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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mano And Metate Manufacturing Techniques Of The Maya: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach To Understanding Standardization And Measurements, Michael T. Searcy
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.
Moving From A Grinding Halt: Expanding The Interpretation Of Ground Stone Through Ethnoarchaeology, Michael T. Searcy, Jaime Holthusen
Moving From A Grinding Halt: Expanding The Interpretation Of Ground Stone Through Ethnoarchaeology, Michael T. Searcy, Jaime Holthusen
Faculty Publications
Some of the most ubiquitous artifacts found at archaeological sites across Mesoamerica are manos and metates. Yet these important household implements continue to be underrepresented in the archaeological literature. This paper highlights recent ethnographic research on groundstone produced and used by four Mayan communities in Guatemala. We demonstrate how the size of grinding surfaces can be indicative of function, and how modern taboos can be examined to explore notions of gender. Groundstone from the site of La Quemada, Mexico is then analyzed in light of such inferences to evaluate the consistency of archaeological patterning with ethnographic observations.