Late Postclassic-Spanish Colonial Period Stone Tool Technology in the Southern Maya Lowland Area: The View from Lamanai and Tipu, Belize

ABSTRACT

Researchers studying the Colonial period in the Maya lowland area recently have used ethnohistorical and archaeological information to better understand the complexities of Maya-Spanish interactions and the Spanish impact on traditional Maya culture. But the material objects that the Maya used during this time rarely have been analyzed in any formal or systematic ways. In this study I present the results of an analysis of the formal chipped stone tools from Lamanai and Tipu, two southern lowland Maya sites in Belize. Small side-notched chert, chalcedony and obsidian arrow points are the predominant tool form found in Late- Terminal Postclassic and Early Spanish Colonial period deposits at both sites. Variability in tool forms and manufacturing strategies exists both within and between each of the lithic assemblages, and the study of this variability can provide insights into Late Pöstclassic-Spanish Colonial Period Maya stone tool technology and, to some extent, the nature of Maya-Spanish interaction and the repercussions of Spanish colonial policies in Belize. Available ethnohistorical and archaeological information is considered together with observations on stone tool styles and discrete lithic-manufacturing attributes to better understand this little known Maya lithic technology.