Archive Note
In 2025 W. James Stemp and colleagues identified two retouched chert burin spall tools from Actun Uayazba Kab cave in the Roaring Creek Valley of Belize as Classic Maya tattooing implements, on the evidence of microscopic wear consistent with piercing the body, traces of black soot-based pigment, and experimental replication. Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports in June 2025, the finding is the first physical evidence of ancient Maya tattooing tools, putting material weight behind the chronicle record of Maya marking. It is a strong reading of two tools rather than proof of routine practice, so house framing says the first identified, and the material is chert, not the obsidian the Maya famously used for blades.