Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:43:22.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Comparative Evaluation of the Producer-Consumer Model for Lithic Exchange in Northern Belize, Central America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rebecca McSwain
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

New lithic data from the early Maya site of Cuello in northern Belize provide a basis for examining a production-consumption model for intersite exchange of stone tools. Comparison of lithic evidence from Cuello, Pulltrouser Swamp, and Cerros, putative consumer communities, with evidence from Colhá, the production community, suggests that during the Late Preclassic two highly standardized formal tools were manufactured at Colhá and distributed to northern Belizean communities as a finished product. Those communities also obtained Colhá-like material in less-reduced form for local manufacture of other formal tools. The availability of a high-quality chert source in large nodules may have been an enabling factor in Late Preclassic regional developments, including agricultural intensification.

Se presentan nuevos datos líticos de Cuello, un sitio maya antiguo en el norte de Belice. También se está examinando un modelo de producción y consumo, delineando el intercambio regional de herramientas líticas, y tomando en consideración estos nuevos datos. La comparación de datos líticos de Cuello, Pulltrouser Swamp y Cerros, pueblos consumidores, con datos de Colhá, pueblo productor, sugiere que durante el Preclásico Tardío por lo menos dos tipos de herramientas de morfología formal fabricadas en Colhá se distribuyeron a los otros pueblos del norte de Belice. Al mismo tiempo, esos pueblos obtenían el pedernal de Colhá en formas menos reducidas, para la fabricación de unas otras herramientas. La presencia de una fuente de pedernal de buen calidad en nódulos grandes podía haber sido factor importante en el desarollo agrícola en la región.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 1991 , pp. 337 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Andrews, E. W., V, and Hammond, N. 1990 Redefinition of the Swasey Phase at Cuello, Belize. American Antiquity 55:570–584.Google Scholar
Boxt, M. A., and Reedy, C. L. 1985 Preliminary Thin Section Studies of Chert Artifacts from Northern Belize. Journal of New World Archaeology V: 13–23.Google Scholar
Callahan, E. 1979 The Basics of Biface Knapping in the Eastern Fluted Point Tradition: A Manual for Flintknappers and Lithic Analysis. Archaeology of Eastern North America 7:1–180.Google Scholar
Crabtree, D. E. 1972 An Introduction to Flintworking. Occasional Papers No. 28. Idaho State University Museum, Pocatello.Google Scholar
Dibble, H. L. 1981 Technological Strategies of Stone Tool Production at Tabun Cave (Israel). Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Freidel, D. A. 1979 Culture Areas and Interaction Spheres: Contrasting Approaches to the Emergence of Civilization in the Maya Lowlands. American Antiquity 44:36–54.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. 1975 Introduction. In Archaeology in Northern Belize: British Museum–Cambridge University Corozal Project 1974–75 Interim Report, edited by N. Hammond, pp. 6–14. Centre of Latin American Studies, Cambridge University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. 1980 Early Maya Ceremonial at Cuello, Belize. Antiquity 54:176–190.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. 1991 Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. (editor) 1973 British Museum–Cambridge University Corozal Project, 1973 Interim Report. Centre of Latin American Studies, Cambridge University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. 1976 Archaeology in Northern Belize: Cambridge University Corozal Project 1976 Interim Report. Centre of Latin American Studies, Cambridge University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, N., Pring, D., Wilk, R., Donaghey, S., Saul, F., Wing, E., Miller, A., and Feldman, L. 1979 The Earliest Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey Phase. American Antiquity 44:92–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayden, B. 1987 Traditional Metate Manufacturing in Guatemala Using Chipped Stone Tools. In Lithic Studies Among the Contemporary Highland Maya, edited by B. Hayden, pp. 8–119. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Hirth, K. G. 1984 Early Exchange in Mesoamerica: An Introduction. In Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica, edited by K. G. Hirth, pp. 1–15. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Jelinek, A. J. 1966 Some Distinctive Flakes and Flake Tools from the Llano Estacado. Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Papers 51:399–405.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. K. 1991 Obsidian: A Technological Analysis. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by N. Hammond, pp. 169–172. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Lewenstein, S. 1987 Stone Tool Use at Cerros: The Ethno-archaeological and Use-Wear Evidence. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
McAnany, P. 1986 Lithic Technology and Exchange Among Wetland Farmers of the Eastern Maya Lowlands. Ph.D. dissertation, University of New Mexico. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
McAnany, P. 1989 Stone-Tool Production and Exchange in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: The Consumer Perspective from Pulltrouser Swamp, Belize. American Antiquity 54:332–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAnany, P. A., Piatt, E., and Angelini, M. 1991 A Closer Look at the Producer-Consumer Model for Northern Belize. Paper presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
McSwain, R. 1982 Stone Tools in Secondary Refuse: Lithics from a Late Preclassic Chultun at Cuello, Belize. Atlatl, pp. 1–20. Occasional Papers No. 3. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
McSwain, R. 1989 Production and Exchange of Stone Tools Among Preclassic Maya Communities: Evidence from Cuello, Belize. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
McSwain, R. 1991a Craft Production: Lithics. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by N. Hammond, pp. 160–269. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
McSwain, R. 1991b Trade: Lithics. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by N. Hammond, pp. 192–195. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Marcus, J. 1983 Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads. American Antiquity 48:453–488.Google Scholar
Mitchum, B. 1986 Chipped Stone Artifacts. In Archaeology at Cerros, Belize, Central America: Vol. 1, An Interim Report, edited by R. A. Robertson and D. A. Freidel, pp. 105–115. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.Google Scholar
Nash, M. A. 1980 An Analysis of a Debitage Collection from Colha, Belize. In The Colha Project Second Season, 1980 Interim Report, edited by T. R. Hester, J. D. Eaton, and H. Shafer, pp. 333–352. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Phagan, C. J. 1976 A Method for the Analysis of Flakes in Archaeological Assemblages: A Peruvian Example. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Potter, D. R. 1982 Some Results of the Second Year of Excavation at Operation 2012. In Archaeology at Colha, Belize: The 1981 Interim Report, edited by T. R. Hester, H. R. Shafer, and J. D. Eaton, pp. 98–122. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio and Centro Studi e Richerche Ligabue, Venezia.Google Scholar
Robertson, R. A., and Freidel, D. A. 1986 Archaeology at Cerros, Belize, Central America, Volume I: An Interim Report. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1979 A Technological Study of Two Maya Lithic Workshops at Colha, Belize. In The Colha Project, 1979: A Collection of Interim Papers, edited by T. R. Hester, pp. 28–78. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1983 The Lithic Artifacts of the Pulltrouser Area: Settlements and Fields. In Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize, edited by B. L. Turner and P. D. Harrison, pp. 212–245. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J., and Hester, T. R. 1983 Ancient Maya Chert Workshops in Northern Belize, Central America. American Antiquity 48:519–543.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J., Hester, T. R., and Kelly, T. C. 1980 An Analysis of Lithic Artifacts from 1976 Excavations at Cuello, Belize. Ms. on file, Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Sheets, P. D. 1976 The Terminal Preclassic Lithic Industry of the Southeast Maya Highlands: A Component of the Protoclassic Site-Unit Intrusions into the Lowlands? In Maya Lithic Studies: Papers from the 1976 Belize Field Symposium, edited by T. R. Hester and N. Hammond, pp. 55–70. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Sullivan, A. P. III, and Rozen, K. C. 1985 Debitage Analysis and Archaeological Interpretation. American Antiquity 50:755–779.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1986 Production and Exchange of Stone Tools. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Turner, B. L., and Harrison, P. D. 1983 Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Wilk, R. R., and Wilhite, H. L. Jr. 1991 The Community of Cuello: Patterns of Household and Settlement Change. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by N. Hammond, pp. 118–133. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar