Not Always Shiny and Pretty: The Darker Side of Obsidian in Symbolizing Power, Ethnicity and Inequality in Contemporary Ethiopia

Summary

This paper builds upon previous research among craftspeople of Southwestern Ethiopia who still procure obsidian on a regular basis to manufacture scrapers for the production of leather products. Previous ethnoarchaeological studies of these male and female hide workers of multiple ethnicities have provided a wealth of information on the role of lithics in past and present societies, and have been especially important in helping to debunk the idea that men were largely, if not exclusively responsible for the manufacture of flaked stone artifacts in Stone Age societies. More recent analyses of the crafters’ scrapers using pXRF instruments have also revealed a strong correlation between specific obsidian sources, social boundaries and ethnicity. However, there is also a darker side to the hide workers’ contemporary use of volcanic glass: it brands them as prominent members of scorned caste groups whose economic, social and political roles in Ethiopian society have been severely marginalized. The paper concludes with a consideration of how studies of obsidian materiality can potentially provide archaeologists with novel ways of interpreting changes in lithic raw materials within ancient societies.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Exotic, Lustrous, and Colorful: Obsidian in Symbol, Society, and Ceremony

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