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

materials, such as the central Petén (Moholy-Nagy 1991) and northern Belize (Shafer and
Hester 1983), or others that had more direct access to obsidian sources (see Copán:
Aoyama 1999). The political history and local religion of Piedras Negras also are unique,
and they differ from sites in northern Belize or in the Copán River valley. Architectural
traditions and settlement patterns also are markedly different from these other regions. In
other words, there are many indications that the economic, political, and religious
differences between regions may be vast. Thus, previous models of Lowland Maya lithic
economies, based on other regions, may not fit the Piedras Negras case.
I propose that royal and elite groups at Piedras Negras, and other cities in the
Maya area, were interested in the economics of chipped stone, but to differing degrees
depending on access to resources, local political history, and social structure. In addition,
knappers and their families may have also been a force in centralizing and maintaining
control over knowledge as social and symbolic capital, a process similar to elite Maya
craft specialists outlined by Inomata (2001). A characterization of lithic economies of the
Classic period, as well as their utilitarian components, should be more flexible,
heterogeneous, and theoretically robust. The model should begin with the knapper and his
social role in Classic Maya society.
The role of the knapper as moonlighter, “scrambler” (i.e., individual doing odd
jobs to add increase income; McAnany 1992), or second-class attached specialist devoid
of esoteric knowledge, may not hold in politico-religious centers with a more
institutionalized social structure. The concept of craft oficio, or knapper oficio here, may
be a useful archaeological category for the Classic period because it provides a
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