Located in the Macal River Valley of Belize, Stela Cave was an important ceremonial space for the ancient Maya in the Classic period (ca. a.d. 250-900). Surface collection and excavations in the cave produced an assemblage of chipped stone artifacts mostly consisting of debitage with relatively few finished tools. Microscopic usewear analysis revealed that most of the chipped stone artifacts were likely used for domestic and subsistence activities outside the cave before being brought into the cave for deposition. However, others may have been used within the cave itself for religious rituals, such as sacrifice, bloodletting, and ritual crafting. Both used and unused chipped stone tools and debitage were left in the cave as gifts or sacra to ancestors and supernatural entities by the ancient Maya. Similar patterns of chipped stone tool production and use have been observed in other caves and rockshelters throughout the Maya lowlands.

The Archaic period in the Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica emerged around 8000 BCE and likely lasted until about 1000 BCE; however, both the development and complex cultural adaptations representative of Archaic peoples present challenges for archaeologists. In central Belize, archaeological evidence for Archaic people is limited, especially when compared to northern and southern Belize. Nevertheless, our knowledge of Archaic lifestyles in this part of the world has substantially increased over the last twenty years or so. This paper reviews the current understanding of the Archaic period in central Belize based primarily on radiocarbon dates from stratigraphic excavations, diagnostic lithic artifacts, and both faunal and floral remains recovered from excavations, and compares these data to archaeological evidence from northern and southern Belize for regional contextualization and synthesis. Although some aspects of Archaic lifestyles in central Belize appear quite clear based on the available archaeological evidence, others remain elusive. More regional surveys to find sites and an increased number of excavations with datable stratigraphic contexts are needed to more accurately reconstruct the lives of the people who initially inhabited central Belize prior to the emergence of the first culturally recognizable Maya.

The use of metrology and tribology methods for archaeological stone tool microwear analysis has provided opportunities to revisit unresolved issues, such as wear formation processes, the exclusivity of polishes derived from different worked materials, and damage to stone tool surfaces produced by post-depositional environments. In this paper, we provide a brief history of research on post-depositional damage, present a summary of stone tool microwear quantification, and review the development of current methods employed to mathematically characterize stone tool surfaces altered through natural and cultural processes of post-deposition. Through reviewing past work we provide thoughts on the next steps in method development for the mathematical characterization of post-depositional alteration on chipped stone tool surfaces. Ultimately, archaeologists studying use-related microwear using quantification of surface structure must contend with post-depositional wear, just as their visual microscopic microwear analysis colleagues have. One primary obstacle to the widespread adoption of quantitative methods for lithic microwear analysis is the ability to distinguish use-related microwear from microwear resulting from post-deposition, and this review article provides a critical overview of the state of the field.

This study of chipped chert and chalcedony tools discusses the household lithic economy at the Late Postclassic-Early Spanish Colonial (ca. AD 1400-1700) Maya site of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. It focuses on access to raw materials, tool types, tool production, tool use, and tool curation before and right after the arrival of the Spaniards. Este estudio de herramientas de s & iacute;lex y calcedonia talladas analiza la econom & iacute;a l & iacute;tica en el contexto dom & eacute;stico del sitio maya de San Pedro, en Cayo Ambergris, Belice, del per & iacute;odo Poscl & aacute;sico Tard & iacute;o hasta la primera parte de la & eacute;poca colonial espa & ntilde;ola (aproximadamente entre 1400 y 1700 dC). Se centra en la adquisici & oacute;n de las materias primas, los tipos y la producci & oacute;n de herramientas, el uso de herramientas y la conservaci & oacute;n de herramientas antes y despu & eacute;s de la llegada de los espa & ntilde;oles.

Archaeologists have increasingly adopted approaches from engineering and materials sciences to quantify the surfaces of artifacts and ecofacts. Different microscope systems and surface texture/roughness parameters have been employed with various degrees of success. Although most studies have focused on chipped stone tools and animal bones, to date there has been no attempt to quantify microwear on shell tools. In this study, focus variation microscopy was used to mathematically document the surfaces on the edges of twelve little neck clam shells in both unused and used conditions. The clam shells were used to scrape a variety of materials, including fresh, greasy bone, untanned leather, and sweet potato (hard vegetable). Microwear was calculated from the surface measurements taken on the used and unused shell edges using multiple ISO parameters, including conventional height parameters and multiscale geometric analysis (relative area; area-scale complexity). The results of this experiment indicate that the quantification of microwear on shell tools is possible and that shell, as a raw material, may present challenges in terms of surface texture/roughness documentation. Discussion of the results includes an assessment of which parameters may be best for distinguishing used from unused shell tool surfaces and the surfaces of shell tools used on different contact materials, and possible problems resulting from post-depositional processes.

A relatively new GelSight Max measurement instrument was applied to the microtopographies of experimental hardened clay surfaces, both with and without fingerprint (dermatoglyph) impressions, and the surface of an archaeological pottery handle fragment with a preserved fingerprint (paleodermatoglyph). The experimental clay surfaces were documented in order to determine the instrument’s ability to capture these surfaces in three-dimensions by imprinting them onto an elastomeric tactile membrane. Fingerprints on the experimental hardened clay and the archaeological pottery fragment were mathematically documented to test this instrument’s ability to capture these impressions. The surface texture measurements of the hardened clay and the pottery fragment were mathematically compared using conventional topographic characterization parameters (height and hybrid), fractal dimensions (Das) with associated coefficients of determination (R2), and multiscalar geometric characterization parameters, particularly relative area (Srel), area-scale complexity (Asfc), relative length (RL), and length-scale complexity (Lsfc). The surfaces of the experimental hardened clay with and without fingerprints and the archaeological pottery handle fragment with a fingerprint can be discriminated using some conventional height parameters, as well as some multiscale geometric topographic characterization parameters. Specifically, relative area (Srel), area-scale complexity (Asfc), relative length (RL), and length-scale complexity (Lsfc) could all discriminate between the hardened clay block with and without fingerprints and the fingerprint on the archaeological pottery handle fragment at different scales of measurement. Mean square ratios (MSRs) above 90% and 95% confidence levels indicated that the discrimination of these multiscale geometric characterizations was significant. In sum, the GelSight Max has the potential to be a valuable instrument for archaeologists studying pottery and fingerprints.

Our knowledge that the ancient Maya tattooed themselves for significant social and ceremonial reasons is primarily based on ethnohistoric accounts and Classic Maya imagery. Notably, the tattooing implements they used have gone undetected in the archaeological record. Based on tool form, use-wear, and residues, two retouched chert burin spalls recovered from travertine pools on an upper ledge (Ledge 1) of Actun Uayazba Kab (Handprint Cave), Belize, are interpreted as lithic artifacts used for this purpose. The recovery of these implements from a cave raises questions about the ritual nature and context of ancient Maya tattooing in the Classic period (AD 250-900).

The ancient Maya produced chipped chert and obsidian tools for inclusion in religious rituals as both symbolic and/or functional implements. In this paper, we discuss one particular form of these special chipped stone tools - the large laurel-leaf biface. Laurel-leaf bifaces recovered from the cave sites of Actun Chapat, Actun Tunichil Mucnal, Actun Yaxteel Ahau, and Je'reftheel in central Belize are analyzed in terms of context, lithic raw material, production techniques, symbolism, and use-wear in order to better understand their role(s) as ceremonially significant items. When combined with ethnohistoric and ethnographic information, these analyses allow us to see laurel-leaf bifaces as both functional implements for and powerful symbols of sacrifice within ancient Maya ideology and worldview.

A GelSight Max device, which employs reflectance transformation imaging against a gel-backed elastomer tactile membrane, was used for the topographic measurement of stone tool surfaces. Stone tools made from different raw materials (basalt, cherts, obsidian, and quartz) were measured to determine GelSight Max’s capacity for surface documentation and reproduction in three dimensions. Microwear, specifically micropolish on a chert flake and microabrasion on an obsidian flake, was also mathematically documented using this device. The topographic measurements derived from the stone tools were analyzed and compared using conventional and hybrid height parameters, R2 coefficients, fractal dimensions, and multiscale geometric characterizations, specifically relative area (Srel), relative length (RL), area-scale fractal complexity (Asfc), and length-scale fractal complexity (Lsfc). The surfaces of the stone tools made from different raw materials, in addition to those in the used and unused regions of a chert flake and an obsidian flake, could be discriminated over multiple areal and length scales based on Srel, RL, Asfc, and Lsfc. Given these results, GelSight may be a research tool of value to archaeologists studying the surfaces of lithic artifacts and possibly other materials. Moreover, GelSight provides certain advantages over other surface metrology systems, such as cost, portability, and the ability to measure translucent and highly reflective surfaces, but also comes with limitations, notably the documentation of fine scale surface features by the gel-backed membrane and a lower vertical (z-axis) resolution.

The typological, technological, and use-wear analyses of obsidian artifacts from Terminal Classic Pook's Hill (AD 830-950+) provide opportunities to better reconstruct socioeconomic activities in this plazuela group, including long-distance trade, tool production, subsistence practices, domestic tasks, and the organization of craft production. Based on visual sourcing, most of the obsidian originated from highland Guatemala, specifically El Chayal. The majority of obsidian artifacts were prismatic blades, although both casual and bipolar reduction of blade cores and the recycling of blades from earlier occupations occurred at the site. Use-wear analysis reveals that obsidian tools were mainly used for subsistence and domestic household activities; however, the concentrations of tools with specific wear patterns (bone, ceramic, plants, and shell) at some locations in the plazuela provide evidence for local craft production among the population. Further support for craft production is provided by comparable use-wear on chert/chalcedony tools from these same locations. The products of low-level craft production were used within Pook's Hill itself and may have been distributed to neighboring communities within the Roaring Creek and Upper Belize River Valleys. Despite the sociopolitical and socioeconomic disruptions to lifeways that accompanied the Terminal Classic period, the Pook's Hill Maya seem to have experienced minimal upheaval in their daily lives and continued local low-level craft production. However, one important change in the Terminal Classic appears to be the increased difficulty in obtaining obsidian at Pook's Hill and the growing need for tool recycling and raw material conservation. Los an & aacute;lisis tipol & oacute;gicos, tecnol & oacute;gicos y de huellas de uso de los artefactos de obsidiana del Cl & aacute;sico Terminal de Pook's Hill (830-950+ dC), brindan oportunidades para reconstruir mejor las actividades socioecon & oacute;micas en este grupo plazuela, incluyendo el comercio a larga distancia, la producci & oacute;n de herramientas, las pr & aacute;cticas de subsistencia, las tareas dom & eacute;sticas y la organizaci & oacute;n de la producci & oacute;n artesanal. Seg & uacute;n el identificaci & oacute;n visual, la mayor parte de la obsidiana proced & iacute;a de las tierras altas de Guatemala, espec & iacute;ficamente del yacimiento de El Chayal. La mayor & iacute;a de los artefactos de obsidiana eran navajas prism & aacute;ticas, aunque en el sitio se encuentran tanto la reducci & oacute;n casual como la bipolar de los n & uacute;cleos de obsidiana y las navajas recicladas de ocupaciones anteriores. El an & aacute;lisis de huellas de uso revela que las herramientas de obsidiana se utilizaron principalmente para actividades dom & eacute;sticas y de subsistencia. Sin embargo, las concentraciones de herramientas con patrones de uso espec & iacute;ficos (hueso, cer & aacute;mica, plantas y concha) en algunos lugares de la plazuela, evidencian la producci & oacute;n artesanal local entre la poblaci & oacute;n. Las huellas de uso comparables de las herramientas de pedernal/calcedonia de estos mismos lugares corroboran la producci & oacute;n artesanal. Los productos de la elaboraci & oacute;n artesanal se usaron dentro de Pook's Hill, mientras que otros probablemente se distribuyeron a las comunidades vecinas de Roaring Creek y la cuenca superior de R & iacute;o Belice. A pesar de las perturbaciones sociopol & iacute;ticas y socioecon & oacute;micas en los modos de vida que acompa & ntilde;aron al Cl & aacute;sico Terminal, los mayas de Pook's Hill parecen haber experimentado un trastorno m & iacute;nimo en su vida diaria y continuaron la producci & oacute;n artesanal local de bajo rendimiento. Sin embargo, un cambio importante en el Cl & aacute;sico Terminal parece ser la mayor dificultad para obtener obsidiana en Pook's Hill y la creciente necesidad de reciclar herramientas y conservar materias primas.

This paper is a revised and updated version of the keynote speaker address for the Block 2 Session: "Data Acquisition in Surface Texture Analysis" for the Online Workshop on Quantitative Artifact Microwear Analysis (QAMA) organized by TraCEr-MONREPOS-RGZM (November 25, 2021) in Neuwied, Germany. It discusses a number of issues related to the acquisition of surface data for texture analysis, including the transition from experimentation to artifact analysis and the importance of standardization of methods. Specifically, the keynote address focuses on eight sub-topics in relation to method development and standardization: (1) Microscopes and operating systems, (2) Magnification, depth of field, working distance, and field of view, (3) Numerical aperture, (4) Cleaning methods, (5) Number and location of surface measurements, (6) Profile versus area measurements, (7) Multiple measurements in the same location, and (8) Surface replication: molds/casts, surface images, and microCT.

The angle and shape of lithic tool edges have long been used as a method of inferring prehistoric tool function. However, accurately measuring and characterizing edge angles of lithic tools is notoriously difficult. Studies using goniometers, calipers, or morphometrics often rely on two-dimensional representations of edges. Furthermore, there have been limited attempts to quantitatively document stone tool edges based on surface metrology, most notably edge curvature. In this study, we use microCT to capture models of the complex geometry, or 'freeform' surfaces, of experimental quartzite flakes from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) to document and mathematically calculate edge curvature using multiscalar length-scale analysis. Through this analysis, we also explore the quantification of re-entrant (overhang) features on lithic edge cross-sections. On lithic tools, especially coarse-grained rocks with complex surface topographies, such as quartzite, traditional techniques for edge angle measurement are incapable of capturing re-entrant features on edge profiles. Here we present the first archaeological study that addresses the measurement of these re-entrant features, using novel length-scale and curvature analysis methods of calculating edge angles for complex freeform surfaces. With these new methods for measuring edge angles, we can consider the impact of complex geometry, including re-entrant features, on the function of lithic tools in the past.

Despite the abundance of lithic debitage at preceramic sites in the Maya Lowlands, these data have rarely been studied in detail. We analyzed the chipped chert debitage from Caye Coco and Fred Smith, two Archaic period sites in the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize, to evaluate strategies of lithic raw material procurement, stone tool production, and tool use. The technological and use-wear analyses of the debitage demonstrate that the sites’ inhabitants procured most of their tool stone from the Northern Belize Chert-bearing Zone (NBCZ) and relied on hard-hammer percussion to produce flakes for use as expedient tools and some crude bifaces and unifaces. Although similar patterns of raw material procurement and tool production are demonstrated at both sites, some differences exist, including bipolar reduction at Caye Coco. Based on use-wear analysis, the debitage at the island site of Caye Coco was primarily used for working wood, shell, and hard contact materials and for digging soil. On the shore at Fred Smith, most use-wear is consistent with working wood, plants, and hard contact materials, as well as digging soil. For both sites, analyses suggest the increasing importance of a horticultural subsistence strategy with reduced mobility and reliance on some cultigens that were locally produced.

In line with engineering research focusing on metal tools, techniques to record the attribute of 'edge sharpness' on stone tools can include both mechanical and micro-geometric approaches. Mechanically-defined sharpness techniques used in lithic studies are now well established and align with engineering research. The single micro-geometrically-defined technique-tip curvature-is novel relative to approaches used elsewhere, and has not explicitly been tested for its ability to describe the attribute of sharpness. Here, using experimental flakes produced on basalt, chert, and quartzite sourced at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), we investigate the relationship between tip curvature and the force and work required to initiate a cut. We do this using controlled cutting tests and analysis of high-resolution microCT scans. Results indicate cutting force and work to display significant dependent relationships with tip curvature, suggesting the latter to be an appropriate metric to record the sharpness of lithic tools. Differences in relationship strength were observed dependent on the measurement scales and edge distances used. Tip curvature is also demonstrated to distinguish between the sharpness of different raw materials. Our data also indicate the predictive relationship between tip curvature and cutting force/work to be one of the strongest yet identified between a stone tool morphological attribute and its cutting performance. Together, this study demonstrates tip curvature to be an appropriate attribute for describing the sharpness of a stone tool's working edge in diverse raw material scenarios, and that it can be highly predictive of a stone tool's functional performance.

This introduction to the Special Section provides a summary of our current understanding of the first humans and the first Maya in these regions and presents seven articles that examine these critical periods from varied, intersecting perspectives. The Introduction begins with a brief history of early preceramic research (primarily in northern Belize) and provides a current chronology for the Paleoindian, Archaic, and Early Preclassic periods. The Paleoindian and Archaic (ca. 11,500-900 b.c.) periods are discussed in terms of the origins of the first peoples in these regions, lithic technology, subsistence, and early ritual. Next, a summary of archaeological evidence for the transition to the first villages (ca. 1200-800 b.c.) is provided, with examinations of a horticultural lifestyle, the earliest ceramics, increased socio-economic complexity, new ideology and ritual practices, and developing social inequality. Proto-Mayan and Mayan languages-their dating, origin, and early lexicon-are discussed in relation to the first Maya. Material culture and language are explored with regard to conceptions of Maya culture.

AbstractThe transition from the Late Archaic to the Late Early Formative period witnessed profound changes in the Maya lowlands. In addition to the establishment of the first settlements and agrarian communities, this critical phase of cultural development heralded the introduction of ceramics, saw changes in lithic technology, gave rise to inter-regional trade and exchange, and witnessed the introduction of a complex symbolic system expressed on portable objects. In this article, we synthesize data collected over the past several decades by various archaeological projects in western Belize to provide an overview of the cultural changes that unfolded during the Late Archaic to Late Early Formative period in the Upper Belize River Valley. We also provide evidence indicating that it was during this critical transitional period that we begin to see the establishment of several cultural traditions that became uniquely lowland Maya.

In complex sedentary societies, debitage is often ignored when archaeologists turn their attention to the functional items necessary for the completion of various tasks. Lithic production debris recovered from ancient Maya sites is very rarely examined in this regard. The use-wear analysis of debitage from Maya sites not only assists in identifying the chipped stone artifacts that served as informal, ad hoc or expedient tools, but also reveals how the tools were utilized. Use-wear analysis of the chipped chert and chalcedony debitage from two sites in Belize, namely Terminal Classic (A.D. 830 - 950) Pook's Hill and Late Postclassic-Early Spanish Colonial (ca. A.D. 1400 -1700) San Pedro, demonstrates the important role of expedient tools in the daily lives of the ancient Maya. This study of use-wear also reveals the variation in flake use in terms of tool size and edge angle. Analysis of the debitage from Pook's Hill and San Pedro enables a more complete understanding-than would be gained from a study of finished formal tools, alone-of the larger technological, socio-economic and environmental implications of settlement in a forested river valley on the mainland versus an offshore caye.

Problematic deposits, containing different types of artifacts and skeletal remains, are typically recovered on or near the surfaces of the terminal phase of elite civic-ceremonial architecture at ancient Maya sites. These contexts often date to the Terminal Classic period (similar to a.d. 750-900). They have been variously interpreted as evidence for site abandonment, squatting, warfare, or dedication or termination rituals. Sixteen chert bifaces were recovered from problematic deposits at the bases of Structures A2 and A3 in the elite Plaza A at Cahal Pech, Belize. Stone tools from problematic deposits are rarely examined in significant detail. Based on stylistic, metric, and use-wear analyses, the bifaces were likely produced locally, used during important hunting or warfare activities, and then ritually deposited in the Terminal Classic. These bifaces were likely hafted to spearthrower darts and represented "success" at hunting or fighting. The recovery of weaponry in problematic deposits that is not the direct result of warfare is an important observation because Mayanists have generally interpreted their presence in these contexts as evidence of warfare. The fact that the points were recovered in groups of seven and nine may indicate that they had important symbolic meanings that connected them to supernatural or mythological places or entities.

Abstract The discovery of cultural remains on or above the floors of rooms and courtyards at several Maya sites has been interpreted by some archaeologists as problematic deposits, squatter's refuse, as evidence for feasting, termination rituals, de facto refuse, or rapid abandonment as a result of warfare. Investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project have recorded similar deposits at several surface and subterranean sites in Western Belize. Our regional, contextual, and methodological approaches for studying these deposits, coupled with ethnohistoric and ethnographic information, provide limited support for the interpretation of these remains as de facto refuse or due to rapid abandonment. Instead, we argue that these deposits are more likely the result of peri-abandonment activities such as propitiation rituals and/or pilgrimages during and after the gradual abandonment of sites in the Belize River Valley.