Variation and Similarity in Obsidian Tool Styles and Technologies at the Zaragoza-Oyameles Source Area, Puebla, Mexico

Summary

The nature and degree of interaction between the Classic period centers of Teotihuacan and Cantona is investigated through two types of obsidian artifacts that characterize Early to Late Classic period obsidian use in the central-east highlands of Mexico: prismatic blades and bifacial dart points. At the Zaragoza-Oyameles source area in eastern Puebla, Mexico the recovery of dart point preforms next to obsidian quarries, combined with chemical analysis indicates that these points were crafted at the source using local obsidian. Surface data indicates that they were part of a linked-reduction sequence that also produced sub-prismatic cores. We investigate the context of the dart points, as well as in the methods of obsidian extraction and its manufacture into sub-prismatic cores at the Zaragoza-Oyameles source area. We then compare information on known caches of dart points at Teotihuacan, and the nature of Teotihuacan-era obsidian extraction and core-blade reduction at the Pachuca obsidian source. In doing so we hope to illuminate variation and similarity in the obsidian reduction sequences and the commodities produced that are associated with these two, large and densely populated regional centers.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Interregional Interaction and Dynamic Cultural Process in Mesoamerica

Keywords

Spatial Coverage