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

available for Piedras Negras. There are many reasons why this might be the case (e.g.,
depth of excavations, variable discard patterns, etc.), but only future excavations may be
able to address production at early Piedras Negras. For the Yaxche phase, there is
production evidence from PN23, PN24, PN33, PN41, PN46, and PN62 (see Figure 7.5),
but no evidence from the near-periphery at this time. These household groups crosscut
status and spatial boundaries, and like the rest of the Late Classic, do not indicate that
production was restricted in any way.
Production evidence for the Chacalhaaz phase is even more widespread with
PN15, PN23, PN33, PN35, PN41, PN46, PN62, and RS28 all indicated as production
locales (Figure 7.6). Moving through time, patterns of possible production traditions
begin to emerge. The residential group designated as PN33 appears to begin production
during Balche times and continued as a producer of microcrystalline-quartz goods until
the site was abandoned. The excavations of PN62 and PN41 indicate that
microcrystalline-quartz tool production occurred in those groups during the Yaxche,
Chacalhaaz, and Kumche phases. These household groups, which had long-standing
stoneworking traditions, contrast with that of PN24, which produced tools for only a
short period of time. Finally, as the Kumche phase began, populations dwindled, and the
production of microcrystalline-quartz goods subsided. Morphological changes also
occurred in the types of stone tools produced at this time. It is unclear how the ethnic
makeup changed after the end of the royal dynasty in Chacalhaaz times, and what their
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