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

suggesting that a handheld pressure-flaker was normally used. At times, manufacturing a
stem may have been a way to salvage broken laurel leaf and celtiform bifaces for
different hafting methods. The stemmed biface is not appear with great frequency at
Piedras Negras, suggesting that stems may have been modifications after initial
production had occurred, and that different hafting methods and point preparations were
preferred.
5.4.1.2.8: Medium and small tapered biface (see Figure 5.2 #17 and #31). The preform
for the medium and small tapered biface types was manufactured with a direct percussion
technique. They are between 8 cm and 12 cm long for the medium size and 8cm or less
for the smaller. The proximal end is tapered, and was shaped with a pressure-flaking
technique. The margins were finished with a pressure flaker. A thin, lenticular cross
section was a desired result of the reduction process.
Like other stemmed types, the medium and small tapered bifaces are not very
common at Piedras Negras. The term tapered in this case refers to the proximal base of
the biface, and not the working, distal end of the tool (see description of large tapered
biface). Other archaeologists have referred to them as tapered-stem or tapered-based
projectile points or knives (see Table 5.1 for citations). The few examples from Piedras
Negras appear to have been modified after basal breakage, and were tapered after the
initial production process. These tools may have been stemmed at one time, but were then
reworked after the stem had broken off. There also is some overlap between the medium
and small tapered biface types, and the medium- and small-sized, celtiform and laurel
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