Search

Despite the abundance of lithic debitage at preceramic sites in the Maya Lowlands, these data have rarely been studied in detail. We analyzed the chipped chert debitage from Caye Coco and Fred Smith, two Archaic period sites in the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize, to evaluate strategies of lithic raw material procurement, stone tool production, and tool use. The technological and use-wear analyses of the debitage demonstrate that the sites’ inhabitants procured most of their tool stone from the Northern Belize Chert-bearing Zone (NBCZ) and relied on hard-hammer percussion to produce flakes for use as expedient tools and some crude bifaces and unifaces. Although similar patterns of raw material procurement and tool production are demonstrated at both sites, some differences exist, including bipolar reduction at Caye Coco. Based on use-wear analysis, the debitage at the island site of Caye Coco was primarily used for working wood, shell, and hard contact materials and for digging soil. On the shore at Fred Smith, most use-wear is consistent with working wood, plants, and hard contact materials, as well as digging soil. For both sites, analyses suggest the increasing importance of a horticultural subsistence strategy with reduced mobility and reliance on some cultigens that were locally produced.

This introduction to the Special Section provides a summary of our current understanding of the first humans and the first Maya in these regions and presents seven articles that examine these critical periods from varied, intersecting perspectives. The Introduction begins with a brief history of early preceramic research (primarily in northern Belize) and provides a current chronology for the Paleoindian, Archaic, and Early Preclassic periods. The Paleoindian and Archaic (ca. 11,500–900b.c.) periods are discussed in terms of the origins of the first peoples in these regions, lithic technology, subsistence, and early ritual. Next, a summary of archaeological evidence for the transition to the first villages (ca. 1200–800b.c.) is provided, with examinations of a horticultural lifestyle, the earliest ceramics, increased socio-economic complexity, new ideology and ritual practices, and developing social inequality. Proto-Mayan and Mayan languages—their dating, origin, and early lexicon—are discussed in relation to the first Maya. Material culture and language are explored with regard to conceptions of Maya culture.

The transition from the Late Archaic to the Late Early Formative period witnessed profound changes in the Maya lowlands. In addition to the establishment of the first settlements and agrarian communities, this critical phase of cultural development heralded the introduction of ceramics, saw changes in lithic technology, gave rise to inter-regional trade and exchange, and witnessed the introduction of a complex symbolic system expressed on portable objects. In this article, we synthesize data collected over the past several decades by various archaeological projects in western Belize to provide an overview of the cultural changes that unfolded during the Late Archaic to Late Early Formative period in the Upper Belize River Valley. We also provide evidence indicating that it was during this critical transitional period that we begin to see the establishment of several cultural traditions that became uniquely lowland Maya.

In line with engineering research focusing on metal tools, techniques to record the attribute of ‘edge sharpness’ on stone tools can include both mechanical and micro-geometric approaches. Mechanically-defined sharpness techniques used in lithic studies are now well established and align with engineering research. The single micro-geometrically-defined technique—tip curvature—is novel relative to approaches used elsewhere, and has not explicitly been tested for its ability to describe the attribute of sharpness. Here, using experimental flakes produced on basalt, chert, and quartzite sourced at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), we investigate the relationship between tip curvature and the force and work required to initiate a cut. We do this using controlled cutting tests and analysis of high-resolution microCT scans. Results indicate cutting force and work to display significant dependent relationships with tip curvature, suggesting the latter to be an appropriate metric to record the sharpness of lithic tools. Differences in relationship strength were observed dependent on the measurement scales and edge distances used. Tip curvature is also demonstrated to distinguish between the sharpness of different raw materials. Our data also indicate the predictive relationship between tip curvature and cutting force/work to be one of the strongest yet identified between a stone tool morphological attribute and its cutting performance. Together, this study demonstrates tip curvature to be an appropriate attribute for describing the sharpness of a stone tool’s working edge in diverse raw material scenarios, and that it can be highly predictive of a stone tool’s functional performance.

Archaeological investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project at Cahal Pech uncovered several Terminal Classic (a.d.750–900) peri-abandonment deposits and activity areas at this Belize River Valley center. The deposits contained a diverse assemblage of cultural remains located above and between collapsed architecture, associated with evidence for burning activities. In the past, archaeologists have generally interpreted similar assemblages as “problematic deposits”—“de facto” refuse (garbage)—as associated with building termination and desecration, or as evidence for rapid abandonment during the violent destruction of these ancient cities. It is argued here that the microstratigraphic excavation and contextual analysis of these features provide limited support for these explanations. Alternatively, we suggest that the deposits are more likely associated with peri-abandonment rituals that were conducted by a reduced remnant population at Cahal Pech, or by small groups who continued to reside in the site's periphery during the last stages of the Terminal Classic period.

Problematic deposits, containing different types of artifacts and skeletal remains, are typically recovered on or near the surfaces of the terminal phase of elite civic-ceremonial architecture at ancient Maya sites. These contexts often date to the Terminal Classic period (~a.d.750–900). They have been variously interpreted as evidence for site abandonment, squatting, warfare, or dedication or termination rituals. Sixteen chert bifaces were recovered from problematic deposits at the bases of Structures A2 and A3 in the elite Plaza A at Cahal Pech, Belize. Stone tools from problematic deposits are rarely examined in significant detail. Based on stylistic, metric, and use-wear analyses, the bifaces were likely produced locally, used during important hunting or warfare activities, and then ritually deposited in the Terminal Classic. These bifaces were likely hafted to spearthrower darts and represented “success” at hunting or fighting. The recovery of weaponry in problematic deposits that is not the direct result of warfare is an important observation because Mayanists have generally interpreted their presence in these contexts as evidence of warfare. The fact that the points were recovered in groups of seven and nine may indicate that they had important symbolic meanings that connected them to supernatural or mythological places or entities.

Excavations at Crawford Bank in Crooked Tree, Belize, exposed a lithic deposit with no associated ceramics. The deposit primarily consists of chipped chert and chalcedony tools and debitage...

The application of micro- and nanotechnology, adopted from engineering and materials sciences, is proving valuable in studying stone tool surfaces. Measurement systems for surface characterization have been coupled with parameters that allow for the mathematical characterization of stone tool surfaces. For this project, a Sensofar S neox imaging confocal microscope (ICM)/focus variation microscope (FVM) and an Olympus LEXT OLS4100 laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) are used to mathematically document the edge cross-sections on five chipped stone tools made from basalt, chert, obsidian, and quartz. Based on the surface documentation of edge cross-sections, a new algorithm for the calculation of edge curvature at multiple scales is tested. Results indicate the confocal systems experience difficulty documenting edge cross-sections. However, focus variation microscopy can mathematically document edge cross-sections on stone tools made from basalt and chert, thus permitting the calculation of edge curvature over multiple scales of measurement. Microscale documentation of edge cross-sections and calculation of edge curvature will be helpful in understanding the relationships between tool edges, edge sharpness, edge attrition, and microwear. Comparisons between these three measurement systems (ICM, LSCM, FVM) provide information necessary for further method development in edge cross-section measurement and the potential to generate more robust edge analysis protocols.

Ancient Maya material culture can be investigated from the perspective of ritual economy as a means to interpret the dynamic interrelationships between economic processes and the use of objects in ritual activities. Such interrelationships include access to raw materials, control of production and consumption, and the legitimate use of objects in various activities, including rites and performances, as constituted through a culture’s worldview. This paper presents an exploration of the relationship between obsidian blades and bloodletting in Maya ritual contexts from the perspective of ritual economy, highlighting the use of blades in Actun Uayazba Kab (Handprint Cave) in Western Belize. The roles of producers, consumers, practitioners, and observers are examined in terms of gender, status, and power by tracing the functional and ideological characteristics of obsidian blades, as both objects used to let blood and as symbols of bloodletting, based on evidence derived from microscopic use-wear analysis and iconography. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric information is employed to assist in contextualizing ancient Maya ritual activity in caves and to provide a cultural lens to reconstruct how bloodletting was connected to resource production and consumption, the creation and maintenance of identity, and the allocation of power among Maya participants through ritual.

When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are frequently viewed as blood-letters used for auto-sacrifice. Most evidence supporting this interpretation is circumstantial and derives from iconographic and ethnohistoric sources. Such a deductive approach does not provide a means to determine whether individual blades were used to let blood. In contrast, microscopic use-wear analysis of lithic artifacts can be used to examine blades for evidence of their use, and—provided comparative experimental data are available—to determine if they were blood-letters. The technological and use-wear analyses of 48 obsidian blades recovered from a Late Classic (c. 550–650 CE) dedicatory cache at the site of Pook's Hill, Belize, serve as a test case to explore the relationship between obsidian blades and ancient Maya auto-sacrificial blood-letting. The results of the analyses indicate that some blades from the cache may have been used to let blood; however, not all obsidian blades appear to have been used in the same way. The obsidian blood-letters recovered from the cache were used in cutting, piercing, and piercing-twisting motions. Although some blades were used to let blood, the edge and surface wear on most of the used obsidian blades are consistent with other functions, including cutting meat/skin/fresh hide, cutting or sawing wood and dry hide, cutting or sawing other soft and hard materials, and scraping hard materials. Clearly, not all blades from this ritual deposit were blood-letters, which raises questions about the manner in which such a ritual deposit was formed and the nature of ritual activity associated with caching behavior at Classic period Maya sites.

Technological, metric, and microscopic use-wear analyses of the chipped chert and obsidian artifacts from the Chaa Creek chultun present a complex use-history in this underground space. Most, if not all, of the lithics are secondary refuse deposited at this location from other areas of initial production and use. The lithic sub-assemblages within the chultun represent at least two discrete deposition events of expediently produced flakes of local chert used for various domestic/household tasks. The lithics from the construction core of the platform on the surface appear to be secondary refuse that is the product of different formation processes. The number of large whole chert flakes with use wear resulting from contact with wood and stone from the platform construction core suggests an origin from a location or locations in which crafting occurred. By focusing on the stone tools from discrete stratigraphic deposits, it is possible to provide more detailed reconstructions of the various episodes of chultun use

The ancient Maya engaged in complex rituals to communicate with the supernatural world of gods and ancestors. Among the most important of these rituals was auto-sacrificial blood-letting. Blood-letting was accomplished using a variety of sharp implements, including bone awls and needles, stingray spines, thorny ropes, and obsidian blades. Our understanding of the importance of auto-sacrificial blood-letting to the Maya and the means by which it was done are primarily based on the recovery of material culture from ritually significant contexts, hieroglyphic inscriptions, iconographic representations produced in various media, and Spanish ethnohistoric documents. Based on this information, obsidian blades recovered from ceremonial or ritual contexts, like caches, burials, and caves, are usually assumed to have been blood-letters. Past interpretations of blades as blood-letters have not typically included any use-wear analysis of the blades themselves. This paper presents the results of a microscopic use-wear experiment to replicate one type of auto-sacrificial blood-letting method – piercing using obsidian lancets. In this experiment, seven obsidian lancet replicates and two flake splinter replicates were used to pierce domestic pig skin/flesh 35 times each. The use-wear that developed on the experimental tools would be helpful in identifying suspected blood-letters recovered archaeologically. Importantly, the combinations of wear features observed on the obsidian replicates differed when tools were only pushed into the pig tissue versus when they were pushed into the tissue and rotated. By combining the results of use-wear analyses like those presented in this paper with a consideration of context of recovery, the identification of obsidian blades used as blood-letters by the ancient Maya will be much more likely.

Auto-sacrificial blood-letting was an important ritual practice for the ancient Maya. Letting blood using implements like sharpened bone, stingray spines, thorny ropes, and obsidian blades provided the Maya the means to petition their ancestors and the gods for rain, good harvests, and success in warfare, among other needs and desires. The prevailing assumption is that obsidian blades recovered from ceremonial or ritual contexts, like caches, burials, and caves, were used for blood-letting. This belief is primarily founded on contextual, epigraphic, iconographic, and ethnohistoric information. With some exceptions, however, this interpretation does not typically include any use-wear analysis of the blades themselves. Reasons for the limited application of use-wear analysis to identify obsidian blood-letters recovered from ceremonial or ritual contexts include observational difficulties associated with the minimal wear development resulting from their short term use in this activity and contact with a soft and yielding medium like human flesh. This paper explores an approach to assist in identifying obsidian blades likely used for auto-sacrificial blood-letting based on high-power microscopic (400 ×) use-wear analysis. The need for this experimental work was initiated by the recovery of some obsidian blades from Actun Uayazba Kab, an ancient Maya cave in Belize, that were suspected blood-letters. Emphasis is placed on the observation and differentiation of wear features produced on 26 experimental obsidian blade segments used to cut pig skin/flesh, as a proxy for human flesh, as well as soft cow hide, fresh pig bone, fresh cohune palm fronds, and queen conch shell. The wear on the suspected blood-letters from Actun Uayazba Kab is similar to that produced on the experimental replicates after very minimal use (30 strokes). Moreover, the combination of wear features on the skin/flesh, hide, bone, plant, and shell can be distinguished from one another even after short-term use.

In complex sedentary societies, debitage is often ignored when archaeologists turn their attention to the functional items necessary for the completion of various tasks. Lithic production debris recovered from ancient Maya sites is very rarely examined in this regard. The use-wear analysis of debitage from Maya sites not only assists in identifying the chipped stone artifacts that served as informal, ad hoc or expedient tools, but also reveals how the tools were utilized. Use-wear analysis of the chipped chert and chalcedony debitage from two sites in Belize, namely Terminal Classic (A.D. 830 – 950) Pook’s Hill and Late Postclassic-Early Spanish Colonial (ca. A.D. 1400 – 1700) San Pedro, demonstrates the important role of expedient tools in the daily lives of the ancient Maya. This study of use-wear also reveals the variation in flake use in terms of tool size and edge angle. Analysis of the debitage from Pook’s Hill and San Pedro enables a more complete understanding—than would be gained from a study of finished formal tools, alone—of the larger technological, socio-economic and environmental implications of settlement in a forested river valley on the mainland versus an offshore caye.

The adoption of an agricultural lifeway is considered one of the most significant cultural events in prehistory. Microwear analysis of stone harvesting tools is among the many approaches used to document the transition to agriculture in the Near East. Traditionally, these microwear analyses rely on the use of optical microscopy and visual-verbal descriptions of wear criteria. In addition to traditional optical microscopy, ongoing research into the applications of surface metrology for the characterization of microwear traces has contributed to the development of quantitative microwear methods. Despite significant research into the quantification of lithic microwear polishes, there has been comparatively little research on the quantification of tool edge angles to understand function. In this paper, we test a new method for the quantification of areal curvature of stone harvesting tool edges at multiple scales using data collected with focus variation microscopy. These calculations are based on curvature tensors of the measured surface topographies along tool edge cross sections. This method allows calculation of maximal and minimal curvatures at each location and scale. For this paper, we analyze a set of experimental microliths used as cereal harvesting tools using changes in multiscalar areal edge curvature to mathematically document harvesting intensity (duration of use). This experimental research presents a new method for documenting used stone tool edges that will contribute to our understanding of how harvesting tools were used, curated, and discarded in the past, giving insight into the food collection practices of early farmers.

Microscopic use-wear analysis of the obsidian artifacts recovered from Late Postclassic-Early Spanish Colonial occupations at the site of San Pedro yields useful information for interpreting Maya socio-economic activities. Obsidian traded into the community was used for a variety of tasks with emphasis placed on subsistence and domestic manufacture associated with marine resources, including intermittent and contingent crafting. Trade in obsidian and marine resources likely provided San Pedro community members access to inland economic networks and enabled the acquisition of resources not found on the caye. Microwear on chert and obsidian tools indicates relative stability in the traditional lives of the San Pedro Maya in the 15th–17th centuries a.d. Although the San Pedranos likely suffered to some degree from coastal raiding and the introduction of epidemic diseases by the Spaniards, their off-shore location provided them some protection from the upheaval experienced by the Maya in mainland communities.

Lithic microwear develops as a result of abrasive friction between a stone tool’s working edge and the surface of a worked material. Variation in the loading (i.e. force) applied to a stone tool during its use alters the amount of friction created between these two materials and should subsequently affect the level of any wear accrued. To date, however, no comprehensive account of the interaction between variable working loads and wear development has been undertaken. If such a relationship does exist, it may be possible to calculate the loading levels applied to stone tool artefacts during their use. Here, we use 30 basalt flakes knapped from raw materials collected in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, in a controlled experimental cutting task of standardized duration. Loading levels are recorded throughout with each flake being used with a predetermined load, ranging between 150 g and 4.5 kg. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), coupled with the relative area (Srel) algorithm, is used to mathematically document the surface texture of the flakes to determine whether variation in loading does in fact significantly affect the amount of wear on the flake surfaces. Results indicate that working load does play a role in the development of lithic microwear; however, its interaction with other variables, including the naturally rough surface of basalt, may reduce the likelihood of its accurate determination on tools recovered from archaeological deposits.

Over a decade of experimental lithic use-wear analysis using laser profilometry has led to the development of a method to measure surface modification due to wear in a reliable fashion. This research demonstrates that surface roughness can be documented on experimental stone tools made from a variety of raw material types, including chert, flint, and obsidian, using the laser profilometer, but that determining root mean square roughness (Rq) and a fractal dimension (Dr) may not always be possible. However, when coupled with scale-sensitive fractal analysis, specifically relative length (RL), and the F-test (MSR), it is possible to mathematically discriminate both used and unused surfaces on flint flakes, as well as used flake surfaces worn against different contact materials. This research has also identified some potential limitations associated with measuring stone tool surfaces using the profilometer, which affect this method's ability to quantify surface roughness on some experimental stone tools.

It is widely accepted that the ancient Maya practiced sacrificial bloodletting to communicate with their dead ancestors and the gods. Implements to draw blood included a variety of tools, including stone blades made of obsidian. Evidence for bloodletting is based on ethnohistoric accounts provided by the Spaniards, ethnographic observation of modern Maya rituals, iconography depicting bloodletting, hieroglyphic references, and the recovery of artifacts from ritual contexts. However, evidence for bloodletting based on the surface wear on the obsidian blades themselves is inconclusive and difficult to identify. Recent work for quantifying use-wear on stone tools using laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) and scale-sensitive fractal analysis, based on relative area (RelA), has led to an experimental program to quantitatively document wear patterns on replicated obsidian tools. Three obsidian blade segments were used to cut raw beef as a proxy for bloodletting. Our results demonstrate that surface roughness on the blade segments can be documented using RelA, but discrimination of the used from the previously unused surface was only possible in one of the three cases; the original surface structure of an obsidian blade plays a role in wear formation and its subsequent documentation based on RelA.

Obsidian artifacts are commonly recovered as funerary items in ancient Maya burials. Young and old individuals of both sexes and different social classes were buried with different quantities of obsidian, primarily in the form of prismatic blades. Although obsidian blades can serve many functions, those recovered from funerary contexts have traditionally been interpreted as bloodletters. Support for this interpretation has come from ethnohistoric sources, iconography, and the recovery of obsidian blades from locations with similar ritual associations, such as caches and caves. However, based on use-wear analyses it has been demonstrated that not all blades from caches and caves are bloodletters. In this paper we report on the findings of the technological, use-wear, and residue analyses of obsidian artifacts recovered from burials at the ancient Maya site of Pook's Hill, in modern-day Belize. Based on use-wear analysis, three of the blades from the Pook's Hill burials were likely used as bloodletters. Most blades from the burials were used for a variety of other tasks. Moreover, two blades recovered from non-burial contexts at Pook's Hill were used as bloodletters based on use-wear analysis. The results also suggest that the cutting-edge/mass ratio calculated for blades used as bloodletters may serve as a predictor of blade choice for bloodletting.

Six additional barbed bifaces have been recovered from the Cayo District of Western Belize, bringing the total number of known Late Archaic Lowe and Sawmill points from this part of the country to 12. Not only do these six points provide more evidence for a greater Late Archaic hunter-gatherer presence in this part of the country, but differences in their stems suggest the possibility of more variation in point styles than previously known. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of the 12 points from Western Belize and comparisons to others discovered in Northern and Northwestern Belize and the Sibun Gorge of Central Belize, we propose that there may have been three different styles of Lowe points used by Late Archaic food-foragers in Belize. However, two of these three possible Lowe point styles are only represented by a single artifact each, rendering more detailed explanations of sources of stylistic variation difficult. Unlike the Lowe points, the observed differences in the Sawmill po...

Although previous use-wear studies involving quartz and quartzite have been undertaken by archaeologists, these are comparatively few in number. Moreover, there has been relatively little effort to quantify use-wear on stone tools made from quartzite. The purpose of this article is to determine the effectiveness of a measurement system, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), to document the surface roughness or texture of experimental Mistassini quartzite scrapers used on two different contact materials (fresh and dry deer hide). As in previous studies using LSCM on chert, flint, and obsidian, this exploratory study incorporates a mathematical algorithm that permits the discrimination of surface roughness based on comparisons at multiple scales. Specifically, we employ measures of relative area (RelA) coupled with the F-test to discriminate used from unused stone tool surfaces, as well as surfaces of quartzite scrapers used on dry and fresh deer hide. Our results further demonstrate the effect of raw material variation on use-wear formation and its documentation using LSCM and RelA.

The recent articles by Vardi et al., “Tracing sickle blade levels of wear and discard patterns: a new sickle gloss quantification method” ( Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 1716–1724), and Goodale et al., “Sickle blade life-history and the transition to agriculture: an early Neolithic case study from Southwest Asia” ( Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 1192–1201), are two papers that seek to address interesting archaeological questions through the development of new approaches to measuring the duration of stone tool use. Here comment is made on the fashion in which research design and analytic procedures contribute to limit the capabilities of each of the techniques presented. Whilst the authors support the investigation of novel techniques, in order for the results of any use-wear analysis to be accepted as reliable the methods employed must be demonstrably sound.

This pilot study tests the reliability of laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) to quantitatively measure wear on experimental obsidian tools. To our knowledge, this is the first use of confocal microscopy to study wear on stone flakes made from an amorphous silicate like obsidian. Three-dimensional surface roughness or texture area scans on three obsidian flakes used on different contact materials (hide, shell, wood) were documented using the LSCM to determine whether the worn surfaces could be discriminated using area-scale analysis, specifically relative area (RelA). When coupled with the F-test, this scale-sensitive fractal analysis could not only discriminate the used from unused surfaces on individual tools, but was also capable of discriminating the wear histories of tools used on different contact materials. Results indicate that such discriminations occur at different scales. Confidence levels for the discriminations at different scales were established using the F-test (mean square ratios or MSRs). In instances where discrimination of surface roughness or texture was not possible above the established confidence level based on MSRs, photomicrographs and RelA assisted in hypothesizing why this was so.

Although substantial work has been done to reconstruct ancient Maya coastal trade from the Late Preclassic through the Early Postclassic periods (400 BC–AD 1200), relatively little is known about trade activity along the Caribbean Coast in Late Postclassic and Early Colonial times (ca. AD 1400 to 1700). By focusing on obsidian artifacts from the site of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, Belize, one of the few coastal sites for which data are available for the Postclassic to Colonial transition, we attempt to understand how Maya procurement, production, and use of obsidian were organized, and the effect the arrival of the Spaniards had on access to obsidian. The Spanish presence in the Yucatan Peninsula clearly changed Maya life in numerous ways; however, the evidence from San Pedro suggests strongly—although it is not yet unequivocal—that Maya communities along the coast were still able to access obsidian, primarily from the Guatemalan highlands. With comparatively good access to obsidian for blade pr...

Although considerable progress has been made by archaeologists and materials scientists toward the development of a method to quantitatively document use-wear on stone tool surfaces, experimentation and refinement of methods continue. The experimental program tests root mean square roughness (rms or Rq) of measured profiles for their ability to quantitatively discriminate the surface textures, or roughness, of experimental stone tools used on five contact materials (shell, wood, dry hide, dry antler, and soaked antler). It employs a method for evaluating texture characterization parameters based on their ability to discriminate wear, and to determine a level of confidence for the discrimination, using the F-test. The results of this experiment demonstrate that Rq is not consistently reliable in discriminating measured profiles based on the wear caused by different contact materials on the stone tools.

Archaeological investigations at the site of Marco Gonzalez on Ambergris Caye, Belize have revealed a long continuous occupation sequence extendingfrom at least the Late Preclassic into the Late Postclassic periods. This location, so rich in many marine-based resources and well placed to serve as a trading seaport, was completely lacking in suitable lithic raw material for chipped stone tool manufacture. Consequently, the Marco Gonzalez Maya developed complex strategies for the curation ofthe limited chert and chalcedony tools importedfrom the mainland. The inhabitants ofthis site focused on maintaining reusing and recycling the formal stone tools to reduce the rate oflithic raw material consumption and extend tool use-lives. They relied on the informal component ofthe assemblage for the further completion oftasks on the caye. To reconstruct the specific patterns of stone tool procurement and use at Marco Gonzalez, the lithic assemblage was examined in terms of tool typology, raw material types, r...

Use-wear analysis of the chipped chert and chalcedony tools excavated from San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize, has provided substantial insight into the activities performed by the Maya living at the site from the Classic through Historic periods. The determination of tool action and the materials that were worked by the ancient inhabitants reveals that most activities concentrated on basic subsistence in a coastal environment, with the possibility of small-scale craft-production for local consumption and some regional trade. There is only minor variation in activities undertaken by the San Pedro Maya throughout the lengthy occupation of this site based on the distribution of stone tools with use-related wear.

Based on previous research using a UBM laser profilometry technique that proved successful in recognizing and quantitatively documenting different wear polishes on stone tools used to work different contact materials and the identification of a fractal dimension (D r ) on some used tool surfaces, additional experiments using the same technique have been undertaken to elaborate upon this work. The focus of these experiments using the same technique concerns the study of wear polish development and associated changes in stone surface microtopography. Questions relating to the stage at which the first identification of different contact material polishes is possible and when the fractal dimension (D r ) is manifested on tool surfaces are investigated.

In the original publication of this article, the title was printed as “Four Preceramic Points Newly Discovered in Belize: A Comment on Stemp et al. (1996:279–299).” The article has been updated to the correct title. The authors apologize for this error.

Lithic use-wear analysis, despite being a well-accepted research tool, is still undermined by its qualitative nature. An effort has been made to quantify use-wear analysis, but only with limited success. This paper will present a new method of analysis based on a non-destructive measurement technique, laser profilometry. This optical technique, when coupled with appropriate software, allows for easy measurement of roughness parameters at several length scales. This accounts for the length-scale dependence of surface topography and allows for its quantitative description. Further, the information from this type of measurement can, in some cases, be described by fractal geometry leading to new interpretive possibilities. Initial results showed that measurements could be made on several different chert and obsidian samples and that these could be distinguished based on their wear histories.

Although previous use-wear studies involving quartz and quartzite have been undertaken by archaeologists, these are comparatively few in number. Moreover, there has been relatively little effort to quantify use-wear on stone tools made from quartzite. The purpose of this article is to determine the effectiveness of a measurement system, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), to document the surface roughness or texture of experimental Mistassini quartzite scrapers used on two different contact materials (fresh and dry deer hide). As in previous studies using LSCM on chert, flint, and obsidian, this exploratory study incorporates a mathematical algorithm that permits the discrimination of surface roughness based on comparisons at multiple scales. Specifically, we employ measures of relative area (RelA) coupled with the F-test to discriminate used from unused stone tool surfaces, as well as surfaces of quartzite scrapers used on dry and fresh deer hide. Our results further demonstrate the effect of raw material variation on use-wear formation and its documentation using LSCM and RelA.

This pilot study tests the reliability of laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) to quantitatively measure wear on experimental obsidian tools. To our knowledge, this is the first use of confocal microscopy to study wear on stone flakes made from an amorphous silicate like obsidian. Three-dimensional surface roughness or texture area scans on three obsidian flakes used on different contact materials (hide, shell, wood) were documented using the LSCM to determine whether the worn surfaces could be discriminated using area-scale analysis, specifically relative area (RelA). When coupled with the F-test, this scale-sensitive fractal analysis could not only discriminate the used from unused surfaces on individual tools, but was also capable of discriminating the wear histories of tools used on different contact materials. Results indicate that such discriminations occur at different scales. Confidence levels for the discriminations at different scales were established using the F-test (mean square ratios or MSRs). In instances where discrimination of surface roughness or texture was not possible above the established confidence level based on MSRs, photomicrographs and RelA assisted in hypothesizing why this was so.

Based on the need to develop a method to reliably and objectively document and discriminate the use-wear on archaeological stone tools, Stemp et al. (2009) tested whether the surface roughness measured on experimentally worn stone tools used on different contact materials could be discriminated. Results of these initial experiments indicated that discrimination was possible and also determined the scales over which this discrimination occurred. In this article, we report the results of additional experiments using the same method on a second set of tools to test its reliability and reproducibility. In these experiments, four flint flakes were intensively used for 20 min on either conch shell or dry deer antler. The surface roughness or texture of the stone tools was measured by generating 2D profiles using a UBM laser profilometer. Relative lengths (RLs) calculated from the profiles were used directly as characterization parameters and subsequently compared statistically at each scale using the F-test to establish a level of confidence for the differentiation at each scale represented in the measured profiles. The mean square ratios of measurement data were used to determine whether the variation in roughness was statistically significant and to what level of confidence. The scales at which there was a high level of confidence were the ones at which the tools were differentiable. The results of these experiments confirm our previous findings that RLs, over certain scale ranges, can discriminate the stone tool surface wear profiles produced by the different contact materials. SCANNING 32: 233–243, 2010. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Microwear (use-wear) analysis is a powerful method for identifying tool use that archaeologists and anthropologists employ to determine the activities undertaken by both humans and their hominin ancestors. Knowledge of tool use allows for more accurate and detailed reconstructions of past behavior, particularly in relation to subsistence practices, economic activities, conflict and ritual. It can also be used to document changes in these activities over time, in different locations, and by different members of society, in terms of gender and status, for example. Both stone and bone tools have been analyzed using a variety of techniques that focus on the observation, documentation and interpretation of wear traces. Traditionally, microwear analysis relied on the qualitative assessment of wear features using microscopes and often included comparisons between replicated tools used experimentally and the recovered artifacts, as well as functional analogies dependent upon modern implements and those used by indigenous peoples from various places around the world. Determination of tool use has also relied on the recovery and analysis of both organic and inorganic residues of past worked materials that survived in and on artifact surfaces. To determine tool use and better understand the mechanics of wear formation, particularly on stone and bone, archaeologists and anthropologists have increasingly turned to surface metrology and tribology to assist them in their research. This paper provides a history of the development of traditional microwear analysis in archaeology and anthropology and also explores the introduction and adoption of more modern methods and technologies for documenting and identifying wear on stone and bone tools, specifically those developed for the engineering sciences to study surface structures on micro- and nanoscales. The current state of microwear analysis is discussed as are the future directions in the study of microwear on stone and bone tools.

Working load is one factor that affects wear on stone tools. Despite the recognition of the importance of the relationship between working load and the development of microwear on stone tools, there have been few attempts to quantify differences in wear due to changes in load. In a controlled experiment, we used 30 basalt flakes knapped from raw material collected in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, Africa, to cut oak branches for the same number of strokes. For each flake, a different loading level was applied starting at 150 g and increasing by increments of 150 g to a maximum load of 4.5 kg. A laser scanning confocal microscope was used to mathematically document the surface texture of the flakes. The worn surface data were compared using area-scale fractal complexity (Asfc), calculated from relative areas, to determine the degree to which variation in loading significantly affected the amount of wear on the flake surfaces. Our results indicate that working load does play a role in the development of lithic microwear on these flakes and that discrimination of two worn flake surfaces, using mean square ratios of Asfc, based on variable load is consistently possible with load differences between ~100 g and 4.5 kg. However, discrimination of microwear on flake surfaces was not consistent for all load level differences and discrimination became less consistent when working load differences were below ~100 g.