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Quarrying Evidence at the Quispisisa Obsidian Source, Ayacucho, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Nicholas Tripcevich  and
Daniel A. Contreras
Nicholas Tripcevich
Affiliation:
Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (nico@MapAspects.org)
Daniel A. Contreras
Affiliation:
Archaeology Center, Stanford University, P.O. Box 20446, Stanford, CA 94309 (dcontre@ Stanford .edu)
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Abstract

Artifacts made from Quispisisa obsidian are widely disseminated in the Peruvian Andes, but the geological source of the Quispisisa geochemical type was only recently located in southern Ayacucho. Following the positive identification of the source in 1999 by Richard Burger and colleagues, we found evidence of broad quarrying activities in unexplored portions of the source area. We describe 34 quarry pits, some as large as 80 m across, together with evidence of early-stage lithic reduction at the source. We encountered high concentrations of reduction debris associated with more extensive knapping in two localities, but our preliminary evaluation of surface evidence suggests that much of the material quarried was removed from the area as intact nodules or after minimal reduction at the source area.

Resumen

Resumen

Los estudios geoquímicos de la obsidiana en los Andes Centrales han demostrado que la gran mayoría de los artefactos prehispánicos hechos de obsidiana se produjeron utilizando materia prima de ocho fuentes, cada una de las cuales es distinta en términos de composición geoquímica. De las ocho fuentes, material de Alca, Chivay, y Quispisisa predomina en las colecciones de todas las épocas prehispánicas. El tipo geoquímico de obsidiana llamado Quispisisa ocupa una posición importante en la historia del Perú prehispánico, pues herramientas hechas de este material se han encontrado en muchos sitios de la costa y sierra de la parte norcentral del país. Esos sitios se caracterizan por encontrarse dispersos en un amplio marco espacial y temporal, pues algunos se ubican en lugares distantes de la fuente y corresponden a épocas diversas, inclusive, algunas de ellas tan antiguas como el Precerámico Temprano. A pesar de esa importancia evidente, hasta la fecha solo se había ubicado la fuente, y faltaba cualquier exploración y registro detallado de los afloramientos de obsidiana y de los rasgos de explotación humana de la zona. A partir del año 2007 Tripcevich y Contreras visitaron la fuente ubicada por Richard Burger y sus colegas en la zona de Huanca Sancos, Ayacucho; posteriormente en el año 2009 los autores, con el apoyo de unas colegas, ampliaban las investigaciones y como producto de ello han revelado que el área geográfica que abarca la fuente de obsidiana tipo Quispisisa es mucho más extensa de lo que se había pensado. Asimismo, han logrado documentar la existencia de varios rasgos de explotación de la fuente tales como: pozos de cantera, lascas de reducción inicial de material, y caminos, los mismos que evidencian la presencia de la actividad de la cantería de obsidiana a una escala única en los Andes.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 121 - 136
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 by the Society for American Archaeology

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