Obsidian Exchange and Political Change: Shifting Patterns of Obsidian Use Across the Late Classic and Postclassic at Fracción Mujular

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Fracción Mujular is a small domestic settlement located on the slopes of Cerro Bernal near the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Mexico. Founded under the auspices of the Early Classic center of Los Horcones, Fracción Mujular was occupied for nearly one thousand years, persisting through the Collapse of Los Horcones and entering into a period of rapid expansion during the Late Classic. Located adjacent to a critical trade route along the Pacific Coast that would have linked Central Mexico with the Guatemalan Highlands, the ancient residents of Fracción Mujular had access to goods from across southern Mesoamerica. Which regions traded the most with the site, however, changed considerably through time. This paper presents data from the XRF sourcing of 502 obsidian objects from recent excavations at Fracción Mujular. I use this obsidian source data together with an analysis of the construction history of the site to show how obsidian use patterns at Fracción Mujular sifted in reaction to political changes on both the local and inter-regional level.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32868