A Preliminary Recontextualization of Lithic and Exchange Chronology of Coxcatlan Cave within the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico

Summary

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

In recent years, Coxcatlan Cave has drawn renewed attention for its early regional chronology and centralized location as a nexus point for interregional exchange. However, its importance for understanding shifting patterns of exchange and resource acquisition within the Valley of Tehuacan has yet to be explored. This research draws upon the data gathered by the Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical Project, directed by Richard S. MacNeish in the 1960s, to understand how exchange networks in Mesoamerica formed and transformed in conjunction with the development of urban society. MacNeish and colleagues collected over 3,000 obsidian artifacts from multiple caves and terrestrial surveys throughout the Tehuacan Valley - including Coxcatlan Cave. A total of 114 diagnostic obsidian projectile points from MacNeish’s collection, currently in the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, were subjected to non-destructive X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis with a Bruker Tracer 5i analyzer and evaluated for this research. While the existing collection is an incomplete sample, the data produced from this analysis hint at a correlation between shifting point chronology, obsidian sourcing, and cave occupation over time, most pronounced in Coxcatlan Cave. This research is a crucial first step in recontextualizing early lithic exchange and resource use in Mexico.

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): 40259.0