Obsidian Trade vs. Direct Acquisition: A View from Central California

Summary

Geochemical sourcing of lithic artifacts has proven to be a useful analytical tool for the studies of trade and mobility in the archaeological record. However, it is difficult to distinguish lithic material acquired through exchange from material acquired directly from the source. Economic models of lithic reduction suggest that material procured for the purpose of exchange may be treated differently than material procured for personal consumption. I compare obsidian source profiles and lithic reduction strategies from several dozen sites in central California that span the entire Holocene record of occupation. I find that residential mobility was likely high during the early Holocene, when it appears that obsidian procurement was embedded into the foraging round. Obsidian was probably procured logistically during the middle Holocene when residential mobility decreased. While opportunistic obsidian trade likely occurred throughout the sequence, it appears that regularized exchange via far-flung trade networks did not begin until after 1,100 cal B.P., when residential mobility reaches its lowest point. This contrasts with previous studies, which have concluded that obsidian trade peaked in the region prior to this period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20542