OBSIDIAN PRISMATIC BLADES AND CHERT SMALL POINTS

Small quantities of prismatic blade points were manufactured from El Chayal obsidian at Aguateca during the Late Classic Period (Table 6.1). Three points were stemmed and 10 were tapered, while the other 5 were stemless (Figures 2.1a-e, 5.25b and c, 5.300 and p, 380, 5.50k and l). Virtually all were modified by partial and marginal bifacial retouch rather than bifacial flaking. That is, blade edges were laterally retouched from both dorsal and ventral sides to shape the margins. Retouch is usually limited to the shaping of a distal point and/or the fashioning of the base. All three stemmed prismatic blade points and some tapered varieties had based thinned on both sides. The bases of some stemless prismatic blade points are the original platforms of the prismatic blades.

Microwear indicates that these points were mainly used as arrowheads. The distal tips of nine prismatic blade points were exclusively used for piercing unidentified material. Although prismatic blade points were potentially weapons, some of them were also used as drills or knives. A distal tip of a prismatic blade point was used for boring hide, and its lateral edges were used for cutting meat or hide and scraping hide. Lateral edges of another prismatic blade point were used for cutting meat or hide, but no use-wear was noted on its distal tip. Significantly, materials worked with prismatic blades were limited to unidentified material (60 percent) and meat or hide (40 percent), but none of the blades were used for wood or bone carving.

Only four chert small points were recovered exclusively from elite residences of Structures M8-4 and M8-8. They are small laurel leaf points modified by marginal bifacial retouch rather than bifacial flaking. They have two pointed ends. A chert small point from Structure M8-4 was side-notched, but the others were not. Edges were laterally retouched from both dorsal and ventral sides to shape the margins. Marginal retouch was mostly limited to the shaping of bipoints and the small side-notched points as well as the fashioning of a medial hafting element by means of notching. Microwear analysis indicates that chert small points were used as arrow points. The distal tips of small points were exclusively used for piercing unidentified material.

In sum, the narrow points were usually obsidian prismatic blade points and chert small points. These points were not used as “small darts” because they were too small and fragile to be darts or spears. Each elite household at Aguateca had either at least two chert small points or two or three obsidian prismatic blade points. Because the object for the final battle was to leave the point behind (including in the body of an enemy), it is not surprising that archaeologists today find only a few arrowheads in each house.

Based on the presence of small side-notched or stemmed points, some scholars contend that the bow and arrow was introduced into the Maya Lowlands later than the Late Classic period, either by Mexican mercenaries from Tabasco during the Late Postclassic period (Porter Weaver 1981:407) or by the Chontal Maya during the Terminal Classical period (Rice 1986:340). Nevertheless, obsidian stemmed, tapered, and seamless prismatic blade points as well as chert side-notched and unnotched small points were present at Aguateca by the end of Late Classic period. It should be noted that notched and unnotched prismatic blade points were made from Pachuca green obsidian were present in the Valley of Oaxaca beginning in the Middle Formative period (Parry 1987:43, 44). Local production of obsidian prismatic blade points began in the Copal Valley during the Early Classic period, albeit in small quantities (Aoyama 1999). These prismatic blade points had straight and unthinned based were not side-notched. Small quantities of both side-notched and unnotched prismatic blade points were manufactured in the Copan Valley during the Late Classic period. Based on contextual and microwear data, these prismatic blade points could have been used as arrow points. In sum, the bow and arrow could have existed in the Maya Lowlands earlier than has been previously suggested.

Moreover, it should be emphasized that not all hafted tools were side-notched or stemmed (e.g., Keeley 1982). If the objective was to leave the point behind during armed conflict, then an artisan may not have wished to produce a finely chipped arrowhead. Similar obsidian prismatic blades were found at both Chalchuapa (Sheets 1978:15-16) and the Zapotitan Valley (Sheets 1983:203), El Salvador, and they date to the Late Classic and Postclassic periods. Sheets (1983:201) believes that obsidian prismatic blades were most likely used as arrow points because low-power microscopic examination revealed no evidence of use as either drills or perforators. None of the 39 obsidian prismatic blade points recovered from Chalchuapa (Sheets 1978:15) and only 3 out of 24 obsidian prismatic blades from the Zapotitan Valley (Sheets 1983:203) were side-notched. Sheets (2003:291) suggests that prismatic blade points were used for hunting, particularly of deer, because they commonly were found in the most mountainous terrain in the Zapotitan Valley and other indicators for warfare there are rare.

Inomata (2008:231) notes that bows and arrows were not important weapons for the Classic Maya. First, prismatic blade points constitute very small portions of obsidian assemblages in the Classic Maya Lowlands. Second, their depiction is absent from Classic Maya art. As this study shows, moreover, both the percentage of prismatic blade points among all obsidian artifacts (0.9 percent) and that of small points among all chert artifacts (0.1 percent) are extremely low at Aguateca during the Late Classic period. The Classic Maya elite of Aguateca may have used these small points mainly for hunting. Nevertheless, based on the large number of broken darts and spears in and around elite residences and other buildings in the epicenter of Aguateca, along with other lines of evidence for warfare, such as the violent destruction of residential structures, inscriptions, art and iconography, and defensive stone walls, I believe that the elite residents of Aguateca used at least some of the small points to defend themselves against their attackers in the desperate final moments. In any event, dart and spear points appear to have been more important than arrow points in Classic Maya warfare.