The Terminal Formative to Classic Period Obsidian Assemblage at Palo Errado, Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

Abbreviated Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) was carried out on a sample of obsidian artifacts from the Terminal Formative to early Late Classic period site of Palo Errado, located in the southern Gulf lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Our understanding of Classic period obsidian economies in the southern Gulf lowlands has been largely informed by studies of the political economies of the highland Mexican cities of Teotihuacan and Cantona, which appear to have controlled the Pachuca and Otumba, and Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian sources, respectively. However, the NAA results from Palo Errado indicate that while the local obsidian economy was dominated by prismatic blade technology utilizing Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian, five additional highland Mexican sources were used during the Early Classic period. The presence of Ucareo and the use of Otumba in core-blade reduction, for instance, set Palo Errado apart from contemporary sites in the southern Gulf lowlands. Temporal variation in quantity of supplemental obsidian sources and their use in different reduction technologies suggest that consumers at Palo Errado had access to abundant Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian of a quality high enough to facilitate the production of fine prismatic blades. At the same time, however, they continued to participate in exchange networks that tied them to other areas of central Mexico, independently from other contemporaneous sites in the southern Gulf lowlands.

Cultural implications of late Holocene climate change in the Cuenca Oriental, Mexico

“…The city drew its economic importance from the exploitation of obsidian at the site of Oyameles-Zaragoza, and was a key supplier of obsidian to settlements along the Gulf of Mexico (11,12). The site covered over 12 km 2 and housed an estimated population of 90,000 at its peak, but was abandoned between 900 CE and 1050 CE (Fig.…”

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

“…Burger and Asaro, 1978;Burger and Glascock, 2000;Eerkens et al, 2010) or Mesoamerica (e.g. Clark, 1987;Cobean et al, 1991;Cobean, 2002;Drennan et al, 1990;Knight and Glascock, 2009;Stark et al, 1992).…”

“…Chobshi Cave, about 300 km away), but typically representing a minor component of lithic assemblages . This points to more local distribution, especially when compared to the broader geographical distribution of Peruvian Stanish et al, 2002;Tripcevich, 2007) or Mesoamerican obsidians (Cobean et al, 1991;Healan, 1993;Knight and Glascock, 2009).…”

An Assessment of the Current Applications and Future Directions of Obsidian Sourcing Studies in Archaeological Research*

“…2010; Smith and Kielhofer 2011) and symbolic value (Dillian 2002; Rath and Torrence 2003) to issues of political control over the source (Peterson et al . 1997; Knight and Glascock 2009). Some archaeologists have even combined sourcing data with techno‐typological analyses to relate changes in source exploitation to changes in how people worked, used and conceptualized obsidian (see Carter et al .…”