“Workshops” and “Specialized Production” in the Production of Maya Chert Tools: A Response to Shafer and Hester
- 20 January 1986
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in American Antiquity
- Vol. 51 (1) , 152-158
- https://doi.org/10.2307/280401
Abstract
A reexamination of the data presented by Shafer and Hester (1983) indicates that the level of specialized production and volume of intersite exchange of chert tools in the area of Colha has been greatly overstated. Evaluation of rates of production over time suggests that at most a few thousand chert tools were produced per year at Colha, indicating a very low level of specialization, if any. The context of the chert debitage deposits is suggestive of domestic production for household use, rather than the “industrial-level mass production” postulated by Shafer and Hester.Keywords
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