ABSTRACT
Abstract In this chapter, I summarize and discuss the results of over 20 years analysis of 123,242 lithic artifacts from the Copán region, Honduras, and the Aguateca region, Guatemala. The objectives of this regional-scale analysis were to understand and elucidate the socioeconomic and political aspects of: (1) the procurement, exchange, and production of obsidian utilitarian goods; (2) the relationship between Late Classic Maya political boundaries and the boundaries of obsidian exchange; (3) chipped stone weapons and warfare; (4) the variability of artistic and craft production; as well as (5) royal ritual as theatrical performance. There has been considerable scholarly discussion about whether Classic Maya polities were regional states with strongly centralized economic organization (Adams and Jones 1981; Chase and Chase 1996; Culbert 1991; Folan 1992; Martin and Grube 1995) or segmentary states with weak economic functions (Ball and Taschek 1991; Demarest 1992; Dunning and Kowalski 1994; Houston 1993; Mathews 1991; Ringle and Bey 2001; Sanders and Webster 1988), or both (Marcus 1993). Some scholars disagree widely about whether Classic Maya states played a strong managerial role in the production and exchange of utilitarian goods or whether such functions were weakly developed. Inomata and Aoyama (1996:307-308) have argued: (1) that a simple dichotomy between the two models sometimes blinds us to important details of political and economic organization; and (2) that the size of Classic Maya political units is a complicated issue because different variables may have operated on quite different social and spatial scales. These variables include the interdynastic relationships of subordination between neighboring and distant centers, political control over high-value exchange commodities (e.g., high-quality obsidian, jade, and quetzal plumes), and the distribution of low-value exchange goods, such as locally manufactured utilitarian pottery.
