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A Technological Typology of Prismatic Blades and Debitage From Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

John E. Clark  and
Douglas Donne Bryant
John E. Clark
Affiliation:
New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Douglas Donne Bryant
Affiliation:
New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
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Abstract

A technological typology for the description and analysis of Mesoamerican obsidian industries is proposed, and its relative merits vis-à-vis Sheets's (1975a) “behavioral” typology are briefly explored. The typology is used to classify and describe a pristine deposit of obsidian-blade refuse recovered from the Early Classic Maya site of Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico. Analysis of this deposit revealed that the obsidian artifacts were manufacturing refuse resulting from the production of fine prismatic blades from polyhedral cores imported from highland Guatemala. The obsidian refuse was recovered from a workshop dump rather than from an actual workshop.

Type
Special Section: Recent Research on Obsidian in Mesoamerica
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1997 , pp. 111 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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