Provisioning of the Inka army in wartime: obsidian procurement in Pambamarca, Ecuador

Obsidian source characterization in the Cordillera Real and eastern piedmont of the north Ecuadorian Andes

“…This is consistent with the observations presented in the Introduction regarding what appears to be a predominately limited range in the distribution of Ecuadorian obsidians. Not even for the time of Inca imperialism is there evidence of long-distance obsidian exchange: Inca fortresses and habitation contexts in Northern Ecuador yield obsidian from the Sierra de Guamaní sources only, and the little that is known about Spanish Colonial Period use of obsidian points to the continuation of that pattern (Ogburn et al, 2009). While it is possible that the comparatively small scale of Ecuadorian archaeology accounts for the current view, it is also possible that pre-Columbian obsidian economies in this part of the world were less regionally expansive.…”

“…From north to south these sources are: Yarac Paccha, Callejones, Mullumica, El Tablón, Potrerillos, Rodeo Corrales, and YanaurcoeQuiscatola Bellot-Gurlet et al, 2008;Bigazzi et al, 1992;Burger et al, 1994;Dorighel, 2000;Salazar, 1992). Beyond the Sierra de Guamaní, in the southern Ecuadorian highlands near Saraguro, Ogburn et al (2009) have recently identified the obsidian source of Carboncillo, but it is unclear if it was used during the pre-Columbian era because no artifacts have been matched to this obsidian type. Several of the Northern Andean sources, such as Callejones, Mullumica and YanaurcoeQuiscatola, are well sampled and have been characterized through a number of geochemical analyses, including XRF, NAA Burger et al, 1994), Particle Induced X-ray Emission or PIXE (Bellot-Gurlet et al, 2008), and Inductively Coupled Plasma using an Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES) or a Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) (Bellot-Gurlet et al, 2008).…”

Geochemical Characterization of Bolivian Formative Earthen Architecture by Wavelength‐Dispersive X‐ray Fluorescence

“…Archaeological applications of XRF in Andean Peru and Bolivia have concentrated primarily on obsidian (e.g., Craig et al, 2007Craig et al, , 2010Ogburn, Connell, & Gifford, 2009;Tripcevich, Eerkens, & Carpenter, 2012), metals (Bezur & Owen, 1996;Aldenderfer et al, 2008), and recently Inca ceramics (Szilágyi et al, 2012). No published studies of Andean earthen architecture employ geochemical methods despite the wide prevalence of earthen architecture across the Andes, although Dennis Ogburn and colleagues (Ogburn, 2004;Ogburn, Sillar, & Sierra, 2013) have made important contributions to Inca masonry practices through XRF analyses of building stones.…”

XRF obsidian analysis from Ayacucho Basin in Huamanga province, south‐eastern Peru*

“…In South America, obsidian was broadly used along the Andean Cordillera from north to south (e.g., Bigazzi et al 1992;Salazar 1992, Hurliman 1993Burger et al 1994;Seelenfreund et al 1996;Dorighel et al 1999;Stern et al 2000;Lazzari and Pereyra 2002;Bellot-Gurlet et al 2002, Bellot-Gurlet et al 2008Durán et al 2004Durán et al , 2012Ogburn et al 2009;Ogburn 2011;Giesso et al 2011;Cortegoso et al 2012;Carbonelli 2014;Nami et al 2015). Particularly in Peru, its use can be traced to the earliest human occupations (e.g., MacNeish et al 1980, MacNeish et al 1983Sandweiss et al 1998;Rademaker et al 2014;Yataco Capcha and Nami 2016), continuously through pre-Columbian times to contemporary Andean agro-pastoralist societies (Burger andAsaro 1978, 1979;Brooks et al 1997).…”