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

The symbolic nature of chipped-stone craft specialization appears to be an ever-
present element of the economy, and consequently, the notion of symbolic capital is
useful in the reconstruction of ancient Maya craft organization. Craft oficios and their
products may not have been important to the structure of agricultural production, but they
do appear to have been a significant element in civic social-organization. Interaction
between these two systems is a topic reserved for future research.
This study has not posited economy or society as the prime mover in shaping the
chipped-stone economy, but rather a combination of the two. This socio-economic
understanding of the lithic economy is essential if we are to move beyond simplistic
descriptions of how and why people shaped the world the way that they did. Of key
importance is access to raw materials and also control of esoteric production knowledge.
The control of esoteric production knowledge may only have been possible when
resources were not widely available, production took place in closed areas, and the
transmission of particular forms of religious knowledge and language was not freely
shared. Access to raw materials and esoteric production knowledge are perhaps the most
important elements to understanding production and consumption at Piedras Negras.
Hopefully, the detailed analysis here will be used at other Lowland Maya sites to
continue cross-site comparison and increase the general understanding of lithic
economies though time.
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