A Comparative Evaluation of the Producer-Consumer Model for Lithic Exchange in Northern Belize, Central America
- 1 December 1991
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Latin American Antiquity
- Vol. 2 (4) , 337-351
- https://doi.org/10.2307/971782
Abstract
New lithic data from the early Maya site of Cuello in northern Belize provide a basis for examining a production-consumption model for intersite exchange of stone tools. Comparison of lithic evidence from Cuello, Pulltrouser Swamp, and Cerros, putative consumer communities, with evidence from Colhá, the production community, suggests that during the Late Preclassic two highly standardized formal tools were manufactured at Colhá and distributed to northern Belizean communities as a finished product. Those communities also obtained Colhá-like material in less-reduced form for local manufacture of other formal tools. The availability of a high-quality chert source in large nodules may have been an enabling factor in Late Preclassic regional developments, including agricultural intensification.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Redefinition of the Swasey Phase at Cuello, BelizeAmerican Antiquity, 1990
- Stone-Tool Production and Exchange in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: The Consumer Perspective from Pulltrouser Swamp, BelizeAmerican Antiquity, 1989
- 5. Stone Tool Use at CerrosPublished by University of Texas Press ,1987
- Debitage Analysis and Archaeological InterpretationAmerican Antiquity, 1985
- 12. The Lithic Artifacts of the Pulltrouser Area: Settlements and FieldsPublished by University of Texas Press ,1983
- Lowland Maya Archaeology at the CrossroadsAmerican Antiquity, 1983
- Ancient Maya Chert Workshops in Northern Belize, Central AmericaAmerican Antiquity, 1983
- Early Maya ceremonial at Cuello, BelizePublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1980
- The Earliest Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey PhaseAmerican Antiquity, 1979
- Culture Areas and Interaction Spheres: Contrasting Approaches to the Emergence of Civilization in the Maya LowlandsAmerican Antiquity, 1979