Editing Prismatic blade (section)

==Production==
[[Obsidian]] prismatic blade production was ubiquitous in Mesoamerica, and these tools can be found at a large majority of Mesoamerican [[archaeological site]]s from the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Preclassic period]] on until the [[Spanish conquest of Mexico|arrival of the Spanish]] in the early 16th century. Ethnohistoric sources recount the process of prismatic blade production.  Fray [[Toribio de Benavente Motolinia|Motolinia]], a [[Spain|Spanish]] observer, recorded:

{{quote|It is in this manner: First they get out a knife stone (obsidian core) which is black like [[Jet (lignite)|jet]] and 20 cm or slightly less in length, and they make it cylindrical and as thick as the calf of the leg, and they place the stone between the feet, and with a stick apply force to the edges of the stone and, at every push they give, a little knife springs off with its edges like those of a razor.<ref>Hester ''et al.'' (1971)</ref>}}

The production of prismatic blades creates not only a very standardized final product, but also a standardized waste assemblage.<ref>Clark and Bryant (1997)</ref>  The analysis of obsidian [[debitage]] can reveal whether or not prismatic blade production occurred at a site and, if it had, what stages of production the process included. In other words, the types of manufacturing waste present (e.g., rejuvenation flakes and/or blades, platform rejuvenation flakes, etc.) at a site can inform archaeologists about the stage in which blades were being produced.<ref>Clark (1997)</ref>