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

fine-grained materials to bring about the desired result. These forms also are a common
aspect of cache deposits at Piedras Negras, and like all of the basic forms described here,
must have had their own attached symbolic meaning.
5.4.1.1.6: Large and medium laurel leaf biface, thick (see Figure 5.2 #6 and #15). The
large type was manufactured with a direct percussion technique. It is at least 12 cm long,
and is symmetrical with tapered points on either end of the biface. The proximal end, if
one exists, is slightly wider than the distal end, and may feature remnant cortex. A thick,
diamond-shaped cross section was a desired result of the reduction process.
These tools are less common at the site than the large and medium celtiform
biface, thick types but, like the thick celts, were produced to perform hard tasks. They
were made of tough chert, chalcedony, and dolomite materials that often had crystal and
shell inclusions in the matrix. Use-wear studies indicate that these tools were used for
rough picking and chiseling activities, but microscopic analysis has not confirmed this for
the Piedras Negras examples. These forms also were sometimes deposited in royal
caches, and in one notable instance, two specimens were deposited in an Early Classic
royal tomb (Burial 10) along with some of the biface-reduction flakes removed during
their creation.
The smaller medium-sized version of this tool was made using direct, hard-
hammer percussion. Use-wear analysis suggests that these tools were used in similar
ways to the large laurel leaf, thick form, such as picking and chiseling, but on a smaller
scale. They are often made of medium- to coarse-grained cherts.
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