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

5.4.1.3.8: Small side-notched laurel leaf biface (see Figure 5.2 #29). These are not
produced at Piedras Negras as tools. However, obsidian versions are quite common in
cache contexts. Larger flint unifaces of this style also are found in caches at Piedras
Negras. One possible example from Uaxactun (Kidder 1947:Figure 65, b2) might fit this
description, but the type name used here refers to a probable arrow point commonly
found in the northern, Postclassic Yucatan. The cached eccentrics from Piedras Negras
are unrelated to these much later tools.
5.4.1.3.9: Small stemmed biface (see Figure 5.2 #30). This type was made from a small
nodule reduction flake or a large, biface-thinning flake. It was reduced by pressure, and
was finished with pressure. It was 8 cm or less in length. The stem was finely chipped by
pressure. A thin lenticular cross section was the desired result of the reduction process.
The small stemmed biface is one of the most common small bifaces in the Maya
Lowlands, but like other stemmed bifaces, they are rare at Piedras Negras. I use the term
“stemmed” to refer to any protrusion that tapers from “shoulder” elements at the base of
the tool. Other typologies (e.g., Rovner and Lewenstein 1997) have classified tapered
stems in a variety of ways that emphasize other minor characteristics, such as pointed
shoulders, flat stemmed bases, or rounded shoulders (see Table 5.1). All of these
characteristics can be present in a single sample of small, stemmed bifaces from any
given site, and also can be explained by breakage. I do not propose that minor variations
in stem or shoulder configuration do not reflect traditions of a particular area, but these
must be left for a separate study.
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