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

Most of these studies are somewhat vague as to what “control” actually means
(see Clark n.d.), and as a result most of them have a tendency to speak past one another.
The analytical techniques and methods also vary, which in combination with various
assumptions about the definition of elite and spatial relationships with elite households,
results in contrary conclusions even at the same site (cf. Aoyama 2001; Mallory 1984).
2.1.3: Summary
Knappers in the independent model reacted to their environment and carried out
their craft largely as a response to subsistence needs and the demand for everyday
agricultural and household tools. The ruling elite did not appear to be interested in
managing these kinds of production as long as it produced the desired result: agricultural
wealth. McAnany (1992b) went further by characterizing utilitarian producers as largely
nonelite attached specialists who, through no access to arable land, became subservient to
heads of heterogeneous households. This focus on agricultural production and wealth had
the effect of overshadowing other forms of production that may have been more socially
valuable in the context of the Classic Maya center, and possibly elsewhere. What remains
is a rather simplistic view of social organization that consists of the “haves” and the
“have-nots”.
King and Potter (1995) brought up two issues, which are central to this thesis (i.e.,
the symbolic nature of production and the organizational importance of craft production);
however, their focus remained on agriculture as the driving force in social organization.
The reactionary nature of knapper agency in these independent models of chipped-stone
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