Movement Encased in Stone: Revealing Ancestral Jemez Migration through Obsidian Source Provenience

Summary

Based on the results of collaborative research performed in conjunction with the Pueblo of Jemez, this paper uses a pXRF study of 2222 obsidian artifacts from 29 Ancestral Puebloan villages in northern New Mexico to provide insights into Jemez movement between AD 1175-1700. The results reveal clear evidence of migration between these villages and the Valles Caldera. These movements steadily increased in intensity throughout the pre-Colonial period. This pattern was disrupted by Spanish colonialism in the 17th century, only to be re-established following the famous Pueblo Revolt of 1680. This paper explores the complex factors underlying these shifting patterns of obsidian procurement, and concludes that they were apparently linked to larger inter-tribal hostilities and alliances during the tumultuous first century of colonization in the Pueblo world.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Pueblo Movement and the Archaeology of Becoming

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14552