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Human-Stone Interactions in the Precolonial Maya Maya Lowlands: Working and Learning with Limestone
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 December 2025
Abstract
This paper considers the complex entanglements from which stones and stone craftspeople emerged in the precolonial Maya world. Drawing from recent scholarship that emphasizes the relational and processual nature of making and knowing, it adopts a multi-practice perspective to explore how humans transformed limestone into knowable and workable materials and how, in turn, limestone transformed humans into knowledgeable and skilled individuals. Geoarchaeological, archaeometric, and experimental data from the central and northern Maya lowlands are combined to identify choices and preferences in selecting, extracting, and processing calcareous materials, and to examine what these reveal about past knowledge and skills. We then turn our attention to the ways in which quarry workers, lime producers, and toolmakers learned to work with stone. We argue that becoming attuned to limestone was a sociomaterial process that involved repeated interactions with both material elements and social actors. Our discussion highlights the active role of limestone not only in shaping learning experiences but also in facilitating connections between diverse practices, and thus contributing to a dynamic, interconnected landscape of knowledge.
Resumen
Este artículo explora las dinámicas sociomateriales a partir de las cuales se co-constituyeron entidades pétreas y humanas en el mundo maya precolonial. Inspirándose en trabajos recientes que enfatizan la naturaleza relacional y procesual del hacer y del conocer, se adopta una perspectiva multipracticante para investigar cómo las personas transformaron la caliza en materiales inteligibles y trabajables, y cómo, de manera recíproca, la caliza transformó a las personas en sujetos conocedores y competentes. Se integran datos geoarqueológicos, arqueométricos y experimentales procedentes de las Tierras Bajas Mayas centrales y septentrionales con el fin de identificar las estrategias empleadas en la época precolonial para seleccionar, extraer y trabajar materiales calcáreos, así como los saberes y las habilidades que estas estrategias ponen de manifiesto. Luego, se considera cómo los individuos involucrados en la extracción de materiales constructivos, la producción de cal y la manufactura de herramientas adquirieron y perfeccionaron los conocimientos necesarios para desempeñarse como trabajadores competentes. Se sostiene que este proceso de aprendizaje se llevó a cabo mediante interacciones reiteradas y sostenidas tanto con elementos materiales como con redes de actores sociales. A través de este análisis, se destaca el papel activo de la piedra caliza no solo en la constitución de experiencias de aprendizaje, sino también en la formación de nexos entre diversas prácticas, contribuyendo así a un paisaje dinámico e interconectado de saberes.
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