Obsidian Utilization in the Moquegua Valley through the Millennia
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Donna Nash, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: We review obsidian acquisition and utilization at sites in the Moquegua Valley, Peru from the Formative Period through the Late Horizon (c. 0–1500 CE). We examine sources represented through time, as well as quantities of obsidian recovered from excavation contexts at a variety of sites excavated by the authors (MAS survey, Cerro Baúl, Cerro Mejía, Yahuay Alta, Tumilaca la Chimba, Capanto, Las Peñas, Sabaya, Torata Alta, Camata, and Tacahuay). Our results indicate that the Middle Horizon (600–1000 CE) was the principal period of obsidian use in the region, and that fall-off models indicate that Cerro Baúl served as a centralized distribution center for obsidian from the major sources during this time. Despite the importance of obsidian in other Andean regions during periods outside the Middle Horizon, our data indicate that the Moquegua region participated only tangentially in obsidian procurement in the absence of the Wari state, and that even the Inca Empire did not make obsidian a principal product of exchange during its apogee.
Obsidian Utilization in the Moquegua Valley through the Millennia
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Additional Information
- Publication
- In G.M. Feinman & D.J. Riebe (Eds.), Obsidian Across the Americas: Compositional Studies Conducted in the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum of Natural History (pp. 148-161). Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. 10.32028/9781803273600.
- Language: English
- Date: 2022
- Keywords
- obsidian, Moquegua Valley, Peru