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Article contents
Tools of the trade: A review of the lithic technologies associated with Classic Maya Quarries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2025
Abstract
Due to the extractive nature of quarrying activities, quarry workers are relatively invisible within the archaeological record. Through a focus on quarry implements, we argue that scholars can identify the individuals involved in the quarrying process as well as evaluate the economic and political networks tied to the extraction of limestone resources. In the Maya region, studies of quarrying tools are evaluated based on contextual and use-wear studies; however, quarrying tools are frequently recovered from mixed assemblages. To increase the identification of quarry workers within the archaeological record, we advance a limestone-quarrier tool kit, which emerges from previous archaeological, experimental, and ethnoarchaeological research. We evaluate this toolkit using a case study from Xultun, Guatemala to consider the multiple sociopolitical identities held by Classic period Maya quarry workers.
Spanish summary
A través de las actividades extractivas de actividades de canteras, canteras y los trabajadores de canteras de piedra de cal son invisibles en el conjunto arqueológico. Detrás de un énfasis en útiles de canteras, investigadores pueden evaluar las actividades involucradas en la extracción y producción de recursos de piedra de cal también identifican los individuos involucrados en extracción de canteras. En la región Maya, los útiles usados en canteras no solamente son encontrados adentro de canteras; son recuperados en los rellenos de construcción y en los contextos residenciales. Usamos evidencia arqueológica, experimental, y etnoarqueológica para discutir los tipos de útiles usados en canteras y cómo identificar los en contextos arqueológicos. Desde la organización, comparación, y evaluación de esta información, presentamos un conjunto lítico usado en las actividades extractivas que pueden ayudar en la identificación de los trabajadores en canteras dentro del conjunto arqueológico.
Enfocamos en una discusión de Xultun, Guatemala, para evaluar el conjunto lítico de canteras de piedra de cal dentro contextos de producción y residenciales. En Xultun, los hogares asociados con canteras son identificados desde los tipos específicos de útiles dentro de las canteras y los hogares y su ubicación al lado de las canteras. Construyendo a partir de las observaciones del conjunto lítico de las áreas residenciales de los trabajadores de canteras, proponemos direcciones futuras que incluyen el estudio de la identidad de los trabajadores de cantares y su integración en sistemas más grandes ambos en los estados del periodo Clásico y las comunidades de práctica. Útiles líticos son unos de los objetos más visibles del proceso de extracción y producción de piedra, proveyendo una manera para identificar estos trabajadores afuera de la cantera. La identificación de los trabajadores informa la identidad socio político y otros aspectos además de las estrategias para su inclusión en trabajo para el estado.
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