La habilidad de los artesanos de navajas prismáticas y su relación con la intensidad productiva: un análisis comparativo de datos del periodo clásico en Teotihuacán y del periodo epiclásico en Xochicalco

Abstract

This article addresses the scale and organization of obsidian tool production at Classic Period Teotihuacan. One important question is whether blade workshops were contexts of part or full-time production. I investigate this question by evaluating the blade-making skill of the craftsmen, a characteristic that should vary based on how much time they spent making blades. The skill of the San Martin craftsmen is compared to the skill of blade-making craftsmen at Epiclassic Xochicalco. The results of this study support the inference that many of Teotihuacan’s blade workshops may have been contexts of part-time production. If so, these findings provide grounds for questioning whether the overall socio-economic complexity of the city has been overstated.