The Pachuca obsidian source, Hidalgo, Mexico: A geoarchaeological perspective

Abstract

Sierra Las Navajas, known to archaeologists as “the Pachuca obsidian source,” has been a major source of obsidian to Mesoamerican societies for more than 3000 years, producing a fine green obsidian unique in Middle America. It was the primary source of the obsidian that formed the economic backbone of the major sociopolitical centers of Classic period Teotihuacán, epi‐Classic Toltec Tula, and Aztec Tenochtitlán. In this paper, the obsidian of Sierra Las Navajas is discussed in the following contexts: (1) geologically, because the extraordinary quality of the Pachuca obsidian, its ease of extraction, and its distinctive color and chemistry are a direct result of its geologic emplacement; (2) locally, as the different mining localities within Sierra Las Navajas reflect the varying needs of the cultures working them; and (3) globally, as the obsidians of Las Navajas were used in concert with obsidians from other sources, and were traded great distances across Mesoamerica. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Obsidian Subsource Identification in the Sierra de Pachuca and Otumba Volcanic Regions, Central Mexico, by ICP‐MS and DBSCAN Statistical Analysis

“…Based on Ponomarenko's () observations that obsidian emplacement was part of an original flow and not as debris dragged by a lahar (Pastrana, ), and our knowledge of four different volcanic flows in the Sierra de Pachuca with possible distinctive geochemical patterns, we hypothesized that important mining areas such as the top of Cerro del Milagro, Zembo (Ponomarenko, ), El Durazno, and Oyametal (Nieto & López, ; Cobean, ) could not be related to the same obsidian flow, and thus would likely have different geochemical signatures. If true, then subsourcing would be possible, giving researchers the opportunity to connect the exploitation of a specific mine to its controlling pre‐Hispanic society.…”

“… S ierra de P achuca geologic map (modified from Ponomarenko, ). Ellipses show the location of four important pre‐ H ispanic obsidian mining zones.…”

The effects of surface weathering on the geochemical analysis of archaeological lithic samples using non‐destructive polarized energy dispersive XRF

“…Calculated precisions based on the analysis of a Pachuca natural obsidian sample (Hidalgo, Mexico;Ponomarenko, 2004) is less than 2 RSD% (N ϭ 25) for major elements and less than 1 RSD% (N ϭ 45) for trace elements except for Sr (2 ppm) and Ba (12 ppm), which show 5 and 3 RSD%, respectively.…”

“…Accuracy was evaluated by comparing our ED-XRF Pachuca natural obsidian glass values to Ponomarenko's (2004) published Las Minas variety values; the latter were obtained by WD-XRF for major elements and ED-XRF for trace elements.…”

Archaeogeological implication of lithic artifacts from the Unjeonri Bronze Age site, Cheonan, Republic of Korea

“…The use of detailed Table 3 Table 4 Representative rare earth element contents (ppm) of the lithic artifacts and relative rocks from the Unjeonri area chemical analyses, such as major, minor, and rare earth elements could yield more precise petrogenetic information, and permit more exact sourcing and correlation of the lithic artifacts. Such studies could contribute substantially to our understanding of the ancient inhabitants at several sites in the world [11,12,19,20]. For this research, petrological classification of lithic artifacts, type of constituting rock, quantitative analysis, Table 1.…”