Other artifacts (besides ceramic vessel sherds) present in Terminal Classic levels of Caye Coco middens include chert and chalcedony tool fragments and flakes, obsidian blades, marine shell, spindle whorls, net weights, and ground stone.
5 cm
17.14 Unslipped sherds from Caye Coco, including Tsabak Unslipped, a sandy paste type found in Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic deposits.
Raw material types of lithic tools and flakes indicate that residents of this site were actively engaged in exchange with the site of Colha for formal lithic tools, and they also produced expedient biface and uniface tools made of coarse cherts available at Progresso Lagoon for their own use (Oland 1999, 2000).
The presence of obsidian blades in Caye Coco Terminal Classic middens is indicated by a ratio of 0.18 obsidian blades per chert or chalcedony tool at the site. Terminal Classic-period deposits on the shore of Laguna de On have a similar obsidian to chert or chalcedony tool ratio of 0.13. Higher ratios of obsidian to non-obsidian lithic tools are documented for the Postclassic period (Masson and Chaya 2000). The Terminal Classic ratios indicate that distant trade connections were important to daily economies. Obsidian trade was also probably accompanied by the exchange of many other perishable goods. Although obsidian was common, it was not as important or more important than local lithic resources as it was during the Postclassic period (Masson and Chaya 2000). In the Terminal Classic patterns at Progresso, the roots of this long-term, long-distance utilitarian dependency of the Postclassic were anticipated (also noted for the Peten lakes. Rice 1987a).
Patterns of shell-working at Caye Coco follow a trend similar to that of obsidian. This industry is present during the Terminal Classic and represents a small-scale craft industry that transformed a local resource into a valuable commodity. The scale of shell-working at Caye Coco is amplified during the Postclassic period, with some contexts of this period exhibiting from four to forty times the amount of marine shell debris than is found in Terminal Classic contexts at the site. Spindle whorls likewise link textile industries of the Terminal Classic period with those of the Postclassic period, although these durable artifacts are in low frequencies in both sets of deposits. Fishing and turtling were equally important in both periods as indicated by quantities of net weights.
The trends observed in non-ceramic artifacts reflect the exploitation of local resources at Progresso used to make products for local or regional exchange in northeastern Belize. Forest products, honey, and cacao were also important commodities from northern Belize at the time of Spanish contact (Pina Chan 1978), although these are more difficult to detect archaeologically. Terminal Classic populations of these inland lagoons probably used many diverse local resources. The ceramic attributes suggest some emulation of northern wares alongside the production of distinctively local traditions, and they imply that the Terminal Classic economy was dually rooted in intercommunity exchange within northeastern Belize as well as the broader Caribbean coastal network linked to the northern Yucatecan sphere, highland Guatemala, and other areas.
World History
