Terminal Classic Chert Use at Nohmul, Belize

Summary

Stone tools and debitage were recovered from Late to Terminal Classic contexts of the site Nohmul in 1978 as part of a dissertation project. Since then, Nohmul has been heavily damaged by a road contractor who used structures from the site as road fill. Additionally, the chert production economy in lowland Mesoamerica has become an issue of great debate. Nohmul is situated roughly 30 kilometers from the Northern Belize chert-bearing zone and 30 kilometers north of Colha, the argued center of lithic production in the region during the Terminal Classic. Consequently, these understudied artifacts from Nohmul have the potential (1) to broaden our understanding of chert consumption and production in the region and (2) to provide researchers additional datasets for comparison to other Terminal Classic assemblages within and outside the Northern Belize Chert Bearing Zone. Our analysis of the Nohmul assemblage has found evidence for local reduction of cobbles, and core maintenance, as well as production and maintenance of tools. We discuss these findings in relation to the broader chert economy in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16965