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PROVENIENCE INVESTIGATION OF CERAMICS AND OBSIDIAN FROM OTUMBA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2001

Hector Neff
Affiliation:
Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Michael D. Glascock
Affiliation:
Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Thomas H. Charlton
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1322, USA
Cynthia Otis Charlton
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, Wellman, IA 52356, USA
Deborah L. Nichols
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA

Abstract

Obsidian and ceramic artifacts from the Otumba project were analyzed by instrumental neutron-activation analysis. Sources for the obsidian were determined by comparison to a databank of Central Mexican source analyses. Ceramic sources were determined by comparison to a series of reference groups from the Basin of Mexico and by comparison with raw material samples. Obsidian from the lapidary workshop (Operation 11) comes predominantly from the Otumba and Pachuca sources. There is also an unknown compositional profile present among the artifacts. This profile may derive from a not-yet-sampled flow within one of several nearby obsidian-source areas, such as Otumba or Paredon. The majority of Otumba ceramics fall into a large group derived from clays of the Teotihuacan-valley alluvium. Aztec II Black-on-Orange and red-ware samples come from other sources in the eastern basin. Ceramics from sites along the trade route leading northeast toward Tulancingo include figurines derived from Otumba, figurines probably made locally near Tepeapulco and Tulancingo, and long-handle censers probably made in the latter two locations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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