El Paso Phase Obsidian Procurement in Southern New Mexico: Implications for Jornada Mogollon Regional Interaction and Exchange (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.
International Association for Obsidian Studies Bulletin , 2017
The results of a small obsidian sourcing study are presented here to contribute to a better understanding of local and nonlocal obsidian procurement in the Jornada Mogollon region of southern New Mexico. Sixteen artifacts from six Archaic/Pueblo period sites were sourced using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. Fourteen artifacts derive from four geochemically distinct sources that the primary outcrop is in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, but are also present in Rio Grande gravels in southern New Mexico. The remaining two artifacts derive from a nonlocal source (Gwynn/Ewe Canyon), and a geographically unknown source. These data are contextualized and results corroborate other studies from the region.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017
The Casas Grandes area in Chihuahua, Mexico and the site of Paquimé was the center of one the largest regional systems in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest (SW/NW) during the Medio period (CE 1200–1450). People participated in local and distant exchange networks with groups in the SW/NW, Mesoamerica, and West Mexico. Our knowledge of which obsidian sources people used in Casas Grandes is limited, despite how obsidian could have derived from many different places. We examine how the use of specific obsidian sources may relate to broader political and economic relationships within the Casas Grandes regional system and its association with the Mimbres and Animas regions of the SW/NW. We sourced 116 artifacts using EDXRF spectrometry from four sites that neighbor Paquimé. Results demonstrate people used obsidian from Chihuahua, Sonora, and New Mexico. There were varying levels of social interaction and regional integration because there is diversity in source use at the site level, and Casas Grandes were more connected to the Animas region than Mimbres regarding obsidian resource procurement. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Source Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from Three Sites in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico
Geoarchaeological X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer Laboratory, 2014
www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0zv1m4sw GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROMETRY LABORATORY 8100 Wyoming Blvd., Ste M4-158 Albuquerque, NM 87113 USA SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM THREE SITES IN THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY, NEW MEXICO by M. Steven Shackley, Ph.D., Director Geoarchaeological XRF Laboratory Albuquerque, New Mexico Report Prepared for Evan Giomi Department of Anthropology University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona 8 August 2014
New Mexico Obsidian Sources and Exchange on the Southern Plains
This paper presents the results of analysis of samples from 14 geologic sources of obsidian in New, Mexico. Once this was accomplished) 26 obsidian artifacts from archaeological sites in Oklahoma and New Mexico were analyzed and their compositions compared to those from various Western sources. The artifact data have been combined with the results of analysis of 87 other obsidian artifacts from Oklahoma) west Texas) and New Mexico that had been previously reported. The analyses have demonstrated that) while most of the archaeological , specimens are derived from the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico) some were obtained from SE Idaho and west-central Utah. This information indicates that exchange in the Southern Plains prior to A.C. 1450 had a N-S orientation) as shown by the Idaho and Utah obsidian. After A. c. 1450) the exchange patterns appear to have changed to an E-w orientation. At this time) obsidian from the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico became important to people living in the Southern Plains.
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...
Exploring Patterns of Obsidian Conveyance in Baja California, Mexico
The X-ray fluorescence analysis of obsidian artifacts from four study areas in Baja California, Mexico, suggests regional and local patterning in the geological sources used by indigenous hunter-gatherers during the late prehistoric and colonial periods. Obsidian artifacts were typically made from materials from the closest geological source, creating a distinct north-south pattern of obsidian distribution. In the northern region of Baja California, this pattern appears to correspond to ethnographically-documented language boundaries. However, within each study area, particular sites exhibit higher degrees of obsidian source diversity than others—a pattern that may suggest chronological or social variation in access to particular obsidian sources. Unexpectedly, projectile points do not exhibit noticeably higher levels of source diversity when compared to an aggregate of all other obsidian artifacts. Together, these patterns offer a baseline of knowledge about regional obsidian distributions and point toward potential avenues for future research on obsidian availability and conveyance in Baja California.