Preliminary Results of Household Excavations at the Lithic Production Community of Took’ Witz at El Palmar, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In this paper, we present new research on the lithic production community of Took’ Witz, a hinterland group near the ancient Maya polity of El Palmar in Campeche, Mexico. While previous research at Took’ Witz focused on large-scale utilitarian lithic production, recent investigations provide insight into people’s daily lives. Through excavations at three plazuelas—the West, East, and South Plazuelas—this project examines the impact that lithic production activities had on households at Took’ Witz. These plazuelas are similar in size and configuration but have differences in proximity to the site’s large lithic debitage deposits, as well as differences in topographic location. We sought to investigate how these spatial differences and the community’s economic activities contributed to the material cultures and socioeconomic statuses of each plazuela.

This paper provides the preliminary results of the 2022 field season at Took’ Witz, the first season of a multi-year project. Specifically, we discuss the results of shovel testing throughout plazuelas and test pit excavations in each plazuela. The shovel tests and test pits yielded spatial and temporal distributions of artifacts and chemical residues that represent different activities as well as the socioeconomic status of community members who lived at each plazuela.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36670.0