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

Abstract

From 1999–2005, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project excavated Pook’s Hill (PKH-1), a single plazuela group located in the Roaring Creek Valley, Cayo District, Belize. Artifacts recovered at Pook’s Hill date predominantly to the Late and Terminal Classic (A.D. 700–950) and can be stratigraphically segregated into two distinct occupation phases, namely a Late Classic (A.D. 700–830) and a Terminal Classic-Early Postclassic (A.D. 830–9507+) phase. The chipped chert and chalcedony tools from the two phases were included in a combined program of low- and high-power use-wear analysis to reconstruct aspects of the socioeconomy. The results of the analyses reveal that the site’s inhabitants produced and used both formal and informal tools for a wide variety of subsistence and domestic tasks, and for the production of some utilitarian items. Stone tool use-wear evidence and the recovery of small quantities of other artifacts suggest that the Maya from Pook’s Hill produced more valuable objects of bone, stone, and shell, although it is difficult to accurately identify craft-production activities at the site from the context of recovery. Despite some variation in the specific activities undertaken with the chipped stone tools over time, the organization of lithic technology at Pook’s Hill did not change significantly from the Late Classic into the Early Postclassic period.     

2005 Cultural Heritage Legal Summary

Abstract

Archaeologists studying ancient state societies often divide political economic models into separate prestige goods and subsistence goods systems. For the Maya during the Late Classic period (ca. A.D. 600–900), scholars have suggested that the elite centrally controlled the production and circulation of prestige goods while local communities and households were responsible for subsistence goods manufacture and exchange, which operated in a largely decentralized fashion. We examine an alternative to this dichotomous system through a festival market model that postulates a wide array of social groups engaged in material goods exchange during ceremonial events and public festive gatherings. This model is investigated using modal, petrographic, and Instrumental Neutron Activation analyses (INAA) of Late Classic ceramic figurines from the Motul de San José region, Petén, Guatemala. Ceramic figurines are frequently associated with household affairs because of their presence in household middens. We find that paste types crosscut different household status groups and communities within the region and argue that figurines were exchanged within the context of festival markets. This exchange pattern has important implications for linking households to larger political and regional spheres of social and economic life.     

Lithic Analysis of an Early Archaic Knapping Area

Abstract

Archaeological excavations at 15LO207 in Logan County, Kentucky documented a lithic reduction area associated with an Early Archaic Kirk Corner Notched component. High densities of flake debris were recovered, along with biface production failures, from this area. Analysis of these materials indicated that lithic manufacture focused on the reduction of early stage bifaces of the local Ste. Genevieve chert into late stage bifaces. These bifaces were transported elsewhere for further reduction and use. In addition, data indicate a staged approach to biface reduction for the Early Archaic.     

Explaining the monopoly in shell-bead production on the Channel Islands: drilling experiments with four lithic raw materials

Significant political and economic developments among the Chumash of southern California were catalyzed in part by the emergence of an intensive, specialist-driven shell-bead industry during the second millennium CE on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. The production of millions of beads depended in turn on the availability of lithic microdrills of standardized form and materials. Channel Islanders quarried a particular stone type, a blocky Monterey Formation chert, from multiple outcrops situated close to the eastern shores of Santa Cruz Island. Rich archaeological assemblages document the lithic and shell byproducts of these intertwined production systems, each of which endured for several centuries (CE 1150–1819). Islanders invariably chose Island chert for making microdrills: hundreds of thousands of specimens recorded to date are of this material. Furthermore, nearly every microlith in all of Chumash territory (post CE 1150) was produced on the islands; the large populations on the mainland did not participate in microlith making or bead making after CE 1150–1200. We argue that this pattern had its roots not only in the patchiness of key resources and shifting regional social relationships, but also in the physical properties of available raw materials. Here we experimentally assess the properties of Santa Cruz Island chert alongside three important mainland raw materials—Grimes Canyon fused shale, Coso obsidian, and Vandenberg chert—that potentially could have been tapped to make microliths. We test the proposition that Island chert outperforms other lithic materials in drilling efficiency and drill use life. Our experimental results from 108 drilling trials reveal sharp distinctions in performance characteristics across the four materials. We infer that the process by which Islanders became the more-or-less exclusive manufacturers of shell-bead currency in southern California was facilitated by both the efficacy and physical properties of the Island cherts and the propitious locations of the outcrops.     

Middens,Construction Fill,and Offerings: Evidence for the Organization of Classic Period Craft Production at Tikal,Guatemala

Abstract

The production of artifacts of stone, shell, and bone at Tikal, an important center in the Southern Maya Lowlands, created quantities of durable waste, referred to as debitage. Yet debitage is not a reliable indicator of production area because of the spatially flexible nature of Prehispanic technology and site-maintenance activities that shifted manufacturing debris into secondary contexts. Nevertheless, debitage, even in secondary context, provides important information on the organization of craft production at Tikal, particularly during the Classic Period (ca. A.C. 250–850). Most crafts were organized as household industries, carried on by independent, part-time specialists living in the central area that surrounded the monumental core of the city. The elite probably supported some full-time production to satisfy their demands for status goods and tools for construction projects. Expedient production by nonspecialists, using locally available materials such as chert and bone, occurred at all times.

Production waste was recovered from the construction fill of public and residential architecture and from household middens, mixed with domestic trash. The largest concentrations, however, were found exterior to elite chamber burials and within cached offerings. The delayed identification of debitage from ritual contexts exemplifies the reflexive nature of the way archaeologists classify material culture and their interpretations of the contexts from which it is recovered.     

Tecolote,Guatemala: Archaeological Evidence for a Fortified Late Classic Maya Political Border

Abstract

Settlement pattern data in the lower Salt River valley of central Arizona, near Phoenix, have led to different models of Hohokam political community organization during the early Classic period (ca. A.D. 1150–1300). The “focal village” model posits political communities centered on a single large village with monumental architecture surrounded by smaller settlements. The “linear community” model envisions an elongated arrangement integrating populations distributed along the routes of irrigation canals. Each model has implications for the nature of cooperation within and between settlement clusters and the degree to which large-scale irrigation management influenced the development of Hohokam community organization. In this analysis, ceramic sourcing studies are used to outline networks of interaction to examine the different models. Our results provide some evidence for a crosscutting patchwork of geographically dispersed social groups which fits most comfortably within the linear community model.     

Experimentation in the Formation of Edge Damage: A New Approach to Lithic Analysis

Abstract

The paper describes a series of experiments recently carried out to test the formation of edge-damage on flaked stone tools which results from their being used in various tasks. Variables that were systematically tested include action, worked material, angle of the edge, and grip. The main criterion in distinguishing different patterns of damage was microflaking rather than abrasion in the form of striations and polish.

The results of these experiments may be applied to the identification of patterns of damage to the edges of prehistoric stone tools. The information gained from such microwear analysis may be used not only to provide details on the activities and settlement organization of prehistoric societies, but also to provide an important new dimension to lithic analysis in general. In lithic analysis, the main criteria of change have been the macromorphological features of the tools. It is our contention, however, that the additional information on the function of the tools, which is provided by microwear analysis, can contribute to the greater understanding of the processes of change in lithic assemblages and culture change as a whole.

The experimental program was designed to test the formation of edge-damage on implements manufactured in European chalk flint. It was to aid in the identification of wear patterns on lithic assemblages from the neolithic period in Central and Eastern Europe, a project in which the authors were involved. Its relevance, however, includes directly those assemblages of the post-Pleistocene period in temperate and Mediterranean Europe. The results of the experiments may also be useful, it is hoped, for lithic analysis in general, both in the Old and New World.     

From Crafting to Caching: Technological and Iconographic Analyses of Blue Creek Cache 37

This paper presents technological and iconographic analyses of a Late Classic (a.d. 600–830) lithics cache recovered from the ancient Maya site of Blue Creek, Belize. The cache consisted of 21 obsidian prismatic blades and a number of chert artifacts, including 21 stemmed bifaces, a large laurel leaf biface, and a tridentate eccentric. The technological analysis of the stemmed bifaces identified three distinct stem production techniques that may be attributable to a combination of idiosyncratic knapping gestures and laterality, or handedness. A survey of Maya iconography demonstrated that large laurel-leaf bifaces and tridentate eccentrics occur in scenes depicting sacrifice and the burning of human remains, often by ritual specialists titled ch’ajoom, or “person of incense.” It is suggested that the presence of a large laurel-leaf biface and tridentate eccentric in the cache may indicate that Blue Creek was the residence of ch’ajoom at some point during the Late Classic period.     

Systematic Reworking of Lithics from Earlier Cultures in the Early Holocene of Dakhleh Oasis,Egypt

Abstract

A raw material form scarcely mentioned in the literature on lithic production—chipped stone artifacts manufactured by members of still earlier cultures—is used for a substantial portion of the toolkits in certain industries of Dakhleh Oasis, south-central Egypt. In one group of early Holocene (Masara) sites, the majority of double patinated tools are chunky burins, systematically manufactured from Levallois flakes and similar thick-sectioned older artifacts. Since fresh chert and other workable stone is available in the area, it appears that old, recycled lithics constitute the preferred raw material for these tool classes. The sites in question seem to be field camps where the burins were both made and used.     

Young people’s everyday landscapes of security and insecurity

Abstract

Debates about ‘security’ rarely feature children or younger people, whilst research with children and young people seldom focuses upon issues traditionally found within security studies. Building upon long-standing debates about political geographies of youth and political participation as well as feminist geopolitics and emerging discussions about children’s and young people’s geopolitics, we chart young people’s everyday landscapes of security and insecurity. Key themes explored here include: secure pasts and insecure futures; ontological security and insecure selves; online security and digital insecurities; home(land) securities and insecure households and families; and global securities and insecure worlds.     

Assessing the Role of Preclassic Traditions in the Formation of Early Classic Yucatec Cultures,México

Abstract

In the northern Maya lowlands the transition from the Late Preclassic to the Early Classic is poorly understood. Despite the knowledge that ceramic traditions underwent drastic changes, the timing of these changes is difficult to place in absolute terms. Many of the chronological problems stem from an over-reliance on the dates ascribed to this transition by earlier scholars. We evaluate the cultural historical frameworks of the Preclassic and Early Classic periods in the northern lowlands, which have remained surprisingly static since their creation over 50 years ago. Using data from excavations and regional settlement surveys, we explore the possibility of how changes in settlement patterns, monumental architecture, and ceramics contribute to debates about concepts such as the Terminal Preclassic and Protoclassic and our broader understanding of the social and political transformations that occurred at this transition. We propose that five ceramic spheres emerged in the northern lowlands during the Terminal Preclassic (75 B.C.–A.D. 400). The increased ceramic heterogeneity correlates with the emergence of more hierarchical political structures. We use two research areas, Yaxuná and the Yalahau region, to explore the implications of a Preclassic Maya collapse, as well as architectural data combined with ceramic data to shed light on the variability of sociopolitical organization at the end of the Preclassic.     

Sociopolitical network interactions: A case study of the Classic Maya

The organization of Classic Maya society emerged from diverse and overlapping social interactions which shaped a dynamic political landscape. Vying for power, elites legitimized their status by claiming ancestry from various supernaturals and engaged in conspicuous displays of competition, warfare, and ritual practice which were often recorded on stone monuments. By examining the inscribed relationships between Maya centers, we chart organizational changes in sociopolitical networks throughout the Classic period. Methods derived from social network analysis are used to examine temporal changes in the distribution and centralization of political power through different network interactions. We examine the intersection of antagonistic, diplomatic, subordinate, and kinship relationships and discuss how these overlapping networks contributed to dynamic changes in the Classic period. This case study demonstrates how current network analysis techniques can contribute to archaeological studies of the scalar dynamics and organizational changes of past social and political systems.     

Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene lithic technological organization around Lake Mojave,California

Abstract

The surface lithic scatters at two areas around Soda Lake were intensively surveyed and 3133 artifacts were analyzed in the field using four main variables to infer how Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene foragers organized lithic technology around pluvial Lake Mojave, California. Results indicate that early stage bifaces and flake tool blanks were created at a fine-grained volcanic (felsite) quarry/workshop complex in the Soda Mountains survey area and transported elsewhere. In addition, fine-grained volcanic bifaces were reduced and bifaces and flake tools of cryptocrystalline silicates and obsidian were finished, used, and/or discarded at a habitation area on the ancient shorelines near Little Cowhole Mountain. Comparisons with nearby sites of similar ages (at Ft. Irwin and China Lake) reveal many similarities in lithic technological organization. Lake Mojave—an important locus of prior research—can now be integrated into recent Mojave Desert and Great Basin technological organization studies.     

Ceramics Technology at Late Classic K’axob,Belize

Abstract

Excavation of a Late Classic Maya platform at K’axob, Belize, has revealed a suite of pit features and associated artifacts that are strongly suggestive of pottery production. Interpretation of the features as remnants of pit kilns used to fire pottery is bolstered by comparanda from the Andean region. Archaeometric and experimental replication studies also support the interpretation of this locale as one of pottery fabrication. Findings discussed include features identified as kilns, raw material suitable for temper, lumps of fired clay, ground stone, and expedient clay-working tools made of recycled pottery sherds. This research contributes to knowledge of the organization of Maya pottery production by providing the most comprehensive information presented to date on the technology of ancient Maya pottery fabrication and firing.     

Negotiating for Space and Autonomy: Strategies of Finnish Missionary Women in Japan, 1900-1941

ABSTRACT. This article focuses on the strategies Finnish women used to influence their status and the missionary practices in the Japan mission of the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland during the early part of the 20th century. Women had a head-start in the mission compared to men but lost this later as the organization developed. However, the early years demonstrate how women were able to gain a foothold simply by exceptional circumstances, such as a political turmoil. The crisis years of the Finnish mission in the early 1910s illustrate how organizational rigidity was created at the cost of women's status, but also that everyday work carried out separately from the men's work offered women satisfactory roles regardless of the patriarchal structure. An additional strategy is introduced by the career of one missionary, Siiri Uusitalo. A lifelong career in the mission and a pioneer's status enabled Siiri Uusitalo to carve out an independent position inside the Finnish mission which can be defined as matriarchal. Through the Finnish female missionaries, the contested male control of the mission in the Japanese context is discussed. The article presents one historically unique case that nevertheless points to certain patterns in contesting and redefining the gendered hierarchy in a religious community amidst a foreign culture.     

Competition and conflict in the Upper Belize River Valley: Insights from the ancient Maya minor center of Callar Creek,Belize

Political relationships typically entail competition and conflict. Within the ancient Maya world, the Upper Belize River Valley (UBRV) offers one example of an arena of intense political contestation, and recent investigations at the minor center of Callar Creek offer insights into this complex and occasionally antagonistic political landscape. During the Late and Terminal Classic periods (a.d. 600–900), for example, those living at the Callar Creek center appear to have affiliated themselves with the larger center of Buenavista, but not to have developed political ties with those in surrounding hinterland communities. Indeed, Callar Creek provides an example in which the political fortunes of a minor center and its surrounding hinterlands followed divergent paths. Furthermore, a termination event suggests that part of the Callar Creek center was purposefully destroyed by adversaries in the Terminal Classic period, and that discordant relationships in the UBRV at times turned violent.     

Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization: A Review

This paper reviews recent archaeological research concerning Classic Maya lowland political systems (ca. A.D. 250–1000). It focuses specifically on (1) subsistence practices revealed through the analysis of prehistoric climate, available resources, agricultural technologies, and diet; (2) population distribution, density, and size revealed through the analysis of settlement practices and architectural function; (3) social differentiation and interaction revealed through the analysis of burial practices, diet and health, architecture, and production, consumption, and exchange patterns; and (4) ancient Maya political economy (how it was funded) revealed through the analysis of community organization, ritual activities, the Classic Maya collapse, and warfare. It finally ends with a brief discussion of the future of Maya archaeology. A key factor that recurs throughout this review is the noticeable amount of variability that existed—varied resources, subsistence strategies, settlement practices, and social and political systems. An understanding of this variability is the key to appreciate fully the Classic Maya.     

Recent Discoveries in the Classic Maya Palace Complex of Nim li Punit,Belize

Nim li Punit is a small Classic Maya (ca. a.d. 150–830) center of Toledo District, Belize. Here I describe excavations of two buildings within the royal palace group: Structures 7 and 8. Structure 8 was built in four stages all dating to the Early to Late/Terminal Classic period. It probably served as a council house. Structure 7 was the residential palace and was built in two stages. An Early Classic burial demonstrates indirect interaction with Teotihuacan. During the Terminal Classic period, the shape of Structure 7 was altered, numerous caches were placed there, and Tomb 5 was dedicated. It contained many important artifacts including a modeled effigy vase displaying the wind god, a chert eccentric, and the second largest piece of carved jade excavated legally in Belize. This, the Nim li Punit “wind jewel,” contains a long historical text and was worn by Late Classic kings. I argue that the pectoral tied Maya kings through ritual performance to breath, winds, rain, agriculture, and life.     

Recent Research on the Upper Palaeolithic Phase in India

Abstract

Recent discoveries of artifactual assemblages based on blade-tool technology, occurring in post-Middle Palaeolithic and pre-Mesolithic contexts in different parts of India, are filling the gap in the Indian Stone Age sequence. These lithic industries, along with the bone tools obtained from the Kurnool caves, the faunal associations at some sites, and the available radiocarbon dates, are now seen beyond doubt to represent the Upper Palaeolithic period.     

The Organization of Late Paleoindian Lithic Procurement Strategies in Western Wisconsin

Abstract

The applicability of employing an organization of technology framework to the analysis of prehistoric lithic procurement strategies is demonstrated here. Analysis reveals that a spatial separation is present in the distribution of lithic raw materials used by Late Paleoindian populations in western Wisconsin. This raises the possibility that lithic raw material functioned as a stylistic indicator of group membership. To evaluate this suggestion microstylistic traits present on a large sample of diagnostic Late Paleoindian projectile points were examined. Significant differences in stylistic traits were observed between sample areas. Furthermore, these differences correspond to spatial differences in raw material use. The correlation between lithic raw material use and microstylistic traits is consistent with the idea that lithic raw material serves as a stylistic marker of group membership, and indicates the presence of some form of social boundary within western Wisconsin during the Late Paleo indian Period.