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

Stemp, W. James; Awe, Jaime J.

doi:10.5876/9781607323013.c008

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Four are obsidian prismatic blade segments that were punched from prepared cores and were most likely brought into the rockshelter in finished form. This is a pattern observed at other rockshelters and caves in the Maya world, in which there is little evidence for obsidian blade manufacture in the form of obsidian cores, early-stage thick blades, and flake debitage (e.g., Aoyama, 2001;Brady, 1989;Helmke, 2009;Peterson, 2006;Prufer, 2002;Stemp and Awe, 2014;Stemp et al, 2013). Whether the four obsidian blades were used for ritual activities, such as blood-letting or sacrifice (Aoyama, 2001;Stemp, 2009;Stemp and Awe, 2014;Stemp et al, 2013), inside the rockshelter cannot be ascertained.…”

Section: The Chipped-stone Assemblage From Deep Valley Rocksheltermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The only imported stone is obsidian from the Guatemalan highlands (5 or 1.8%), which was identified based on visual sourcing (see Braswell et al, 2000). This pattern of heavy dependence on local chert sources is also seen in other caves and rockshelters in western and southern Belize (Peterson, 2006;Prufer, 2002;Stemp, 2009;Stemp et al, 2013).…”

Section: The Chipped-stone Assemblage From Deep Valley Rocksheltermentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stemp¹,

Wrobel²,

Haley³

et al. 2015

JCKS

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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.

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Section: The Chipped-stone Assemblage From Deep Valley Rocksheltermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Chipped-stone Assemblage From Deep Valley Rocksheltermentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stemp¹,

Wrobel²,

Haley³

et al. 2015

JCKS

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“…Nonetheless, the Maya used blades for many purposes, and it is not easy to identify a particular obsidian blade as a blood-letting implement. Results of previous usewear analyses demonstrate that obsidian blades were used by the ancient Maya for a wide variety of functions including food processing, other domestic activities, craft-production, warfare, and, at times, ritual practices (e.g., Aoyama, 1999Aoyama, , 2001Aoyama, , 2007Aoyama, , 2009Lewenstein, 1987;Peterson, 2006;Stemp, 2016a;Stemp and Awe, 2014;Stemp et al, 2013). Both use-wear studies (Reents-Budet and MacLeod, 1997;Aoyama, 1999Aoyama, , 2001Aoyama, , 2009Aoyama, , 2014Stemp, 2016bStemp, , 2016cStemp and Awe, 2014) and residue analysis have contributed to the study of ancient Maya blood-letting (Meissner and Rice 2015;Newman, 1993;Potter, 1994;Sievert, 1992;see Stemp, 2016c).…”

Section: Obsidian Blades As Blood-lettersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results reported by Sievert are due to the duration of the experiment, which essentially demonstrated the usewear expected from cutting meat, skin, or fresh hide during an activity more closely related to butchery than blood-letting (see Aoyama, 1999Aoyama, , 2009Lewenstein, 1987;Stemp, 2001;Hurcombe, 1992). The combined results of Stemp's (Stemp, 2016b, 2016cStemp and Awe, 2014;Stemp et al, 2015) blood-letting experiments on chicken, cow, and pig tissue produced use-wear of different types based on varying tool motions (cutting, piercing, and piercing with rotation) that can be detected at different levels of magnification. These data are summarized in Online Supplement 2.…”

Section: Microscopic Use-wear Analysis and Obsidian Bladesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, prismatic blades were forced from polyhedral cores through indirect percussion or pressure (Clark, 1988) to produce very sharp implements, well suited for piercing and cutting. Obsidian blades and blade fragments have been recovered by the thousands from domestic, non-domestic, and ceremonial contexts at ancient Maya sites and were used by commoners and elites alike for subsistence, crafting, warfare, and ritual activities of many types (e.g., Aoyama, 1999Aoyama, , 2009Aoyama, , 2014Lewenstein, 1987;Stemp, 2016a;Stemp and Awe, 2014;Stemp et al, 2013). In this paper, we focus on the procurement and ritual use of obsidian blades.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An ancient Maya ritual cache at Pook's Hill, Belize: Technological and functional analyses of the obsidian blades

Stemp

Braswell

Helmke

et al. 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are frequently viewed as bloodletters used for auto-sacrifice. Most evidence supporting this interpretation is circumstantial and derives from iconographic and ethnohistoric sources. Such a deductive approach does not provide a means to determine whether individual blades were used to let blood. In contrast, microscopic use-wear analysis of lithic artifacts can be used to examine blades for evidence of their use, and-provided comparative experimental data are available-to determine if they were blood-letters. The technological and use-wear analyses of 48 obsidian blades recovered from a Late Classic (c. 550-650 CE) dedicatory cache at the site of Pook's Hill, Belize, serve as a test case to explore the relationship between obsidian blades and ancient Maya auto-sacrificial blood-letting. The results of the analyses indicate that some blades from the cache may have been used to let blood; however, not all obsidian blades appear to have been used in the same way. The obsidian blood-letters recovered from the cache were used in cutting, piercing, and piercing-twisting motions. Although some blades were used to let blood, the edge and surface wear on most of the used obsidian blades are consistent with other functions, including cutting meat/skin/fresh hide, cutting or sawing wood and dry hide, cutting or sawing other soft and hard materials, and scraping hard materials. Clearly, not all blades from this ritual deposit were blood-letters, which raises questions about the manner in which such a ritual deposit was formed and the nature of ritual activity associated with caching behavior at Classic period Maya sites.

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