Obsidian source analysis and properties testing from artifacts at El Mirador

Summary

This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

pXRF elemental source analysis was conducted on a sample of 990 obsidian artifacts curated in the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies collections in Guatemala. The majority of the artifacts analyzed were from El Mirador, with additional material from sites in the Mirador-Calakmul Basin. Over 70% of the analyzed blades can be sourced to El Chayal, with additional material being sourced to other Guatemalan sources Ixtepeque and San Martin Jilotepeque. Some non-Guatemalan obsidian is sourced to Mexico and consists exclusively of projectiles points. The artifact collection suggests a reliance on El Chayal as a primary obsidian source, and materials testing of the Guatemalan obsidians indicate that variability in the performance of the different sources may have played a role in the selection and utilization of El Chayal obsidian. These observations are compared with other sociocultural data on obsidian utilization in the Peten.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53524