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

2.1.4: Previous Studies as a Point of Departure
The pluralistic economies proposed by King, Potter, Rice, McAnany, and others
do indeed have validity, and it is clear that utilitarian production did not have the same
impact on the political economy as did agrarian production. To say that utilitarian
production had no relation to the political economy is an overstatement, however, and
one that has been successfully investigated by Aoyama and Moholy-Nagy. I have also
pointed out that the political economy concept, as McAnany (1992b) used it, is a
powerful analytical tool in that it locates the basic parameters of social and economic
reproduction, but it is too simplistic to reveal the complex, often messy, workings of
socio-economic process. In these studies craft producers were either in or out of royal
favor, were either attached or independent specialists, and either controlled esoteric
production knowledge or did not. Although the royal family was the major force at
ancient Piedras Negras, and their demand for products had a great effect on how goods
were produced and distributed, I attempt to illustrate the possible roles chipped-stone
producers played in structuring their niche in the political economy.
In the case of obsidian-blade production and producers for example, the
boundaries between utilitarian and ceremonial, elite and commoner, and so forth are
fuzzy and often lead to simplistic or incorrect interpretations of Lowland Maya political
economy. The present study attempts to bring more specificity to our understanding of
the role of craft specialization in Maya political economy and society. It must be noted,
that I focus on Piedras Negras chipped-stone production and consumption, and am not
attempting to make steadfast claims about the organization of the entire Maya world. This
23