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

and another chert production locale, Xkichmook. For Palenque they noted that most of
the clay sources used to make utilitarian ceramics were not of local origin (Rands and
Bishop 1980), and at Copán they cited a large obsidian workshop found in the periphery
instead of its center (Mallory 1984). In short, heavy utilitarian production in the
hinterlands marks no interest, no control, and consequently no wealth. In making their
argument against large-scale economic control, however, Potter and King overstated their
case at the expense of understanding the economic structure of more complex city
centers 2 , such as Piedras Negras.
Lower rates of production debris in complex centers may mean that utilitarian
items were indeed produced in these centers, and that royal groups were interested in the
production of these utilitarian goods, but that the rates of production were lower due to
relative demand and access to abundant raw materials. Although Colhá, for example, can
easily be characterized as a large, if not the largest, natural chert outcrop in the lowlands,
it should be noted that most complex centers in the Maya Lowlands, such as Tikal,
Piedras Negras, and Xultun were located on or near substantial microcrystalline-quartz
sources. In other words, Colhá should be considered as a special case, but perhaps in
terms of scale and not organization. Furthermore, it is still unclear how production refuse
at more complex site centers was disposed of and distributed, especially at sites located
along rivers. These factors suggest that much work remains in outlining the role of
utilitarian craft production in Maya centers of varying complexity. Furthermore, the
socio-political organization of large and small sites is still little understood.
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