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The Terminal Formative to Classic Period Obsidian Assemblage at Palo Errado, Veracruz, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles L. F. Knight  and
Michael D. Glascock
Charles L. F. Knight
Affiliation:
Consulting Archaeology Program, 111 Delehanty Hall, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405 (cknight@uvm.edu)
Michael D. Glascock
Affiliation:
Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211
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Abstract

Abbreviated Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) was carried out on a sample of obsidian artifacts from the Terminal Formative to early Late Classic period site of Palo Errado, located in the southern Gulf lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Our understanding of Classic period obsidian economies in the southern Gulf lowlands has been largely informed by studies of the political economies of the highland Mexican cities of Teotihuacan and Cantona, which appear to have controlled the Pachuca and Otumba, and Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian sources, respectively. However, the NAA results from Palo Errado indicate that while the local obsidian economy was dominated by prismatic blade technology utilizing Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian, five additional highland Mexican sources were used during the Early Classic period. The presence of Ucareo and the use of Otumba in core-blade reduction, for instance, set Palo Errado apart from contemporary sites in the southern Gulf lowlands. Temporal variation in quantity of supplemental obsidian sources and their use in different reduction technologies suggest that consumers at Palo Errado had access to abundant Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian of a quality high enough to facilitate the production of fine prismatic blades. At the same time, however, they continued to participate in exchange networks that tied them to other areas of central Mexico, independently from other contemporaneous sites in the southern Gulf lowlands.

Un Análisis de Activación de Neutrones (NAA) se llevó a cabo en una muestra de artefactos de obsidiana proveniente del sitio de Palo Errado (Período Formativo Terminal a fase temprana del Período Clásico Tardío), localizado en la Costa Sur del Golfo de Veracruz, México. La idea persistente sobre la economía de la obsidiana en la Costa Sur del Golfo durante el Período Clásico, es que ésta estuvo ligada a las economías políticas de las ciudades serranas de Teotihuacán y Cantona, que aparentemente controlaban las fuentes de obsidiana de Pachuca y Otumba, y Zaragoza-Oyameles, respectivamente. Los resultados del Análisis de Activación de Neutrones de la muestra de Palo Errado indican que aunque en la economía local de la obsidiana dominaba la tecnología de navajas prismáticas fabricadas con obsidiana de la fuente de Zaragoza-Oyameles, también se utilizaba obsidiana proveniente de cinco fuentes adicionales de la Sierra durante el Período Clásico Temprano. La presencia de obsidiana proveniente de Ucareo y el uso de obsidiana proveniente de Otumba en tecnología prismática, por ejemplo, sitúan a Palo Errado aparte de otros sitios contemporáneos en la Costa Sur del Golfo. La variación temporal en cuanto a la cantidad de fuentes adicionales de obsidiana en uso, y el uso del material proveniente de éstas bajo diversas tecnologías líticas, sugiere que los habitantes de Palo Errado tuvieron acceso abundante a obsidiana de alta calidad proveniente de la fuente de Zaragoza-Oyameles. Al mismo tiempo, sin embargo, la participación en redes de intercambio que los conectaron a otras áreas de México central se mantuvo independientemente de la participación de otras localidades contemporáneas en la Costa Sur del Golfo.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 507 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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