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Raw Material Selection and Stone Tool Production: Limestone Bifaces in the Mopan Valley, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2019

Rachel A. Horowitz ,
Bernadette Cap ,
Jason Yaeger ,
Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown  and
Mark Eli
Rachel A. Horowitz*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA
Bernadette Cap
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Jason Yaeger
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown
Affiliation:
Anthropology Program, Athabasca University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Mark Eli
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
*
(rhorowit@tulane.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

Stone tool producers in the Maya Lowlands had several types of raw materials from which to choose. Limestone, chert, and obsidian are the most naturally abundant, whereas chert and obsidian outnumber limestone in archaeological contexts. The presence of flaked-stone tools made of limestone is typically attributed to the scarcity of more suitable raw materials. Nevertheless, in chert-rich areas, such as the upper Belize River valley, limestone bifaces and production debitage are present. To understand their presence, we examine limestone biface production and use at Buenavista del Cayo.

A lo largo de las tierras bajas mayas en Mesoamérica los productores de utensilios líticos contaban con distintas materias primas para la elaboración de artefactos. Entre éstas, la piedra caliza, el pedernal y la obsidiana son las más abundantes en la naturaleza. En las colecciones arqueológicas los artefactos de pedernal y de obsidiana, en general, son más abundantes que los de piedra caliza. Cuando hay la presencia de estos últimos es típicamente atribuida a la escasez de materias primas más convenientes. Sin embargo, en áreas ricas en pedernal, como en el valle superior del Río Belice, están presentes tanto bifaces de caliza como el desecho de su producción. Para comprender esto, se examinará la producción y uso de bifaces de caliza procedentes de Buenavista del Cayo, Belice.

Keywords

raw material choicelithic artifactsMayalimestonematerias primasutensilios líticosMayapiedra caliza
Type
Report
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 198 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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