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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 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 (R q) and a fractal dimension (D r) 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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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 ( Rel A) 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 Rel A. SCANNING 35:28-39, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1999-2005, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project excavated Pook's Hill (PKH-1), a single plazuela group located in the Roaring Creek Valley, Cayo District, Belize. Artifacts recovered at Pook's Hill date predominantly to the Late and Terminal Classic (AD. 700-950) and can be stratigraphically segregated into two distinct occupation phases, namely a Late Classic (AD. 700-830) and a Terminal Classic-Early Postclassic (AD. 830-9507+) phase. The chipped chert and chalcedony tools from the two phases were included in a combined program of low- and high-power use-wear analysis to reconstruct aspects of the socioeconomy. The results of the analyses reveal that the site's inhabitants produced and used both formal and informal tools for a wide variety of subsistence and domestic tasks, and for the production of some utilitarian items. Stone tool use-wear evidence and the recovery of small quantities of other artifacts suggest that the Maya from Pook's Hill produced more valuable objects of bone, stone, and shell, although it is difficult to accurately identify craft-production activities at the site from the context of recovery. Despite some variation in the specific activities undertaken with the chipped stone tools over time, the organization of lithic technology at Pook's Hill did not change significantly from the Late Classic into the Early Postclassic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 (Dr) 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 (Dr) is manifested on tool surfaces are investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]