Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T03:49:09.448Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mesoamerican Origin for an Obsidian Scraper from the Precolumbian Southeastern United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alex W. Barker ,
Craig E. Skinner ,
M. Steven Shackley ,
Michael D. Glascock  and
J. Daniel Rogers
Alex W. Barker
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 West Wells St., Milwaukee, WI 53233
Craig E. Skinner
Affiliation:
Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory, 1414 NW Polk, Corvallis, OR 97330
M. Steven Shackley
Affiliation:
Archaeological XRF Laboratory, Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 103 Kroeber Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3712
Michael D. Glascock
Affiliation:
Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211
J. Daniel Rogers
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, NHB 112, Washington, DC 20560-0112
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

EDXRF analysis of an obsidian scraper from the Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma, shows that the source material was from Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico. Given the distinctive peralkaline character of the obsidian, the source assignment is considered extremely secure. The artifact was recovered from the east tunnel of Craig Mound, Spiro, immediately after the cessation of commercial digging in 1935, and has been in the Smithsonian’s collections since 1937. Despite more than 150 years of speculation regarding supposed contact with and influence from the region, this represents the first documented example of Mesoamerican material from any Mississippian archaeological context in the Precolumbian southeastern United States.

Résumé

Résumé

El análisis EDXRF de un raspador de obsidiana de Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma, demuestra que el material es originario de Pachuca, Hidalgo, México. De acuerdo con el carácter peralcalino distintivo de la obsidiana, la identificación del lugar de origen de este material se considera muy segura. El artefacto fue recuperado en el túnel este de Craig Mound, Spiro, inmediatamente después de la terminatión de las excavaciones comerciales en el año de 1935, y hapermanecido en las colecciones del Instituto Smithsoniano desde 1937. Este representa el primer ejemplo documentado de material mesoamericano que proviene de los contextos arqueológicos del sureste precolombino de los Estados Unidos, a pesar de más de 150 años de especulación acerca del supuesto contacto e influencia de esta región.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 103 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, J. A. 1996 The Spiro Ceremonial Center: The Archaeology of Arkansas Valley Caddoan Culture in Eastern Oklahoma. Memoirs of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology No. 29. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Du Solier, W., Krieger, A. D., and Griffin, J. B. 1947 The Archaeological Zone of Buena Vista, Huaxcama, San Luis Potosi. American Antiquity 13:15–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glascock, M. D. 2001 Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR. http://missouri.edu/∼glascock/archlab.htm.Google Scholar
Glascock, M. D., Braswell, G. E., and Cobean, R. H. 1998 A Systematic Approach to Obsidian Source Characterization. In Archaeological Obsidian Studies: Method and Theory, edited by Shackley, M. S., pp. 15–65. Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1966 Mesoamerica and the Eastern United States in Prehistoric Times. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 4, Archaeological Frontiers and External Connections, edited by Ekholm, G. F. and Willey, G. R., pp. 111–131. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Harbottle, G. 1982 Chemical Characterization in Archaeology. In Contexts for Prehistoric Exchange, edited by Ericson, J. and Earle, T. K., pp. 13–51. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, M. R. 1943 The J. G. Braecklein Collection. The Masterkey 17:173–174.Google Scholar
Hester, T. R. 1988 Paleoindian Obsidian Artifacts from Texas: A Review. Current Research in the Pleistocene 5:27–29.Google Scholar
Hester, T. R., Collins, M. B., Storey, D. A., Turnet, E. S., Tanner, P. 1992 Paleoindian Archaeology at McFaddin Beach, Texas. Current Research in the Pleistocene 9:20–22.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. K. 1994 Prehistoric Exchange in the Southeast. In Prehistoric Exchange Systems in North America, edited by Baugh, T G. and Ericson, J. E., pp. 99–125. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krieger, A. D. 1953 Recent Developments in the Problem of Relationships Between Mexican Gulf Coast and Eastern United States. In Huastecos, Totonacos y Sus Vecinos 13, edited by I. Bernal and Hurtado, E. D., pp. 497–518. Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropologicos, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
MacDonald, A. B. 1935 A “King Tut” Tomb in the Arkansas Valley. The Kansas City Star, December 14, 1935.Google Scholar
Mahood, G. A., and Hildreth, W. 1986 Geology of the Peralkaline Volcano at Pantelleria, Strait of Sicily. Bulletin of Volcanology 48:143–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathien, F. J., and McGuire, R. H. (editors) 1986 Ripples in the Chichimec Sea: New Considerations of Southwestern-Mesoamerican Interactions. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Neff, H., Bove, F. J., Johnson, T. N., and Arroyo, B. 1993 Fachimentos a Traves de Hidractacion de Obsidiana en la Costa Sur de Guatemala. Apuntes Arquelogicos 2:55–79.Google Scholar
Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory 2001 XRF Information, http://www.obsidianlab.com.Google Scholar
Phelps, D. S. 1970 Mesoamerican Glyph Motifs on Southeastern Pottery. In Verhandlungen des XXXVIII Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses 2, pp. 89–100. Kommisionersverlag Klaus Renner, Munich.Google Scholar
Phillips, P., and Brown, J. A. 1978 Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma. Peabody Museum Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Romero, J. 1958 Mutilaciones Dentarias, Prehispanicas de Mexico y America en General. Antropologia Boletin Oficial del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Serie Investigaciones 3. Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Shackley, M. S. 1995 Sources of Archaeological Obsidian in the Greater American Southwest: An Update and Quantitative Analysis. American Antiquity 60:531–551.Google Scholar
Shackley, M. S. 2001 Berkeley Archaeological XRF Lab. http://obsidian.pahma.berkeley.edu.Google Scholar
Squier, E. G., and Davis, E. H. 1847 Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Vehik, S. C, and Baugh, T. G. 1994 Prehistoric Plains Trade. In Prehistoric Exchange Systems in North America, edited by Baugh, T. G. and Ericson, J. E., pp. 249–274. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Webb, M. C. 1989 Functional and Historical Parallelisms between Mesoamerican and Mississippian Cultures. In The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex: Artifacts and Analysis, edited by Galloway, P., pp. 279–293. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O. 1995 Obsidian in the Mediterranean and Near East: A Provenancing Success Story. Archaeometry 37:217–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar