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

Craft production puts one in the role of the gods as a creator being, probably enhanced by
trance and deity impersonation during ritualized production, but with an understanding of
the human origins of their products. As Landa stated: “[a]s regards to the images [the
idols], they knew perfectly that they were made by human hands, perishable, and not
divine; but they had honored them because of what they represented and the ceremonies
that had been performed during their fabrication . . .” (see Gates 1978:47).
Even though ideologically-loaded production for elite artisans was important in
exclusionary tactics and elite identity during the Classic period in the Maya area (Inomata
2001), it also is necessary to look at how identity and personhood are formed in other
areas of society. Ideologically-loaded production appears to have extended to other social
groups in society. Although they may not have commanded the same power, respect, and
ultimately, symbolic capital as elites, production by nonelites may have been important in
socio-economic negotiations with the higher status groups, as well as in horizontal social
relations (e.g., Hendon 1991).
2.4: AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL FOR THE CHIPPED-STONE ECONOMIES
OF PIEDRAS NEGRAS
Preliminary analyses of chipped-stone artifacts from Piedras Negras suggest that
local cherts and chalcedonies were internally flawed and difficult to work (Hruby 1999),
and quantities of imported, high-quality cherts and obsidians generally were quite low.
This resource characterization of Piedras Negras microcrystalline-quartzes contrasts with
those of other parts of the lowlands, which often have an abundance of high-quality local
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