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

CHAPTER 6
TYPOLOGY OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS
This chapter discusses the obsidian artifacts recovered at Piedras Negras. The
Piedras Negras Maya used a variety of obsidian-working techniques that have not been
discussed thoroughly in archaeological literature. The implications of these techniques
for understanding the Maya practice of obsidian working, and the role of bladesmiths in
ancient Maya society, are addressed in this chapter. Four basic categories can be used to
describe the technologies used to work obsidian at Piedras Negras: (1) percussion- and
pressure-reduction of obsidian pressure-blade cores; (2) the notching of pressure flakes
and blades, percussion flakes and blades, and exhausted pressure-blade cores; (3) bipolar
reduction of blades, flakes, and pressure-blade cores; and (4) bifacial reduction of flakes,
blades, and pressure-blade cores, usually done with pressure. Each category has a
substantial amount of variety within it and is described in the following sections. The
majority of the artifacts fit into the first technological category, and although the latter
three categories are related to blade-core reduction, they are almost always used to
produce elite cache goods (e.g., obsidian eccentrics). I begin with a discussion of the
possible blade-core reduction techniques encapsulated in the first category and continue
by describing the latter three categories.
6.1: BLADE-CORE TECHNOLOGY AND REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
No unworked or partially reduced blade-cores can be found in the Piedras Negras
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