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

CHAPTER 7
DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS
A distributional analysis of the data collected on the chipped-stone artifacts is
presented here. I only focus on the data distributions that directly relate to the hypotheses
set forth in Chapter 3, including distributions of technological type, artifact weight,
artifact counts, and, in some cases, use-wear analysis. The chapter is structured around
the hypotheses presented in Chapter 3, and each section is further divided into
microcrystalline quartz and obsidian artifact sections. I begin with a brief description of
the excavated residential groups and their location in the site of Piedras Negras. Next, I
describe the data distributions as they relate to the first set of hypotheses regarding the
nature of chipped-stone production at Piedras Negras. I continue with the second set of
hypotheses regarding the symbolism of production, especially related to the production of
obsidian eccentrics.
7.1: EXCAVATED RESIDENTIAL GROUPS
A great number of mound groups were excavated with test pits, and Nelson
(2005) described these excavations in detail. However, this study focuses on thoroughly
excavated mound groups with a full range of artifacts made of bone, stone, and ceramic
materials and are best described as residential groups (e.g., Jackson 2001; Nelson 2001;
Wells 1998, 1999). The excavated residential groups can be separated into three spatial
categories, all of which are largely subjective in nature, based on the distance from what
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