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

and northern Belize regions. During the Late Classic period Piedras Negras appears to be
most closely related to Tikal with regard to chipped-stone traditions.
The most common bifaces and unifaces at Piedras Negras are, of course, the least
valuable as temporal markers. The relatively small sample of small and medium bifaces
from Piedras Negras in general, and from the Preclassic and Postclassic periods in
particular, makes a lithic “sequence” for Piedras Negras difficult to produce. Variations
in Classic-period lithic style at Piedras Negras and other sites throughout the lowlands
have been notoriously difficult to discern, but a more detailed temporal analysis of the
artifacts discussed here may reveal previously unnoticed patterns. More rigorous
illustration and description is necessary if microcrystalline-quartz artifact studies in the
Maya area are to progress.
5.5: MICROCRYSTALLINE-QUARTZ ECCENTRIC TYPES
The range of techniques used to make microcrystalline eccentrics throughout the
lowlands can only be described as highly varied and complex. For this study, I address
the reduction techniques and strategies used to make microcrystalline-quartz eccentrics at
Piedras Negras. These eccentrics also are quite varied, but are nevertheless reducible to
four basic technological types. Eccentric types include pressure-notched flakes, indirect-
percussion notched flakes, partially-worked bifaces, and fully-worked bifaces. There also
is variability within each type that could be recorded to produce a more detailed
typology. Some of these variations include: (1) bifaces with or without a pressure-flaked
finish; (2) indirect-percussion notched flake types that also show signs of direct-pressure
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