The Organization of Chipped-Stone Economies at Piedras Negras ...

According to the three spatial groups I created for Piedras Negras (the acropolis,
the city center, and the near-periphery), the distribution of obsidian materials is not
constant (Table 4.7). The quantities of obsidian are relatively similar between the
acropolis (8%) and the near-periphery residential groups (11.38%), though a much
smaller area was excavated in the acropolis. The majority of obsidian artifacts were found
in the residential groups from the city center (80.82% of all obsidian material), as well as
a majority of non-El Chayal obsidians (87.73% of all non-El Chayal obsidian). Of
particular interest are the two residential groups to the south and west of the South Group
Plaza, represented by Operations PN10, PN23, and PN33 (dubbed the U-Group and the
R-Group). These operations yielded more obsidian than any other area of Piedras Negras
(51.75% of all the dated obsidian from the site), and also the most non-El Chayal
obsidian, except for San Martín Jilotepeque obsidian, which was more widely distributed.
The U-Group and the R-Group had access to more imported obsidians than other areas of
the site, and also had the longest history of blade production at Piedras Negras.
According to the present data, it appears that blade production began and ended in the U-
Group (see Chapter 7). Burial 66 in the R-Group contained four blades from four
different obsidian sources, indicating that the people who lived in this area may have had
a special knowledge of obsidian and of the various obsidian sources. The residential
groups located around the South Group may have housed the most prominent obsidian-
workers at Piedras Negras.
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