The Life-Giving Stone: Ethnoarchaeology of Maya Metates - Tapa blanda

"Searcy brings together previous work on metates in Mesoamerica and fills crucial gaps, producing a comprehensive study that will be invaluable to those engaged in groundstone studies in the Americas and beyond." --Margaret E. Beck, University of Iowa "This volume is a significant contribution that can greatly assist archaeologists in their interpretations of manos and metates as something beyond a commonplace domestic tool. . . . Searcy provides a great addition to the growing field of ethnoarchaeology."--Bulletin of Latin American Research "Searcy brings together previous work on metates in Mesoamerica and fills crucial gaps, producing a comprehensive study that will be invaluable to those engaged in groundstone studies in the Americas and beyond." --Margaret E. Beck, University of Iowa

Provides a thought-provoking ethnoarchaeological account of metate and mano manufacture, marketing, and use among Guatemalan Maya for whom these stone implements are still essential equipment in everyday life and diet.