Initial Experimental Analysis of Soft Hammer Techniques in the Maya Lowlands

Summary

Lowland Maya lithic studies have traditionally focused on the rise of specialization at large urban centers. While many of these studies have focused on form and function of the tools produced, few focused on the technological means of tool production. Maya lithic studies have been assumed a priori to have been created using traditional means of hard-hammer and billet reduction. This paper reviews current evidence for the use of hardwoods in the production of stone tools, as well as provide an experimental comparison of debitage assemblages from Colha, an ancient Maya stone tool production site in northern Belize, and one created by myself using traditional reduction techniques and hammers crafted from tropical hardwood.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21695