Bone, shell, and lithic evidence for crafting in elite Maya households at Aguateca, Guatemala

Abstract

The site of Aguateca, Guatemala, was rapidly abandoned at the beginning of the ninth century A.D. (approximately A.D. 830), leaving a Pompeii-style assemblage scattered on the floors of elite residences. Horizontal excavation of these residences has revealed ancient elite activity and household-level craft-production areas, including in situ evidence for the manufacture of bone and shell artifacts using stone tools. Here, bone/shell-production sequences that identify artifact-crafting stages are combined with lithic microwear analyses using highpower microscopy that identifies lithic manufacturing tools. A combined distributional analysis of lithic manufacturing tools, bone and shell debitage, and finished products reveals the location and nature of bone/shell-artifact manufacture in the households of the Classic Maya elite. The evidence indicates that Aguateca nobility carried out part-time animal-product crafting, the specific nature of which varied among households. Household room-use distributions also hint that both women and men were involved in crafting most animal products. © 2007 Cambridge University Press.