipped stone artifacts and microwear analysis, and consider the implications of this research. KEY WORDS: lithic technology; lithic artifacts; replication experiments; microwear analysis;Old World; New World. INTRODUCTIONA century ago, W. H. Holmes (1894) described lithic analysis as the study of "the natural history of chipped stone." He noted that lithic analysts were concerned with the following: (1) determining if lithic "artifacts" were made by humans; (2) reconstructing the processes involved in acquiring 1Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1364. lithic raw material, shaping stone tools, and using them; (3) outlining the evolution of the form and function of groups or "generations" of stone tools through time; and (4) treating stone tools as historic records that can be used to address questions of time, questions of culture, and questions about the history of peoples.The goals of lithic analysis have not really changed since Holmes' day. Chipped stone artifacts can be viewed as "visiting cards" (Isaac, 1981) that can be used to identify ancient cultural groups and to recognize when these groups were present and where they lived. In addition, lithic artifacts can be used to isolate the activities associated with different groups at multicomponent sites. Archaeologists continue to use chipped stone artifacts as cultural markers, but the concerns with chronology and classification in the "natural history" approach to lithic artifact analysis have given way to behavioral studies with greater emphasis on the "questions of culture" that can be addressed through the study of chipped stone (Henry and Odell, 1989, p. ix). Glynn Isaac (1984, pp. 42-45) noted that during the 1950s and 1960s lithic analysts were still concerned with the creation of clearly defined types of stone artifacts. To help classify lithic artifacts, precise measurements were made of their formal attribute...

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Microwear Analysis in the Maya Lowlands: The Use of Functional Data in a Complex-Society Setting

Cited by 57 publications

References 14 publications

Functional Evidence for Lapidary and Carpentry Craft Specialties in the Late Classic of the Central Peten Lakes Region

Functional Evidence for Lapidary and Carpentry Craft Specialties in the Late Classic of the Central Peten Lakes Region

Use-wear Analysis of Nonflint Lithic Raw Materials: The Cases of Quartz/Quartzite and Obsidian

Recent developments in the analysis of lithic artifacts

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