Late Classic Maya lithic production and exchange at Rio Bec and Calakmul, Mexico

Abstract

The organization of production and exchange of everyday lithic items is important in defining Classic period lowland Maya economic organization, but the current debate relies on the study of a few lithic workshops, whereas little is known about the consumers’ quotidian acquisition of everyday tools. I suggest looking at the problem from the point of view of the household and distinguishing local from nonlocal production by comparing experimental and quantitative data. Examination of the chert collections from households at Rio Bec and Calakmul enabled me to distinguish two different types of chert biface production and distribution during the Late Classic period (a.d. 650–800), namely by means of markets and itinerant craftsmen. Both sites had very different political organizations, but households from both cities acquired lithics through similar networks, showing that this particular aspect of the domestic economy probably had little to do with political power and centralization in the region.

Keywords:

• Maya
• specialization
• lithic technology
• exchange systems
• distribution patterns

I would like to thank the Rio Bec Project (CNRS, INAH, under D. Michelet and C. Arnauld) and the Calakmul Project (INAH, under R. Carrasco), as well as Catherine Perlès for her comments and criticism, Jacques Pelegrin who carried out the experiment, and Jehanne Feblot Augustins. My gratitude also to the INAH (Mexico) for allowing seven bifaces to be transported to France for their replication by Jacques Pelegrin. My thanks also to Sylvianne Boucher and Sara Dzul for the chronological data and to François Bagot for the drawings, as well as to John Clark, Marilyn Masson, and one anonymous reviewer whose comments helped to improve this paper.

Chloé Andrieu (Ph.D. 2009, University Paris X Nanterre) is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), where she works on Mesoamerican economic organization, lithic exchange, and production systems. She also teaches Mesoamerican Archaeology at the University Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne as a temporary Assistant Professor (ATER). She currently collaborates with the Naachtun (CNRS, IDAEH) and the Cancuen (Vanderbilt University, IDAEH) projects in Guatemala.