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

argued that most studies intended to prove or disprove control over the production and
exchange of chipped-stone goods, especially obsidian, have failed to construct tests that
allow for a forceful argument in either direction.
I propose that redistribution, reciprocal exchange, and gifting were common
economic practices associated with some chipped-stone goods at Piedras Negras. The
present study explores gifting and its relation to tribute based on artifact distributions and
production locales at Piedras Negras. Gifting can involve a symbolic element, especially
when the goods being exchanged have a ceremonial function. Many chipped-stone goods
at Piedras Negras fall into this symbolically-charged category because of how they were
produced and the often iconic morphology of the goods, especially obsidian and
microcrystalline-quartz eccentrics. I argue that the ideological and religious
underpinnings of craft production were tied to the social identity of chipped-stone
producers, those who used chipped-stone goods, and how those goods were exchanged
(Hruby n.d.). Supply and demand, the basic tenets of the market system, are difficult to
determine when symbolic aspects of production and consumption may have been as
important as, or more so, than the actual materials used to make them.
Many models of ancient Maya economies are based on a purely economic
perspective that emphasizes efficiency, high output, and competition. Increased
productivity and the usual result of increased technological efficiency and change,
however, did not occur in some Classic Maya crafting traditions. Although refinements in
technology and style did take place in the lithic industries of Piedras Negras, a focus on
the ideological elements of craft production appears to have inhibited large-scale
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