A Comparison of Lithic Caches from Ucanal and Xunantunich: Is It Possible to Identify Eccentric Traditions as Communities of Practice at the Regional Level?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceremonial Lithics of Mesoamerica: New Understandings of Technology, Distribution, and Symbolism of Eccentrics and Ritual Caches in the Maya World and Beyond" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Two recently discovered ritual deposits from the eastern Maya Lowlands seem to reveal similarities in the kinds of eccentrics used in Late Classic Maya caches from different political centers. Upon closer examination, however, they do not replicate all of the interred forms. This paper examines these two caches in terms of style, technology, and morphology, and also attempts to identify broader spheres of eccentric flint and obsidian traditions in the Maya world. If these objects can be found to constitute an "eccentric sphere," then it brings up the possibility of identifying communities of practice that supersede political boundaries as may be seen in ceramic types, or art and architecture styles.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ceremonial Lithics of Mesoamerica: New Understandings of Technology, Distribution, and Symbolism of Eccentrics and Ritual Caches in the Maya World and Beyond   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23267