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

working in the outskirts of the city, and that an obsidian-blade specialist did not live
there.
In summary, the production of obsidian goods at Piedras Negras was
quantitatively and qualitatively different from the production of microcrystalline-quartz
goods for most time periods. Obsidian-blade production appears to be less common and
more restricted than the production of microcrystalline-quartz tools during most phases.
Although there is no evidence for production for early time periods, PN33 and PN46
appear to have a longer tradition of obsidian-blade manufacture, especially PN33, where
production continued into Kumche times. The lack of obsidian evidence for Preclassic
and Early Classic deposits suggests that obsidian-blade production was not a widespread
activity during those times. Only PN33 and PN46, which designate residential groups in
the city center and acropolis, feature evidence of blade production for the Yaxche phase
(Figure 7.7). This pattern also holds if the Early and Late Yaxche phases are analyzed
separately. Production evidence from the Chacalhaaz phase indicates that residential
groups that produced blades during the Yaxche phase, continued to do so in the Terminal
Classic. However, other residential groups began blade production during the Chacalhaaz
phase. Production became less widespread during Kumche times, but this ostensibly was
after dynastic centralized control had already dissolved. The restricted nature of
production during Yaxche times does not appear to be a factor of sampling, since this
pattern can be illustrated in two other ways. The first is that the quantity of obsidian used
in Chacalhaaz versus Yaxche phase caches is quite low, and the CE:M ratio becomes
lower through time. The last statement requires some clarification.
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