Stone Tools and Trade on the Southern End of Chetumal Bay

Abstract

This chapter examines regional and long-distance trade in several types of lithic artifacts, both chert and obsidian, among communities on Corozal Bay (southern Chetumal Bay), particularly Santa Rita Corozal and Cerro Maya, and interior northern Belize. In this region, there is substantial evidence for trade in stone tools made in northern Belize as well as exchange in imported obsidian. Although trade in stone tools was a long-standing tradition on the bay, this chapter focuses on the Late Preclassic period. During this era, communities around Corozal Bay participated in a vibrant commerce between sites on the Caribbean coast of Yucatán and settlements further inland, particularly Colha, a commercial scale stone tool production center situated on an outcrop of high quality chert. During the Late Preclassic, tranchet adzes, stemmed macroblades, and oval bifaces were exported from Colha in massive quantity.