mayan macro blade

[jeff a]

i was lucky to get some of these when they were cheap

 

[rginn]

Heat treatment was discovered on the plains when they used rocks in fire pits for cooking. After they cracked from the heat, they found out they worked better. Just my experience and opinion.

 

[Tnmountains]

A lot of those blades were and are found in association with ceremonial sacrifices. The one in the picture I posted was recoverd from the skull of a young female child. People make the comments sometimes "Killer Blades" they are sometimes very close to the truth.
Very good post JeffA. I learned a lot. I have wondered if blade tecnology traveled from the south or was always adapting due to materials. Rginn posted that in the plains they leaned to heat their cherts to work better. Was this shared technology and when they learned it they heated all the mateials in their arsenal to see what worked or was it from fire popped stuff in the beginning and something that in time you were bound to learn over many many generations..

 

[joshuaream]

The bigger pieces and the ones with river stain were usually ceremonial pieces (larger, little use wear, or stuck in someones skull.) That said, thousands and thousands have been found at sites around Belize and most of them were simple utilitarian knifes that show use wear from cutting a variety of items.

To me it's really neat how the Mayans in Belize (and some adjoining areas in Guatemala and Mexico) used the chert resources as much as they did creating huge quantities of large knives, while Guatemala and Yucatan Mayans kept to much simpler obsidian bladelets in differing sizes without the handles. An obsidian macroblade built like a chert one makes for a lousy tool (prone to snapping since obsidian blades can't handle the torque quite like tough Colha chert can.)

The Guatemalans had access to tool grade hardstone, and black jade ground stone celts are common finds there but very rare in Belize or Yucatan. The Yucatan Mayans had some of best and most densly packed cities, but lacked some of the resources that other Mayans had.)

It's neat how one culture had very different tool kits based on where they lived. There was trading in high end material wealth (gem quality jades, shells, feathers, chocolate beans, cinnabar coloring, etc.) but basic items didn't move around nearly as much as they did for the Hopewell, Aztecs, Incans, etc.

 

[Tnmountains]

That makes a lot of sense. Such a diffrent culture. In America when we were building effigy mounds towards the end we seem to have been becoming more like them. Here is one of those blades that was recovered from a sacrifice. They did have a hefty handle and feel heavy and some wild looking material.
In todays world I guess this would be considered a murder weapon? I lightened the picture to show the color I wish I had time to study them more...
Happy Holidays
TnMtns

 

[Stonehenge Museum Supply]

Hello from Texas - any chance you would be able to find out when the Time Life article was published? I have one of these blades in your photo in my collection now and would love to read the article. Thanks! Sterling Z

Here a couple that were featured in a time life article a friend has. Nice one Jeff. They were true killers

 

[monsterrack]

Well thought of comment! I think heat treatment was found out PURELY accidental through points being cooked in the animals and having the "Classic" POK marks in them from the fire. I have dozens of these in my collection. Anyone else got a theory? I cant think of another. Stan

This is just my thought on heat treating, it could have happened by stone being placed around a fire pit, or a fire built next to a rock wall, or just by a wild fire. I can see someone looking at a stone that had been heated and thinking I could make a point out of this and then notice how well it chipped compared to the stone they where use too.JMO

 

[Buckleberry]

Those are incredible, were they utilitarian, ceremonial or weapons?

 

[1320]

Resurrecting one of the better posts from 2009. The Macro blade technology is interesting and worth a few minutes of your time.

 

[BenjaminE]

Sweet I always wondered how they struck those big flakes off. Anybody know?

Joshua, I would've bought them all day long at $20. lol

I do not believe that the setup that was employed to create the blades, is being employed by modern knappers. Modern knapping is mostly based off of theories that were developed in Europe. The type of setup used to create these blades may have been seen once in 1825, and another time between 1830 and 1840, and a third time after 1825, but in a different location. But, those setups are not used by any modern knappers that I have ever seen. If people saw the setups, they might be quite surprised.