Recent Advances in Ground Stone Studies in the Eastern Maya Lowlands

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Recent Advances in Ground Stone Studies in the Eastern Maya Lowlands" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Used for common daily tasks, particularly food preparation, ground stone was vital to the functioning of precolumbian Maya households, yet it has historically received little archaeological attention. Fueled by new finds from traditional field archaeology and the growing availability and advances in compositional technologies, interest in the topic has blossomed over the past half-decade. As a result, our knowledge of the precolumbian Maya ground stone economy has greatly expanded with scholars learning more about how objects were crafted, where and how raw materials were being acquired, distribution networks, how they signify broader social meanings, and more. The purpose of this session is to bring together scholars investigating all facets of the precolumbian Maya ground stone economy, from raw material acquisition to end of life discard and beyond to discuss their current research projects, results, and visions for future directions of study.