Obsidian in the Casas Grandes World: Procurement, Exchange, and Interaction in Chihuahua, Mexico, CE 1200-1450 (original) (raw)
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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.
Obsidian Across the Americas (Gary M. Feinman and Danielle J. Riebe, editors), 2022, 2022
Obsidian was a vital Mesoamerican trade good throughout the prehispanic sequence. Here, drawing on an archive of more than 500,000 pieces of sourced obsidian with prehispanic contexts, we map and describe marked shifts in Mesoamerican exchange networks over 3000 years. Variation in the spatial and temporal patterns of obsidian procurement illustrate the diachronic dynamism of these networks, key transitions in the east-to-west movement of goods across time, and changes in modes of transfer.
In Obsidian Across the Americas (Gary M. Feinman and Danielle J. Riebe, editors), 2022
Obsidian was a valued good throughout the prehispanic sequence in Oaxaca (Mexico). Yet, there is no obsidian source in the entire state of Oaxaca, and all archaeological obsidian recovered in the centrally situated Valley of Oaxaca was procured from locations that were at least 200km away. We draw on a large corpus of more than 20,000 sourced pieces of obsidian from prehispanic sites in Oaxaca to document dramatic shifts in networks of exchange over time. Obsidian was traded into Oaxaca, arriving at different entry points, through multiple routes that often were simultaneously active. Our findings do not support a model of centralized control or redistribution by urban Monte Albán or any other settlement. Obsidian assemblages in Oaxaca were affected by extraregional, geopolitical processes that impacted broader networks of exchange.
Obsidian procurement and social interaction at the Harris site, Mimbres River Valley, New Mexico
Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 2019
In this paper, we use obsidian sourcing and lithic analysis data to explore obsidian use and its relationship to social interaction at the Harris site, a large pithouse village located in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. We also use the data to examine whether differences in obsidian procurement strategies and access to obsidian were present between households at the Harris site. The sourced assemblage is one of the largest from a single site in the American Southwest and many of the artifacts are from dated contexts that allow the examination of patterns of obsidian procurement through time as well as within and between households.
Obsidian Sourcing and Dynamic Trade Patterns at Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico: 100 BCE-400 CE
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018
Recent research on Mesoamerican economies has demonstrated that Prehispanic trade networks were not static, but constantly evolving. Relationships between peoples in different settlements and regions shift as social, political, and economic circumstances change. One question that results from these findings is how significant events such as sociopolitical decline or abandonment affect exchange networks. This study investigates changes in obsidian procurement during a period of widespread upheaval across southern Mesoamerica, ca. 100–250 CE, from the perspective of a surviving capital on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis using a Bruker Tracer III–V was conducted for obsidian collected from Terminal Formative (100 BCE–250 CE) and initial Early Classic (250–400 CE) domestic contexts to evaluate how obsidian procurement patterns at the ancient city of Izapa were affected by events in neighboring regions. Obsidian results are compared to known shifts in sociopolitical relationships as observed through ceramics, burials, and art styles. Data indicate that residents of Izapa shifted trade from east to west over the Terminal Formative to Early Classic period transition. Patterns correspond with sociopolitical turmoil at the Guatemalan highland capital of Kaminaljuyú and the rise of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan. Results also indicate, however, that economic relationships may continue even in places where political affiliations have been severed. Results suggest that datasets for different artifact classes, when viewed independently, introduce additional nuance into the questions of collapse and resilience of ancient societies.
Obsidian Provenance Data Reveals New Insights into Archaic Lifeways in Chihuahua, Mexico
Lithic Technology, 2019
Archaeologists know less about how hunter-gatherers and early agriculturists lived during the Archaic period in the Mexican Northwest compared to the U.S. Southwest. To evaluate Archaic period mobility, lithic technology, and regional and temporal patterns in raw material procurement in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, we characterized the trace elemental composition of 61 obsidian artifacts from Rancho Santa María I, II, and El Peñón del Diablo using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. People predominantly used Los Jagüeyes obsidian procured locally from secondary deposits, but they also used three additional sources from upland and lowland environments in the Mexican Northwest to make dart projectile points and debitage. Also, they reduced obsidian using bipolar percussion, and there is regional and temporal variation in obsidian source use. This study contributes new insights into how mobility, raw material availability, and nodule size affected lithic technological organization in an understudied region.
Kiva, 2017
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.
Dynamics of Obsidian Procurement at Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), Northern New Mexico
We present obsidian-sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloan settlements in the Northern Rio Grande, occupied from at least 1260 ce until ca. 1320 ce when much of the pueblo was burned and the site was depopulated. Although the occupation of Pot Creek Pueblo was short, it occurred during a pivotal period in the Northern Rio Grande. The population of the region increased rapidly at this time, possibly due to an influx of migrants from the Mesa Verde/San Juan area to the west, and locally people living in relatively small villages comprised of pithouses and above-ground unit pueblos begin to coalesce into fewer, but much larger above-ground pueblos. Obsidian-source choices throughout the region may provide insight into how the proposed migration impacted existing resource-procurement patterns. Our data demonstrate that despite the diverse histories of the settlement’s inhabitants, the exchange system supplying obsidian to Pot Creek Pueblo remained...