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

flakes of microcrystalline quartz, and chalcedony-nodule fragments are a few of the
mundane artifact types found in regal burials, temples, and caches. These artifact
distributions suggest that the royal family at Piedras Negras had a keen interest, not only
in microcrystalline quartz and obsidian raw materials, but also in the final products and
the very process of their production.
It also is important to differentiate between chipped-stone material types because
of their implications for outlining long-distance exchange networks, and local or regional
procurement strategies. The most obvious categorical distinction used in Maya lithic
studies is between microcrystalline quartz and obsidian, which is useful for designating a
highland versus lowland origin for these materials. In addition, finer designations for
microcrystalline quartz and obsidian material types can reveal distinct correlations
between the qualities of those materials and the technologies used to reduce them
(Aldenderfer 1991; see Chapter 5 here). However, some technologies can actually
crosscut material type or quality, as in the case of microcrystalline quartz and obsidian
blade-core industries (Hruby 1999). Ultimately, any lithic study that has the goal of
locating specific technological traditions, as well as the residential groups in which those
traditions were practiced, should account for most of the diversity in the archaeological
record. A comparison of the frequency of these materials and their corresponding
technologies may provide a more accurate picture of comparative value of chipped-stone
goods.
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