MICROWEAR ANALYSIS OF LITHIC ARTIFACTS AND PXRF ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM CEIBAL, GUATEMALA

 

Kazuo Aoyama (Ibaraki University)

 

​

I discuss the results of a diachronic analysis of 86,624 lithic artifacts collected from Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to elucidate long-term patterns and changes in the Preclassic and Classic Maya interregional and long-distance exchange system, as well as ritual practices and craft production. Sources of all obsidian artifacts were identified by a combination of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of a sample of 5,376 obsidian artifacts, and visual examination of the remaining artifacts. The results of the present study indicate that interregional exchange of obsidian from the Maya highlands was of great economic significance for the inhabitants of the community and was more crucial for the development of lowland Maya civilization than was long-distance exchange with highland Mexico. Microwear analysis with a high-power metallurgical microscope suggests that many of the Preclassic polished greenstone celts deposited in caches were made specifically for ritual purposes, although a smaller number of them were used for wood carving. During the late Middle Preclassic period (700-350 B.C.), like greenstone objects, exhausted polyhedral obsidian cores deposited in cruciform arrangements along the east-west axis of the central E-Group plaza were used as symbols and markers of the center and four cardinal directions within the Maya cosmos. The emerging elites at Ceibal were probably actively engaging with concepts associated with cardinal directions and the Maya cosmos during the Middle Preclassic period. The Preclassic format of public interaction was closely followed by descendants during the Classic period, with rulers taking centre stage. Hence not only factors such as interregional exchange, but also ideology, expressed in material form and through aspects of public rituals and public ceremonial structures, played a significant role in the development of Maya rulership.

 

(Talk in Japanese)