Mesoamerican Origin for an Obsidian Scraper from the Precolumbian Southeastern United States

Abstract

EDXRF analysis of an obsidian scraper from the Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma, shows that the source material was from Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico. Given the distinctive peralkaline character of the obsidian, the source assignment is considered extremely secure. The artifact was recovered from the east tunnel of Craig Mound, Spiro, immediately after the cessation of commercial digging in 1935, and has been in the Smithsonian’s collections since 1937. Despite more than 150 years of speculation regarding supposed contact with and influence from the region, this represents the first documented example of Mesoamerican material from any Mississippian archaeological context in the Precolumbian southeastern United States.

New Perspectives in Mississippian Archaeology

“…The more secure examples, such as pre-Mississippian introductions of maize and other cultigens, similarly diffused ceramic form inspirations, scattered finds of Mexicanstyle filed teeth, and some very specific costume elements depicted in Mississippian iconography, have been known for some time (Cobb et al 1999;Kehoe 2005). Currently, a piece of obsidian from Spiro is the only Mesoamerican imported artifact in undisputed precolumbian Mississippian context (Barker et al 2002), although new sourcing of old obsidian finds promises to turn up more examples (White and Weinstein 2008, p. 236). Possible Southwestern links to Mississippian have been raised once more as well (Lekson and Peregrine 2004;Peregrine and Lekson 2006), but again physical evidence is lacking, with the exception of a few items of probable Puebloan origin such as fragments of cotton fabric and Pacific species shells at Spiro and related sites on the far edges of the Eastern Woodlands (White and Weinstein 2008, p. 254).…”

Emigdiano Blues: The California Indigenous Pigment Palette and an In Situ Analysis of an Exotic Colour

“…The use of portable XRF in pigment analysis is becoming increasingly widespread in the analysis of archaeological materials including lithics, ceramics, glass, metallurgy and pigments obsidian (Barker et al, 2015;Craig et al, 2007;Jia et al, 2010;Nazaroff et al, 2010), lithics (Williams-Thorpe et al, 1999; Jones, G.…”

“…The approach is well established in sourcing internally consistent materials such as obsidian (Barker et al, 2015) but has also been successfully applied to differentiate between ochres in situ and between ochre fragments (Jercher et al, 1998;Huntley et al, 2015, Samson et al, 2017. The internal variation of many mineral pigments combined with matrix effects within applied pigments and the impact of weathering on rock art present significant challenges when analysing and comparing pigments in situ (Huntley et al, 2015;Huntley & Galamban, 2016).…”

The Pachuca obsidian source, Hidalgo, Mexico: A geoarchaeological perspective

“…It is also found at highland and lowland Maya sites including, but not limited to, Ambergris Caye, Belize (McKillop, 1995), Tikal, Guatemala (MoholyNagy, 1999), Copan, Honduras, and Quelepa, El Salvador (Braswell et al, 1994). Indeed, obsidian from Sierra Las Navajas was even transported (and perhaps traded) as far north as Oklahoma (Barker et al, 2002). The proportion of Pachuca obsidian at a site decreases with distance from the source, so that less than 0.3% of the obsidian at Copan is Pachuca obsidian (Braswell et al, 1994).…”

“…In any case, the mines of Sierra Las Navajas were without question the most important highland Mesoamerican obsidian quarries during pre-Colonial times, providing obsidian to the major sociopolitical centers of Teotihuacá n (Charlton, 1978;Spence, 1981), Tula (Healan, 1983(Healan, , 1986(Healan, , 1993, and Tenochtitlá n (Charlton and Spence, 1982;Pastrana, 1998). It has been traded since at least the Early Formative Period, and has been found in archaeological contexts as far south as Copan, Honduras (Braswell et al, 1994), and as far north as Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma (Barker et al, 2002).…”