The Social Significance of Jemez Mountains Obsidian at Aztec Ruins National Monument

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Studying the sources of obsidian in the American Southwest has provided valuable insights into both resource procurement and the social and political processes that underlie it. We report on a large sourcing study from Aztec Ruins National Monument, a Chacoan community significant both for its political history and for its multiple great houses. Archaeological testing at the Aztec North great house, occupied for a short period between about 1070 C.E. and 1140 C.E., revealed large quantities of obsidian debitage, with few formal tools, sourced entirely to two obsidian sources in the Jemez Mountains. At the Aztec West great house, occupied for nearly two centuries spanning the Chacoan and post-Chacoan periods, preliminary research also suggests the presence of large quantities of Jemez obsidian. In light of recent research on obsidian at Chaco Canyon and in the Rio Grande, we consider how obsidian use and exchange at Aztec compare to other regions. We also address the social significance of these patterns, including networks of relationships that brought obsidian to Aztec and the possible roles of color symbolism and ideological connections to distant sacred landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39708.0