For centuries scholars have pondered and speculated over the uses
of the chipped stone implements uncovered at archaeological sites.
Recently a number of researchers have attempted to determine
prehistoric tool function through experimentation and through
observation of the few remaining human groups who still retain this
knowledge. Learning how stone tools were made and used in the past
can tell us a great deal about ancient economic systems, exchange
networks, and the social and political structure of prehistoric
societies. Suzanne M. Lewenstein used the artifacts from Cerros, an
important Late Preclassic (200 BC-AD 200) Mayan site in northern
Belize, to study stone tool function. Through a comprehensive
program of experimentation with stone tool replicas, she was able
not only to infer the tasks performed by individual tool specimens
but also to recognize a wide variety of past activities for which
stone tools were used. Unlike previous works that focused on
hunter-gatherer groups, Stone Tool Use at Cerros is the first
comprehensive experimental study of tool use in an agricultural
society. The lithic data are used in an economic interpretation of
a lowland Mayan community within a hierarchically complex society.
Apart from its significance to Mayan studies, this innovative work
offers the beginnings of a reference collection of identifiable
tool functions that may be documented for sedentary, complex
society. It will be of major interest to all archaeologists and
anthropologists, as well as those interested in economic
specialization and artisanry in complex societies.
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