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

although in a diminished quantity, up until eccentrics were no longer used (Table 7.6).
Figure 7.17 depicts a series of five disc-shaped eccentrics, all of which are made from
distal rejuvenation flakes. Figure 6.9 shows that the correlation between the large K’awiil
form and the percussion blade removed from the side of the pressure-blade core was
repeated during the early Late Classic period and beyond. This pattern suggests that the
kind of original obsidian debitage was key in embodying the complete symbolism of the
eccentric, and also that the stages of blade core reduction at Piedras Negras also may
have had a symbolic component.
A recent analysis of incised obsidian eccentrics from Tikal and Uaxactun by the
author also may indicate ritualized production and an adherence to a relationship between
symbol and technology, albeit slightly different from Piedras Negras flake types. Round
distal rejuvenation flakes were reserved for the sun and moon gods, distal rejuvenation
blades depict kneeling or sitting gods, while percussion blades were reserved for standing
gods, the pop sign, and scorpions (Figure 7.9 and 7.18). Although flake and blade choice
may have been an ad hoc use of correctly shaped flakes for particular gods, it also may
indicate a tradition similar to that of Piedras Negras, where specific kinds of flakes were
used for specific gods and entities.
At Piedras Negras and elsewhere it is possible that knappers had a folk knowledge
of the core that related to Classic Maya deities (e.g., Figure 7.18). The directionality,
position, and morphology of the core (i.e., proximal versus distal end of the core) may
have been marked by where certain gods “resided” in the core as flakes and blades. This
possibility does not seem too far-fetched given that objects and houses often were
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