Prismatic Blademaking, Craftsmanship, and Production

Abstract

Artifacts from an obsidian-blade workshop dump from Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico, are analyzed to determine levels of craftsmanship and craft specialization. Detailed consideration of knapping errors and rejuvenation flakes reveals that the blademaker at Ojo de Agua was moderately skilled at his craft, which he practiced on a part-time basis. The maximum level of output from his workshop was 26,000, or fewer, fine blades per year, or the equivalent of part-time work during a three-month period. Analysis of knapping strategies evident in the workshop debris suggests that the blademaker's overriding strategy was to achieve a balance between effort and knapping risk at the expense of raw material. Access to obsidian cores does not appear to have been a concern, as little effort was made to economize in this respect, and thousands of usable, irregular blades were discarded in the workshop refuse.

Interregional Interaction in Terminal Classic Yucatan: Recent Obsidian and Ceramic Data From Vista Alegre, Quintana Roo, Mexico

“…1.These are not first- and second-series blades in the traditional sense (Clark 1997) but rather blades removed from the sides of a flat core, or a core that was not reduced entirely in the round but only on one side.…”

The other side of the mirror. Maya Late Classic iron-ore artifact production: an insight from Cancuen

“…These specificities complicate both the recognition of a workshop and the estimation of the intensity or scale of production (Costin 1991, 2001, 2007). Indeed, if we take the usual definition of a workshop, which is the place where specialized production was carried out—in other words, production in greater quantities than for the consumption needs of a residential unit (Clark 2003; Costin 2001; Inomata 2001)—this implies a very specific methodological apparatus, and, in particular, quantitative criteria (Clark 1986, 1997) or criteria that would make it possible to determine the degree of know-how involved in such production (Clark 1986, 2003; Roux 1990) and to estimate the quantities produced. In order to recognize possible iron-ore workshops or manufacturing areas in these circumstances, we have therefore identified several criteria to be used, namely: Concentration: a few isolated tesserae do not indicate on-site production. Contexts of concentration: once broken, a mirror will leave a concentration of tesserae, but will not indicate a production area. Presence of unworked raw material, raw or modified nodules, and their context, depending on whether they may be considered offerings, deposits, or areas of rejection. Presence of unfinished artefacts or production waste and their context. Relationship between the presence of production indices and consumption indices of the artefact (Andrieu 2013): if a structure has pyrite nodules, but no tesserae in the burials or associated deposits, this could be a clue that inhabitants were not producing for their own consumption. …”