Blocks 4 and 5 Reconnaissance Areas

The diffused nature of pastoral settlement was evident from the distribution of land use observed in the extensive Blocks 4 and 5 zones. These areas primarily consist of rugged lava terrain that appear desolate in the dry season. In the wet season, however, there are probably adequate grazing opportunities through these areas. By distributing pastoral impacts over the larger landscape during the wet season, the bofedales would be allowed to recover.

Figure 6-56. Blocks 4 and 5 showing Series 5 projectile point distribution.

Series 5 projectile points are not exclusive to the Early Agropastoral period, but given the increase in obsidian production during that period, this dataset provides a perspective on this period that is not available for this transitional stage between diagnostic lithic and ceramic technologies. One informative aspect of the Blocks 4 and 5 projectile point distributions is from the types of obsidian in use for projectile point manufacture. Recall that much of the obsidian surface gravels available at around 4975 masl on the eastern flakes of Cerro Hornillo contain deficiencies either because they contain heterogeneities or because they derive from smaller nodules. Projectile points from Blocks 4 and 5 are almost never made from material with heterogeneities.

Table 6-49. Material types for Series 5 points in Blocks 4 and 5.

This table demonstrates that despite the proximity of many of these sites to Ob2 surface obsidian gravels with heterogeneities, the Ob2 material was almost never used for point production. The obsidian observed on the eastern flanks of Hornillo did not entirely consist of Ob2 material with heterogeneities. In fact, the Q03-3 source south of Hornillo contained nodules measuring 15 cm across free visible heterogeneities. The Q03-3 material, however, did not appear as transparent as the Q02-2 glass from Maymeja.