Obsidian Artifacts from San Andres La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico

178 Pages·2006·7.77 MB·English

by  Travis Doering

THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM SAN ANDRES

LA VENTA, TABASCO, MEXICO

by

TRAVIS F. DOERING

A Thesis submitted to the
Department of Anthropology
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Science

Degree Awarded:
Spring Semester, 2002
The members of the committee approve the thesis of Travis F. Doering defended on
December 12, 2001.

____________________________
Mary E. D. Pohl
Professor Directing Thesis

____________________________
Michael K. Faught
Committee Member

____________________________
J. Kathryn Josserand
Committee Member

____________________________
Rochelle A. Marrinan
Committee Member

Approved:

__________________________________________
Glen H. Doran, Chair, Department of Anthropology
This thesis is dedicated to Dr. George A. Llano, friend and scholar.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This thesis was made possible through the support, encouragement, and effort of
numerous individuals. I would like to thank Dr. Mary Pohl, my committee chair, for her
generosity in offering the obsidian collection from San Andrés for analysis and for her
assistance throughout my graduate studies at the Florida State University. My
appreciation goes to Dr. Michael Faught for helping me keep things in perspective and to
Dr. Rochelle Marrinan for her support and guidance both in and out of the field. I would
like to thank Dr. J. Kathryn Josserand for her counsel and editing.
I am particularly grateful to Dr. John E. Clark of Brigham Young University, for
his insight and assistance in this project, and for allowing me to use the facilities of the
New World Archaeological Foundation Laboratory in San Cristóbal de las Casas,
Chiapas, Mexico. Additionally, I am grateful for the support and cooperation provided
by Dr. Rebecca González Lauck of the Centro Instituto Nacional de Antropología e
Historia Tabasco, and director of the Proyecto Arquelogíco La Venta. My gratitude also
goes to Dr. Michael Glascock of the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR) for
the neutron activation analysis of San Andrés obsidian artifacts.
I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Kevin Pope and Chris von
Nagy of the Early Agriculture on the Gulf Coast Lowlands of Mexico Project, and the
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financial support provided by the project which was funded by National Science
Foundation (NSF) Archaeology Program Grant BCS-9617389. NSF Grant SBR-9802366
also provided valuable funding assistance for the neutron activation analysis procedures
at MURR.
Thank you to all who read, edited, and improved this thesis. Finally, it has been a
privilege to work and study with my fellow classmates.

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ABSTRACT

This thesis is an examination of Formative period obsidian artifacts (1400 to 400
cal BC) from San Andrés, a subsidiary site located five kilometers northeast of the major
ceremonial center of La Venta in westernmost Tabasco, Mexico. The primary objectives
of the analysis were to determine the source and the method of manufacture of each piece
in the collection (636 pieces). An examination of use-wear patterns and an evaluation of
the relationships of the artifacts to associated cultural material were used to infer the
functions of the obsidian specimens. The data produced by the analysis are significant
because they provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the social, political, and
economic interaction between La Venta, a prominent Middle Formative period urban
core, and San Andrés, an agriculturally based site within the polity’s riverine support
network.
Obsidian is not native to the region, therefore, examination of the acquisition,
production, redistribution, and use of this exotic material can offer evidence of societal
organization along the southern Gulf Coast during the Formative period. Compositional
testing of 32 selected specimens using neutron activation analysis identified nine sources
present at San Andrés; the results were extrapolated to the remainder of the collection
through macroscopic visual identification. Paredón, in Hidalgo, Mexico, and San Martín

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Jilotepeque, in the Guatemala Highlands, were the dominant sources through four
Formative period occupational periods extending from 1400 to 400 cal BC. These two
sources demonstrate long term traditions of obsidian acquisition by residents of San
Andrés. The modest quantity of obsidian recovered at the site (504.8 grams) reinforces a
regional pattern that indicates that relatively small amounts of obsidian were used during
the Formative period.
A lack of production debitage at San Andrés and the presence of obsidian
workshops at La Venta suggest that the importation of the raw material was controlled by
elite factions in the La Venta urban center. Prismatic blades appear to have been
produced at La Venta and were the standard item distributed to San Andrés, where
residents later recycled the limited lithic material and extended its use-life through
bipolar reduction. Changes over time in the quantity of obsidian recovered at the site
correspond to population fluctuations associated with the rise, reign, and ruin of La Venta
as an urban center.
The obsidian implements, in combination with artifactual, botanical, and faunal
material, indicate a pattern of feasting events associated with elite factions. Additionally,
an interpretation of the primary obsidian sources may indicate the existence of two
separate trade networks: one connected the La Venta and San Andrés area to the northern
Basin of Mexico, by way of El Viejón, Veracruz, and the other linked them to the Upper
Grijalva River Basin and Highland Guatemala through the site of San Isidro, Chiapas.
Evidence of feasting events and obsidian acquisition procedures provide additional
measures of the socioeconomic relationship between La Venta and San Andrés.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. MIDDLE FORMATIVE GULF COAST MESOAMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sociopolitical Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

La Venta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Record of Investigation at La Venta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Geoarchaeology of La Venta and Environs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF SAN ANDRES . . . . . . . . 26

4. PRECOLUMBIAN OBSIDIAN OF MESOAMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Obsidian’s Significance to Mesoamerican Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Obsidian Acquisition in Formative Period Mesoamerica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Obsidian’s Significance to Archaeological Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Sourcing Mesoamerican Obsidian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Neutron Activation Analysis
Visual Sourcing

Technological Typology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Blade Industry
The Flake Industry
Bipolar Percussion

Previous Formative Period Obsidian Source Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

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5. THE SAN ANDRES OBSIDIAN RESEARCH PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Analytical Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Neutron Activation Analysis of San Andrés Obsidian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Visual Criteria Employed on San Andrés Obsidian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Quantitative Results of Neutron Activation Analysis and Visual Analysis . . 68

Obsidian Industries at San Andrés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The Function of Obsidian Tools at San Andrés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

6. SAN ANDRES AND FORMATIVE PERIOD OBSIDIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chronological Interpretation of San Andrés Obsidian Artifacts . . . . . . . . . 78
The Molina Ceramic Phase (1400-1200 cal BC)
The Early Puente Ceramic Phase (900 to 750 cal BC)
The Late Puente Ceramic Phase (750 to 650 cal BC)
The Early Franco Ceramic Phase (650 to 550 cal BC)
The Late Franco Ceramic Phase (550 to 400 cal BC)
The Post Formative Activity (cal AD 900 to 1521)

La Venta Obsidian Production and San Andrés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Considerations of San Andrés Obsidian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
The Socioeconomic Relationship between San Andrés and La Venta
Feasting Events at San Andrés
Trade or Acquisition Networks
Obsidian Quantities at San Andrés

7. CONCLUDING REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Considerations of Past and Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

APPENDIX A. Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Table 9. San Andrés Ceramic Complexes and Radiocarbon Dates
Table 10. Quantitative Analysis of San Andrés Obsidian Artifacts
Table 11. San Andrés Obsidian Industries
Table 12. Blades, Flakes, and Bipolar Reduction Weights
Table 13. San Andrés Obsidian Artifacts

APPENDIX B. Description of Obsidian Source Areas Identified at San Andrés . . 132

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BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

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