Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mano And Metate Manufacturing Techniques Of The Maya: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach To Understanding Standardization And Measurements, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

Prehistorically, maize was the bulk of the Mayan diet, which made grinding stones an indispensable tool. Basalt quarries located in Highland Guatemala are still exploited by metateros who produce manos and metates today. This paper reports the recent research among metateros of two quarries in Guatemala and how they can be use to build new analogies that aid in the interpretation of prehistoric production economies of metates. It specifically investigates how systems of measurement are linked to standardization.