Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T14:34:02.404Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lithic Deposits as Waste Management: Reply to Healan and to Hester and Shafer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hattula Moholy-Nagy
Hattula Moholy-Nagy*
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Here I can only briefly address some of the issues raised by Healan (1992) and by Hester and Shafer (1992). I conclude that although ethnoarchaeology can provide generally valid analogies to lithic production and discard in the past, experimental archaeology will be needed to understand specific details of site formation.

Debitage disposal is affected, among other factors, by site size, settlement density, and length of occupation. The investigation of intersite variability in waste management will give us important insights into the organization of lithic industries in Prehispanic Mesoamerica.

Aquí me refiero brevemente a los argumentos señalados por Healan (1992) y por Hester y Shafer (1992). Yo concluyo que aunque la etnoarqueología puede darnos analogías generalmente válidas para la producción y desecho líticos en el pasado, la arqueología experimental será necesaria para explicar detalles específicos de los procesos de formación de sitio.

Los patrones de desecho de basura lítica son afectados, entre otros factores, por el tamaño del sitio y por la densidad y duración de su ocupación. El estudio de la variabilidad entre sitios en su manera de disponer de sus desechos líticos podrá darnos datos importantes sobre la organización de las industrias líticas en Mesoamérica prehispánica.

Type
Comments
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 249 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Arnold, P. J. III 1990 The Organization of Refuse Disposal and Ceramic Production Within Contemporary Mexican House-lots. American Anthropologist 92:915–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behm, J. A. 1983 Flake Concentrations: Distinguishing Between Flintworking Activity Areas and Secondary Deposits. Lithic Technology 12(1):9–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, J. E. 1989 Flintknapping and Debitage Disposal Among the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. In The Ethnoarchaeology of Refuse Disposal, edited by E. Staski and L. D. Sutro, pp. 63–78. Anthropological Research Papers No. 42. Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Coe, W. R. 1990 Excavations in the Great Plaza, North Terrace, and North Acropolis of Tikal, vols. 2 and 3. Tikal Report No. 14. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Gibson, E. C. 1989 The Organization of Late Preclassic Maya Lithic Economy in the Eastern Lowlands. In Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by P. A. McAnany and B. L. Isaac, pp. 115–138. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement 4. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Hall, G. D. 1989 Realm of Death: Royal Mortuary Customs and Polity Interaction in the Classic Maya Lowlands. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Healan, D. M. 1992 A Comment on Moholy-Nagy's “The Misidentification of Lithic Workshops.” Latin American Antiquity 3:240–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hester, T. R., and Shafer, H. J. 1992 Lithic Workshops Revisited: Comments on Moholy-Nagy. Latin American Antiquity 3:243–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAnany, P. A. 1989 Introduction. In Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by P. A. McAnany and B. L. Isaac, pp. 1–13. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement 4. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
McSwain, R. 1991 A Comparative Evaluation of the Producer-Consumer Model for Lithic Exchange in Northern Belize, Central America. Latin American Antiquity 2:337–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaels, G. H. 1989 Craft Specialization in the Early Postclassic of Colha. Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by P. A. McAnany and B. L. Isaac, pp. 139–183. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement 4. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Moholy-Nagy, H. 1990 The Misidentification of Mesoamerican Lithic Workshops. Latin American Antiquity 1:268–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1972 Archaeological Context and Systemic Context. American Antiquity 37:156–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shafer, H. J., and Hester, T. R. 1991 Lithic Craft Specialization and Product Distribution at the Maya Site of Colha, Belize. World Archaeology 23:79–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simms, S. R. 1988 The Archaeological Structure of a Bedouin Camp. Journal of Archaeological Science 15:197–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simms, S. R., and Heath, K. M. 1990 Site Structure of the Orbit Inn: An Application of Ethnoarchaeology. American Antiquity 55:797–813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smyth, M. P. 1990 Maize Storage Among the Puuc Maya: The Development of an Archaeological Method. Ancient Mesoamerica 1:51–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar