Socioeconomic Inequality and the Consumption of Chipped Stone at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas ◽  
Helen R. Haines
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Inequality ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Spatial Patterning ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Hilltop Settlement ◽  
Marine Shell

AbstractIn prehispanic Mesoamerica, basic utilitarian artifacts, such as non-obsidian chipped stone tools, have rarely been considered outside the realms of technology or the economics of manufacture and circulation. Yet in recent excavations of residential terraces at the Classic period hilltop settlement of El Palmillo, Oaxaca, we have noted spatial patterning in the distribution of chipped stone tools that parallels variation previously observed in a range of nonlocal goods including obsidian, marine shell, and greenstone. Compared to the inhabitants of terraces situated near the base of the site, the apparently higher-status residents of households residing closer to the hill’s apex not only were associated with a somewhat different assemblage of stone tools and debris, but their chipped stone implements tended to be made on better-quality raw materials. As a consequence, chipped stone assemblages can serve as an additional axis of variation for examining status distinctions in the Classic period Valley of Oaxaca, and potentially elsewhere in Mesoamerica.

Spindle Whorls from El Palmillo: Economic Implications

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lacey B. Carpenter ◽  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Craft Specialization ◽  
Spatial Patterning ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Economic Strategies ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
Spindle Whorls ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Cloth Production

AbstractWe analyze household inventories from eight excavated residences at El Palmillo (Oaxaca, Mexico) with a focus on a large sample of spindle whorls. Measurement of the whorls provides a basis to suggest that a variety of fibers were spun in these Classic period households; however, the particular mix of fibers varied in each residence. The distribution of whorls by size and production technique was compared with the spatial patterning of other tool classes related to cloth production to illustrate that each household participated with differing intensity in the various steps of the cloth-making process while also being involved in other economic pursuits. The domestic multicrafting, along with the clear procurement of domestic goods through intra- and extracommunity transfers, is indicative of economic practices that incorporate both interdependence and flexibility to operate in a socioeconomic setting prone to fluctuations in both demand and climatic conditions such as those found in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. The model generated from this bottom-up analysis illustrates the limitation of the command-oriented models of the prehispanic Mesoamerican economy and sheds new light on craft specialization and economic strategies that vary not only between elite and nonelite families but among commoner households as well.

Houses on a Hill: Classic Period Life at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas ◽  
Helen R. Haines
Keyword(s):  
Household Archaeology ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Present Sample ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Wall Construction

The increasing attention devoted to the investigation of prehispanic houses in Mesoamerica owes much theoretically and methodologically to the early household archaeology undertaken decades ago in the Valley of Oaxaca. Yet despite the large sample of Formative period houses excavated in this region, little is known about domestic life during the later Classic and Postclassic periods. In this paper we broaden the database of Classic period houses by reporting on excavations on five residential terraces at El Palmillo, one of many large hilltop terraced sites in the valley that collectively housed as much as two-thirds of the region"s Classic period population. Occupied for centuries, the terraces and their associated domestic compounds at El Palmillo underwent a series of coordinated episodes of wall construction, repair, and spatial modification. Craft activities-especially the production of chipped stone tools and maguey fiber for cordage and cloth-were an important part of domestic life. The relative importance of these different household economic activities varied from terrace to terrace, indicating that domestic production was specialized and operated at the household level. Maguey and other xerophytic plants also provided important subsistence resources. Differences in access to nonlocal goods have been documented between terraces, although the extent of such variation is not marked in the present sample. Although preliminary, the El Palmillo findings provide a new empirical basis from which to examine domestic life and the economic and organizational foundations of Classic period hill-top terraced settlements in Oaxaca. These findings reflect on larger issues about the basic economy of later prehispanic Mesoamerica and the articulation of domestic units and household production into larger socioeconomic networks that theoretically extended well beyond ancient Oaxaca.

SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND DIFFERENTIAL ACCESS TO FAUNAL RESOURCES AT EL PALMILLO, OAXACA, MEXICO

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael J. Haller ◽  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Inequality ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Faunal Assemblage ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Residential Units ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Specific Species ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Differential Access

Differential access to faunal resources (meat) is one index of socioeconomic inequality that traditionally has been considered but rarely investigated in ancient Mesoamerica. Recent excavations in residential contexts at the Classic-period hilltop terrace site of El Palmillo, in the Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), have produced a large faunal assemblage from a set of different households. Terrace-by-terrace comparisons reveal spatial variability in the distribution of faunal remains, with the gradient of access running from households near the base of the hill to contexts near the site's apex. Residents of households near the top not only had more overall access to meat but greater access to specific species. Nevertheless, these gradations in access to fauna are not as strikingly marked as architectural differences between various residential units at the site, nor do they coincide entirely with patterns of architectural variation or the distribution of portable wealth items such as obsidian and green stone. Socioeconomic inequality appears to have been manifested through multiple dimensions at pre-Hispanic El Palmillo, with the overarching variation not easily definable into two or three categorical divisions or classes.

scholarly journals White Rock Oneota Chipped Stone Tools

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Padilla ◽  
Lauren W. Ritterbush
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Chipped Stone

scholarly journals Mesolithic and later activity at North Barr River, Morvern

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Gavin MacGregor ◽  
Alistair Beckett ◽  
Ann Clarke ◽  
Nyree Finlay ◽  
David Sneddon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Regional Networks ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Forestry Commission

At North Barr River, Morvern, inspection of forestry planting mounds on a raised beach terrace identified a chipped stone assemblage associated with upcast deposits containing charcoal. An archaeological evaluation of the site, funded by Forestry Commission Scotland, sought to better understand the extent and character of this Mesolithic and later prehistoric lithic scatter. The lithic assemblage is predominantly debitage with some microliths and scrapers. The range of raw materials including flint, Rùm bloodstone and baked mudstone highlights wider regional networks. Other elements, including a barbed and tanged arrowhead, belong to later depositional episodes. Two mid-second millennium bc radiocarbon dates were obtained from soil associated with some lithics recovered from a mixed soil beneath colluvial deposits. The chronology of a putative stone bank or revetment is uncertain but the arrangement of stone may also date to the second millennium bc.

The Quantification of Microwear on Chipped Stone Tools: Assessing the Effectiveness of Root Mean Square Roughness (Rq)

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. James Stemp ◽  
Ben E. Childs ◽  
Samuel Vionnet ◽  
Christopher A. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Root Mean Square ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Root Mean Square Roughness ◽  
Mean Square ◽  
Chipped Stone

Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
M. V. Seletsky ◽  
A. Y. Fedorchenko ◽  
P. V. Chistyakov ◽  
S. V. Markin ◽  
K. A. Kolobova
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Abrasive Stone ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Reference Samples ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This article presents a comprehensive study of percussive-abrasive active stone tools from Chagyrskaya Cave, using experimental use-wear and statistical methods, supplemented by 3D-modeling. Experiments combined with use- wear analysis allowed us to determine the functions of these tools by comparing the working surfaces and use-wear traces in the Chagyrskaya samples with those in the reference samples. As a result, we identified 19 retouchers, four hammerstones for processing mineral raw materials, and one hammer for splitting bone, which indicates the dominance of secondary processing over primary knapping in the Chagyrskaya lithic assemblage. Using statistical analysis, we traced the differences in the dimensions of the manuports and lithics under study. These artifacts are a promising and underestimated source of information for identifying working operations associated with stone- and bone-processing; moreover, they can provide new data on the functional attribution of sites and the mobility of early hominins.

Artifact Analysis

Harney Flats ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Randolph Daniel ◽  
Michael Wisenbaker
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Tampa Bay ◽  
The State ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Artifact Analysis

This chapter presents the results of the artifact analysis which consists almost exclusively of some 1,110 chipped stone tools and cores and several thousand pieces of stone debitage. Morphological and technological criteria were used to classify the assemblage into bifaces, unifaces, cores, hammerstones, and abraders. Toolstone appears to have been acquired locally from the abundant limestone replaced cherts available in the vicinity of Tampa Bay. An exception to this is the presence of four rather amorphous shaped “exotic” metamorphic rocks—presumably acquired from outside the state. The function of these artifacts is unclear but given their size and shape, three of them could have functioned as planes or abraders. The fourth specimen is too large to be hand-held but could have functioned as an anvil. The presence of these artifacts in the assemblage is an enigma, and it is speculated the stone arrived via interband exchange.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document