A Reassessment of Obsidian Procurement Networks on Guatemala's Pacific Slope

Summary

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

Networks of long-distance exchange in quotidian commodities are essential aspects of prehistoric economies. On the Pacific Slope of Guatemala, there was no more important commodity than obsidian, which accounts for almost all cutting edges found in archaeological contexts. Obsidian sourcing studies on the Pacific Slope have been limited, relied on very small sample sizes, and primarily on visual analysis. Furthermore, syntheses of Mesoamerican obsidian exchange have either avoided the Pacific Slope entirely or only included data from the Soconusco and Highland Guatemala. These analyses have led to models of three major exchange networks that remained static over millennia. However, a more careful scrutiny of the existing literature, unpublished data, and new geochemical evidence suggests a more complicated picture wherein networks of exchange overlap and shift over time. This paper reassesses the existing model to provide a more nuanced view of obsidian exchange on Guatemala's Pacific Slope from the Early Formative to the Late Classic.

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): 39460.0