Obsidian use in Mesoamerica
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Obsidian was an important part of the material culture of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Its uses, value, production, trade, sources, and analysis are all important aspects of the study of cultures in this region.
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[edit] Practical and Ritual Obsidian Use
Almost no site in Mesoamerica is without obsidian, called "Itztli" in the Nahuatl language. It was an item that had both frequent, common uses and ritual use. Obsidian was available to all households and was found in hunting, agriculture, and many other everyday situations. Examples of possible obsidian tools are knives, lance and dart points, prismatic blades sometimes used for woodworking or shaving, bone working tools, bifaces, retouched flakes, and spearheads for ritual warfare. Blades have been found in situ with rabbit, rodent, and mollusc remains, indicating use in butchery. The practical use of this substance was almost inevitable considering that obsidian has the potential to be one of the sharpest materials on earth. When skilfully worked the edges of a prismatic obsidian blades have the potential to reach the molecular level, that is the material can sustain a cutting edge that is only one molecule thick.
Obsidian was also used in graves, at sacrifices, and in art. Some non-utilitarian forms are miniature human effigies, ear spools and labrets with gold and turquoise workings, carved animal figurines, beads, vases, and masks. Obsidian is frequently seen in the form of ritual blood-letting devices as well as buried in elite tombs and special deposits or caches. Debitage is found in many of these tombs in addition to evidence of obsidian use in temple dedications, potlaching, or offerings. For example, flakes have been found in association with stela offerings and related to specific gods at the Maya site of Tikal. Not only was obsidian associated with ritual at a presumed higher level with the community taking part and shamans or kings performing the actual ritual, but also at the household level. As mentioned before obsidian is very sharp and there is ample evidence of its use in animal butchery and food preparation at the domestic levels yet it was also incorporated into household ritual at later Classic and Epi-Classic sites such as Tula.
Lancet and prismatic blades are also found in frequent association with self-sacrifice. While these lancets were more often sting ray spine, the obsidian versions still held the same ritual value as the spines themselves. These spines and obsidian lancets and razors were then used in ritual activity such as the common Mesoamerican practice of blood-letting. This act of blood-letting was seen in a variety of contexts, some with captives being cut and some with the ruler or shaman being cut or pierced to let blood. This act has been interpreted several different ways, in general the kings or shamans would pierce their ears, tongues, or genitals to let blood. This blood was then often collected in baskets with paper in them, then the blood soaked paper was burnt as an offering. The significance of this ritual is not as important as emphasising the role that obsidian played, as it was likely seen as a type of blood that came from the earth and therefore had a special connection with these blood-letting rituals (Evans, 2004). Obsidian was a highly integrated part of Mesoamerican daily and ritual life. This widespread and varied use may be a significant contributor to this culture's lack of metallurgy.
[edit] Obsidian in Art and Writing
Most of the evidence that supports the many theories about Obsidian use in Mesoamerica comes from the artwork of the region. This artwork is seen in many forms including the aforementioned obsidian figurines, ear spools, beads, and vases, also stela, and large mediums of carvings, sculpture, or murals on the abundant architecture. Unfortunately, the majority of this material record is out of context yet the implications and interpretations that are drawn from the artwork are very substantial and represent a corpus of beliefs and ideology involving obsidian. Some of the more significant portrayals of obsidian use involve blood-letting and warfare/ captive sacrifice characteristics.(picture?) One example of these is the macuahuitl clubs that are primarily a Post-classic phenomenon possibly a highland Mexico. These clubs are studded with obsidian blades and used in ritual warfare. The earlier depictions found across Mesoamerica during the Late Pre-classic and Classic periods also contain obsidian elements. However it is widely accepted that the application of obsidian cutting edges to larger weapons such as clubs or spears is a later innovation and earlier depictions of obsidian use are primarily shown as razors or lancets. However there are depictions of curved orsmatic obsidian blades with bloody hearts on the ends in context with some sacrificial ritual. These smaller more precise obsidian artefacts were more likely used in a ritual context however, they could have easily intimidated considering the prevalence of blood-letting from highly sensitive areas of the body. The importance of blood-letting in Mesoamerican culture has already been touched on, but the fact remains that this ritual act was seen across major spacial and temporal bounds. The use of obsidian in the Aztec script, Nahuatl, the curved prismatic blade represents the phonetic value itz (pic?) (Taube, 1991) . Hence the name itztli as mentioned.
[edit] Value
Obsidian was widely distributed throughout Mesoamerica by trade. Its importance to Mesoamerican societies has been compared to the value and importance of steel to modern civilization. However, archaeology provides varied evidence of the individual value placed on obsidian. For example during the Formative period, obsidian was a rare item in the lowland areas, found predominantly in elite and ritual contexts. In many Maya excavations evidence of obsidian is likewise found most frequently in privileged settings; as the Late Classic period progressed, obsidian changed from an elite item to one found in abundance among the lower classes of Maya civilization. Nevertheless, the Maya elite continued to remain in possession of the more prestigious Teotihuacan green obsidian.
In the Teotihuacan culture obsidian was perhaps traded at a loss of human effort in transport across long distances. The profit from the trade was prestigious elite items received in return. Obsidian has both been seen as a key element to Teotihuacan's rise to power and as a side trade element that simply augmented their already developing wealth. Obsidian is a part of many elite items such as valuable ear-spools, but these obsidian ear-spools have been discovered in exclusively non-elite settings. Thus the value of obsidian can be considered highly variable. It was an important trade item, but found in both elite and common settings, unlike many items whose ownership was confined to the elite. Finally, there is no indication that obsidian was used as a currency in Mesoamerica.
[edit] Production and Techniques
Obsidian is relatively easy to work, aiding its prolific use throughout Mesoamerica. Obsidian is obtained by quarrying a source site. Pieces then are shaped by fracture as in the production of blades or knives. It may also be formed by pecking and grinding, producing animal figurines, beads, labrets, ear ornaments, and other erratics. Pressure flaking blades from a prepared core was a common practice. Edge-rejuvenation or resharpening of blades was performed to prolong the lifespan of many pieces. Modern attempts to recreate production techniques are heavily based on Spanish records and accounts of obsidian knapping. Motolinia, a Spanish observer, left this account of pressure flaking: "It is in this manner: First they get out a knife stone (obsidian core) which is black like jet and 20 cm or slightly less in length, and they make it cylindrical and as thick as the calf of the leg, and they place the stone between the feet, and with a stick apply force to the edges of the stone, and at every push they give a little knife springs off with its edges like those of a razor."
The widespread use of obsidian necessitated a large workforce to produce enough tools to supply an area. During Monte Alban's most populous period 900 to 1800 people were working obsidian. In Teotihuacan, a major contributor, if not possessing monopolistic control of obsidian trade and production, possessed more than 100 obsidian workshops within the city.
[edit] Trade
Obsidian sources are relatively easily identified through trace element chemical analysis, making obsidian an excellent medium for the study of long-distance trade in Mesoamerica. This pan-Mesoamerican trade industry is due to the limited number of quality sources; the low bulk of obsidian in transport, thus requiring less human effort in trade; and the large quantity of items that may be produced from that small amount. Two cultures are good examples of the source side of trading and the recipient side; Teotihuacan held significant control over major obsidian sources, and the Mayan culture did not control a single significant source. Evidence of Teotihuacan's trade strength is seen in the presence of obsidian artifacts originating from their controlled sources throughout Mesoamerica, even at a distance of over 550km (350 miles).
It is debated whether the rise of this culture's dominance came from obsidian trade or if the trade simply served as a mode for obtaining elite items or human labour. The Maya acquired their obsidian from long-distance trade arriving at central places such as Tikal, Uaxactun, and Palenque. These Maya centres then redistributed the obsidian to smaller settlements. This is seen by the lack debitage from core production, cortex flakes or large percussion flakes, in the more rural areas of Maya territory. The larger centers may have exported fully pre-formed cores to outlying regions. Evidence also points towards much coastal trade, with higher quantities of obsidian artifacts found in coastal sites than in those farther inland in areas such as Belize. Obsidian trade was far-reaching, allowing opportunities for contact and trade of a variety of other items and ideas during pre-Hispanic times.
[edit] Sources
Obsidian sources in Mesoamerica were limited in some aspects yet quite abundant and very tracable. Before the sources are discussed a definition of an obsidian source must be agreed upon as much of these terms allow for several different interpretations.
For the time being the definition put forth by Sidrys et. al. (1976), stating that an obsidian source area must include several outcoppings of obsidian that may or may not have common chemical features and may or may not have been used by ancient humans. While the amount of source areas are limited in the spatial context they are not at all limited in their abundance of material or appearance across great distances of time and space. The sources are traced using primarily XRF and NAA, in order to distinguish a chemical “fingerprint” that is unique to a source region.
Michael Glascock, a leading figure in the realm of obsidian research for over two decades, has devided the Mesoamerican region into 9 subregions with one or more obsidian sources in each. These subregions are as follows:
- Zaragoza (which includes Zaragoza and Altotonga quarries, both in south-central Gulf lowlands)
- Orizaba (including Pico de Oizaba, Guadalupe Victoria, and Derrumbadas)
- Paredon (Paredon and Santa Elena sources, one of the many in central highlands of Mexico)
- Otumba (Otumba and Malpais, in the central highlands)
- Talancingo (Talancingo and Tepalzingo, within the central highlands)
- Pachuca (all Pachuca quarries also in central highlands)
- Zacualtipan (Zacualtipan alone)
- Ucareo (Ucareo and Zinapecuaro, only large source in west Mexico, or Michoacan)
- the Guatemalan region incorporating all sources in the Guatemalan highlands.
These subdivisions are merely tentative yet they do a very good job of systemizing the source characteristics and making a more easily visualized description of the distribution of sources in this region (Glascock et. al. 1998). There have been substantial research done to decipher the Guatemala region sources and once again Glascock had a hand in developing the divisions made within this region. The resulting subdivisions in the Guatemala region include El Chayal, Ixtepeque, San Martin Jilotepeque, with tentative additions of Jalapa and Sansare. However, the El Chayal area often is seen as including the Jalapa and Sansare as one big source area.
Sources in the Valley of Mexico and under Teotihuacan control were Pachuca, Otumba, and Chicoloapan. Pachuca was a notable source with its high quality green obsidian, which was traded widely throughout Mesoamerica. Another promonent location of green obsidian was the source area of Talancingo though this was a more milky or clouded green. In Guatemala three sources were significant: El Chayal, Ixtepeque, and San Martin Jilotepeque. All of these source areas are located in the more southern region of Guatemala and the abundance of obsidian from these sources found in the lowland areas as far north as the Peten and Yucatán represents a well developed and important long-distance trade taking place (Braswell and Glascock, 1992).
[edit] Chemical Analysis
Obsidian, a volcanic glass, comes from several geological sources in Mesoamerica, as listed above. Each of these sources has a distinctive “fingerprint” of trace elements of the chemicals in a particular obsidian sample. Neutron activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence are two methods of analysis to identify a sample's geological source. Dating analysis is also performed on obsidian artifacts. Hydration dating permits absolute or relative dating of a sample. The degree of hydration observed indicates how long it has been since an artisan exposed the obsidian surface. All of these analysis techniques are invaluable for obsidian production and trade studies in the region.
[edit] References
↑ Hester, Thomas R., Jack, Robert N., and Heizer, Robert F. The Obsidian of Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico. University of California Archeology Research Facility. No. 13 pp. 65-131, 1971.
Braswell, Geoffrey E., and Michael D. Glascock. A New Obsidian Source in the Highlands of Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica. No. 3 pp 47-49. 1992. Cambridge University Press.
Evans, Susan Troy. Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London. 2004.
Glascock, Michael D., Geoffrey E. Braswell, and Robert H. Cobean. A Systematic Approach to Obsidian Source Characterization. Archaeological Obsidian Studies. Ed. Stephen Shackley. pp 15-65. 1998. Plenum Press, New York.
Taube, Karl A. Obsidian Polyhedral Cores and Prismatic Blades in the Writing and At of Ancient Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica. No 2 pp.61-70. 1991. Cambridge University Press.
