Obsidian

Inhabited by Native Americans for at least 13,000 years, California's Channel Islands were isolated from the adjacent mainland throughout the Quaternary. A rich archaeological record demonstrates that island peoples thrived for millennia, with access to abundant marine and terrestrial resources. Exchange with mainlanders for various goods is well documented, with long-distance material conveyance occurring very early and intensifying later in time. Obsidian was one exotic material imported to the islands from distant quarries beginning at least ~11,750 years ago and continuing until the collapse of native exchange networks after European contact. Geochemical sourcing shows that nearly 94% of obsidian artifacts found on the islands comes from the Coso Volcanic Field located ~300 km or more from the islands, with smaller percentages originating from sources as much as >850 km from the islands. Hydration data generally support radiocarbon dates that show that islanders participated in long-distance conveyance networks for millennia. Using these obsidian data, we examine Channel Island conveyance networks through space and time. We argue that conveyance of goods between islanders and mainlanders was a by-product primarily of social networks that functioned as sources of information, innovation, marriage partners, and strategic alliances.

This study presents an investigation of 19 obsidian artifacts recovered from Southern Sinaloa, as well as obsidian samples recovered from the deposits at Teuchitlán and La Joya (both in Jalisco State) and at Abasolo (Guanajuato). Chemical analyses were carried out by means of PIXE (proton induced X-ray emission), obtaining the concentration of the following elements: sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, chlorine, potassium, calcium, titanium, manganese, iron, zinc, arsenic, rubidium, yttrium, and zirconium. The statistical analysis of the results, together with data from the literature, allowed for an identification of the obsidian deposits used in the manufacture of pre-Hispanic artifacts, namely: Las Navajas-2 (Nayarit), Teuchitlán (Jalisco), Sierra de Pachuca (Hidalgo), and Abasolo (Guanajuato). The first deposit mentioned was most popular in Southern Sinaloa, though the range of sources went all the way from relatively nearby ones, like those around the Tequila volcano, to the Bajío region and Central Mesoamerica. This study proposes the obsidian trading routes that could have reached Southern Sinaloa.

Recent archaeological research has highlighted the potential role of mobile pastoral groups in the diffusion of raw materials and technological innovations between the southern Caucasus and north‐western Iran from the Neolithic onwards. Two successive projects, PAST‐OBS and SCOPE, were designed to explore this hypothesis through the study of obsidian consumption patterns from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age using a flexible analytical strategy that considerably extends the scale of obsidian studies in these regions. By focusing on the exploitation of obsidian at multiple levels—local, regional and interregional—we hope to unravel the complexity of the obsidian networks under study. The aim of this paper is to present (1) a reassessment of the work so far carried out by previous obsidian studies, with a view to homogenizing and to clarifying the nomenclature in use; and (2) an introduction to the PAST‐OBS and SCOPE projects in order to initiate a discussion of our preliminary results.

"Obsidian is an excellent material for the manufacture of stone tools. While there are no tool-quality obsidian sources in Kansas, obsidian is recovered from Kansas archaeological
sites. Our recent chemical analysis of 189 samples of obsidian from Kansas archaeological sites demonstrates that obsidian was most commonly used after about 1000 BP, and that sources in New Mexico were used most frequently, but not exclusively. Obsidian sources in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah also were used, particularly by populations in the northern half of the Kansas, and three samples matched a source area in Hidalgo, Mexico. Finally, there is evidence that specific obsidian source use was a function not only of proximity, but of social relationships as well."

The Silver Cliff Volcanic Center (20-35MA) of Custer County, Colorado is located in the Wet Mountain Valley, and is east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and west of the Wet Mountains and the Rosita Hills volcanic area. Previous studies designate the Wet Mountain Valley as a tectonic basin related to the Rio Grande

For at least fourteen millennia Glass Buttes, one of the largest obsidian sources in Oregon, has been a source of high quality toolstone for Native American flintknappers. In the last century non- native historic and modern flintknappers as well as rock hounds have also used this resource for its abundant, colorful and high quality obsidian. This paper will discuss the quantity and quality of Glass Buttes obsidian, archaeological work that has been done there, the prehistoric and modern use of the resource, new archaeological findings, and the Bureau of Land Management protection plan for this valuable resource.

Archaeologists rarely discuss obsidian procurement for the Jornada Mogollon region, but studies indicate groups overwhelmingly used obsidian that can be collected from Rio Grande gravels in southern New Mexico. Obsidian artifacts from two El Paso phase sites, Cottonwood Spring Pueblo and Madera Quemada Pueblo, were sourced using EDXRF spectrometry to determine: (1) is there evidence for non-Rio Grande gravel obsidian use, (2) is there a difference between the sites, and (3) how do these sourcing results compare with contemporaneous sites in the Casas Grandes area? This study has implications for regional interaction and exchange as the results validate the high frequency of Cerro Toledo Rhyolite obsidian in assemblages, but non-Rio Grande gravel sources were also used including Mule Creek projectile points. People at both sites used similar sources, with a few noted exceptions. Furthermore, groups in the Jornada Mogollon and Casas Grandes regions utilized dramatically different sources.

The prehispanic societies of central and western Mesoamerica used obsidian in great quantities, as it was the primary material used for manufacturing domestic cutting tools and weapons and could also be fashioned into ornamental and religious items. Unlike in the Old World, utilitarian lithic industries were never supplanted by metallurgy, with the result that successive urban civilizations continued to exploit obsidian mines and leave exceedingly dense concentrations of production byproducts (or debitage) at quarry sites and workshops located within settlements. Aztec obsidian industries built upon millennia of earlier societies, including the Teotihuacano and Toltec, yet they significantly intensified and expanded obsidian extraction and exchange systems (Pastrana 2007; Pastrana and Domínguez 2009). Like their predecessors, the Aztecs were attracted to the physical properties of obsidian because it is a sharp, durable stone that fractures cleanly and predictably. The reductive and sequential nature of production activities and the chemical regularity of obsidian originating from the same volcanic flows are additional properties that have attracted archaeologists, because a wide range of economic activities can be discerned from the material. These include the stages of manufacturing represented in different contexts, knapper skill level, relative intensity of production, and exchange routes and zones of cultural contact. Aztec archaeological sites contain a wide range of types of obsidian artifacts, such as bifacial knives and projectile points used as weapons, pressure blades and unifacial scrapers used in many domestic activities , and polished bodily adornments, vessels, and mirrors used as status and ritual items. As a result, multiple dimensions of Aztec society may be addressed through obsidian analysis. This summary outlines the major raw material sources, artifact

This is a detailed report on excavations of houses at the Aztec-period site of Yautepec in central Mexico. It contains descriptions of excavations and artifacts, as well as technical studies. As the most complete report yet published on an Aztec-period city, the results illuminate issues from social inequality to commercial exchange.

Este es un informe detallado sobre las excavaciones de casas en el sitio del período Azteca de Yautepec en el centro de México. Contiene descripciones de excavaciones y artefactos, así como  estudios técnicos. Como el informe más completo publicado en un sitio urbano del período azteca, los resultados ilustran los problemas desde la desigualdad social al intercambio comercial.

Archaeological sites within the Great
Basin and California appear to demonstrate that
human occupation occurred in late Pleistocene
and early Holocene times from ca. 12,000 to
6,000 B.C. A prominent locality for Paleoindian
material is Lake China. Thousands of artifacts
dot the fossil shoreline on the desert floor of eastern
Kern County at the interface of the Mojave
Desert and the Great Basin near Ridgecrest
(Davis 1978).
In Central California, projectile points hypothesized
to date from these periods have been
discovered in abundance at the Witt locality (CA-Kin-
32) on the southwest margins of Tulare Lake
in Kings County in the southern San Joaquin Valley
(Dillon 2002, Moratto 2000; Riddell and
Olsen 1969; Wallace 1991). Some of these artifacts
are basally thinned, Concave Base points
(over 500). These projectiles are similar to Clovis
points but are often smaller, somewhat thinner,
are pressure rather than percussion flaked, and,
most often, lack the distinguishing flutes (Rondeau
2005a, 2005b; Rondeau et al. 2007; Wallace
1991; West et al. 1991). The range of variation
for these points, typically assigned to the
Great Basin Concave Base Series, has not been
clearly defined. The Tulare Lake points appear to
be a local variant of this same tradition.
Until recently, no direct dates for the flaked
stone materials found at either locality have been
published (yet, see Basgall 2003, 2005a, 2005b).
An indirect means of obtaining such temporal parameters
is the use of obsidian tracing and hydration
dating. Thirty-eight (38) artifacts from
China (n = 5) and Tulare (n = 33) Lakes were
chemically characterized to source and analyzed
for their hydration measurements. Results of
these studies indicate that obsidian hydration dating
is a useful tool even for very ancient artifacts
of volcanic glass. Obsidian tracing and dating indicate
that Concave Base points are partly contemporaneous
with Clovis age artifacts, although
they have a far lengthier duration dating from ca.
13,500 to 10,000 years cal before present (BP).
Great Basin Stemmed Series points are of more recent
age dating from ca. 11,000 to 7,000 years
cal BP. Eccentric crescents are apparently coeval
with both Concave Base and Great Basin
Stemmed Series points and have a lengthy temporal
span from 13,500 to 7,000 years cal BP.
Tracing studies of the early obsidian implements
from Tulare Lake, in this study, indicate
that Concave Base tradition foragers were far
more mobile than the Great Basin Stemmed Series
cultural expression. Obsidian originated from no less
than six (6) different source localities from 100 to
250 miles distant. These late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers
traversed enormous foraging territories
and either directly accessed or traded for volcanic
glass and fused shale from the Napa Valley, Casa

Diablo, Coso, Mount Hicks, Mono Glass Mountain,
Queen, and Grimes Canyon sources. Later,
early Holocene Stemmed Series peoples had a
smaller, more limited foraging radius and more
protracted mobility patterns procuring only Coso
and Casa Diablo volcanic glass sources.

The present publication consists of four
manuscripts (included as chapters one through
four). Initially, six chapters were planned but
two authors could not meet the time constraints.
Hopefully, they will be included in a subsequent
TULARG publication.
Briefly, Chapter 1 surveys and identifies a
flaked stone assemblage of time-diagnostic artifacts
from Tulare Lake. This is the first published
attempt to categorize and describe Tulare
Lake’s Paleoindian tool kit. Chapter 2 presents
the initial attempts at obsidian tracing and hydration
dating of Tulare Lake’s ancient artifacts
as well as providing a small sample from China
Lake in eastern California. Chapter 3 critically
reevaluates the number of reported Clovis-like
projectile point discoveries from Tulare Lake
and finally, Chapter 4 describes a unique ground
stone “butterfly” crescent from the study area
and discusses its possible meaning, function, and
significance.
Tulare Lake, located in California’s southern
San Joaquin Valley midway between the San
Francisco Bay and the Los Angeles Basin, was
formed sometime during the later part of the
Pleistocene epoch and, over millennia, expanded
to cover about 760 square miles before it was
drained and reclaimed for agricultural crops. Artifacts
collected from early shorelines suggest
the lake supported Paleoindian people for a considerable
amount of time before the earliest
Yokuts occupation.

This volume contains the following articles: "Editor's Preface" by Daniel H. Sandweiss; "Heidy Fogel, 1956-1994" by Richard L. Burger; "Daniel Wolfman, 1939-1994" by Izumi Shimada; "The Inca Compound at La Centinela, Chincha" by Dwight Wallace; "Reconstructing the Great Hall at Inkallacta" by Vincent R. Lee; "Reconstructing Andean Shrine Systems: A Test Case from the Xaquixaguana (Anta) Region of Cusco, Peru" by Brian S. Bauer and Wilton Barrioneuvo Orosco; "The Temple of Blindness: An Investigation of the Inca Shrine of Ancocagua" by Johan Reinhard; "Ethnogenesis in Huamachuco" by John R. Topic; "Coca Production on the Inca Frontier: The Yungas of Chuquioma" by Catherine J. Julien; Creating a Ruin in Colonial Cusco: Sacsahuaman and What Was Made of It" by Carolyn S. Dean; "The Alca Obsidian Source: The Origin of Raw Material for Cusco Type Obsidian Artifacts" by Richard L. Burger, Frank Asaro, Paul Trawick, and Fred Stross; "The Chivay Obsidian Source and the Geological Origin of Titicaca Basin Type Obsidian Artifacts by Richard L. Burger, Frank Asaro, Guido Salas, and Fred Stross; "The Jampatilla Obsidian Source: Identifying the Geological Source of Pampas Type Obsidian Artifacts from Southern Peru" by Richard L. Burger, Katharina J. Schrieber, Michael D. Glascock, and Jose Ccencho; "Unifaces in Early Andean Culture History: The Nanchoc Lithic Tradition of Northern Peru" by Jack Rossen; "Lithic Provenience Analysis and Emerging Material Complexity at Formative Period Chiripa, Bolivia" by David L. Browman; "Textiles from the Lower Osmore Valley, Southern Peru: A Cultural Interpretation" by Ran Boytner; "Corbel Vaulted Sod Structures in the Context of Lake Titicaca Basin Settlement Patterns" by Sergio J. Chavez; "Archaeomagnetic Results from Peru: A.D. 700-1500 by Daniel Wolfman and Richard E. Dodson.

Despite its longstanding preeminence as one of the earliest, largest, and most complex urban centers of highland Mexico, Teotihuacan’s pan-regional impact on Mesoamerica remains the subject of intense debate and conflicting models centering on the rise of social complexity in the American hemisphere. Therefore, this study seeks to address the interplay and operationalization of resource concentration, multiethnic mosaics, and corporate interaction and inter-elite conflict within and beyond the context of the preindustrial metropolis of Teotihuacan. Findings from this review predictably indicate that the ancient highland polity was borne of but one of a host of Late Formative compound chiefdoms situated in the Basin of Mexico, albeit on a semiarid plain that necessitated the formation of an incipient managerial elite devoted to the management of the region’s hydraulic resources. While water management per se may be construed an initial stimulus to the formation of sociopolitical complexity in the highlands, the authors contend that this fact alone did not distinguish Teotihuacan, or for that matter, render it a competitive advantage over other early polities of the region. Its uniqueness, they argue, was borne of (a) its strategic location proximate to both major obsidian deposits and a highland transport network to the Gulf lowlands, (b) a pattern of recurrent demographic restructuring occasioned by the cataclysmic eruptions of Popocatépetl, Malinche, and Xitle, (c) the formation of multiethnic mosaics and foreign enclaves both within and beyond the metropolis as a result of the two foregoing conditions, and by extension, (d) the emergence of multiethnic corporate groups dedicated to commerce and industry centered on Teotihuacan. In an effort to fully interrogate the extant evidence for the evolution of social complexity in the Basin of Mexico, the authors extend the analysis to those findings bearing on the troubled times of the Late Middle Classic/Epiclassic decline, collapse, and destruction of the ancient metropolis and its far flung outposts. In the final analysis, a review of that evidence bearing on the question of what ultimately became of Teotihuacan in the wake of its disintegration reveals a pattern of escalating internal conflict, militarization, and a balkanization and recapitulation of the constituent multiethnic mosaics that defined the cosmopolitan and multicultural origins of the metropolis from the outset.

This volume of Andean Past contains the following articles, research reports, and obituaries: "Editor's Preface" by Monica Barnes; "Donald Frederick Sola" by Monica Barnes; Paulina Mercedes Ledergerber-Crespo" by A. Jorge Arellano-Lopez; "Death Notices (Robert Ascher, Bernd Lambert, Daniel W. Gade, and George Bankes) by Monica Barnes and Bill Sillar; "Obsidian Procurement and Cosmopolitanism at the Middle Horizon Settlement of Conchopata, Peru" by Richard L. Burger, Catherine M. Bencic, and Michael D. Glascock; "Characteristics and Significance of Tapia Walls and the Mochica Presence at Santa Rosa de Pucala in the Mid-Lambayeque Valley" by Edgar Bracamonte; "Health at the Edge of the Wari Empire: An Analysis of Skeletal Remains from Hatun Cotuyoc, Huaro, Peru" by Sara L. Juengst and Maeve Skidmore; "Demographic Analysis of a Looted Late Intermediate Period Tomb, Chincha Valley, Peru" by Camille Weinberg, Benjamin T. Nigra, Maria Cecilia Lozada, Charles Stanish, Henry Tantalean, Jacob Bongers, and Terrah Jones; "Macrobotanical Remains from the 2009 Season at Caylan: Preliminary Insights into Early Horizon Plant Use in the Nepena Valley, North-Central Coast of Peru" by David Chicoine, Beverly Clement, and Kyle Stich; "Obsidian Technology at the Wari Site of Conchopata in Ayacucho, Peru" by Catherine M. Bencic; "Incahuasi, Canete" by Alejandro Chu; "Luis Barreda Murillo's Excavations at Huanuco Pampa, 1965" Monica Barnes; "Early Village Formation in Desert Areas of Tarapaca, Northern Chile (Eleventh Century B.C.--Thirteenth Century A.D.)" by Simon Urbina, Leonor Adan, Constanza Pellegrino, and Estefania Vidal; and "Don Mateo-El Cerro, a Newly Rediscovered Late Period Settlement in Yocavil (Catamarca, Argentina) by Alina Alvarez Larrain.