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

itualized production should not be understood as an entirely preconceived act to
delegitimize other forms of technological practice, but only as a point of intersection
between lived experience and political action. Since ideas and material are so closely
intertwined in technological practice (Dobres 2000), a state of heterodoxy and orthodoxy
surrounding a set of technological practices necessarily involves contested dispositions,
but also transformation or stasis in the material realm. Social negotiation so closely
bound with the material side of production should reproduce extant material traditions or
produce new ones (Sommer 2001:250). These forms of social change have an effect on
the archaeological record (ibid.). One way to identify possible instances of ritualized
production or the use of mythological charter in the archaeological record would be to
locate a tight correlation between religious symbolism and technology.
The production of obsidian eccentrics at Piedras Negras is an example of such a
correlation. But before turning to that case, I review cross-cultural examples of ritualized
production that emphasize the importance of this practice in certain forms of craft
specialization and demonstrate the link between ritual knowledge and production in other
parts of the world. Furthermore, the ritualization of lithic craft specialization in
Mesoamerica is demonstrated by direct historical evidence from ethno-historic sources. I
consider these analogous data together with information on Maya mythology to suggest
that mythological charter may have been common for many types of in craft production,
perhaps beyond elite forms of craft specialization (cf. Inomata 2001; Reents-Budet 1998).
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