Evidence of use of obsidian

The artifact types predominantly manufactured from obsidian include projectile points and tools for cutting and shearing tasks. While simple flakes are wide-spread and were probably used abundantly for butchering, scraping, and shearing purposes, the utility of obsidian flakes is frequently discounted when flakes are relegated to the "debitage" or "debris" class. In Andean studies bifacially-flaked instruments are the most commonly analyzed obsidian artifact class in archaeological reports from sites in the Andes.

Obsidian artifacts are sometimes found in association with iconographic representations of dark colored artifacts that are similar in appearance to the very obsidian artifacts found in that context (Burger and Asaro 1977: 15). Such is the case with black-tipped darts and knives depicted on Ocucaje 8 through Nasca 6 ceramics and textiles, and obsidian artifacts found in tombs from those contexts. Building on the discussion in Burger and Asaro (1977: 13-18), examples of obsidian artifacts from the south-central Andes follow.



Application

Form

Provenience

Description

Reference

Weapon (probable dart point), conflict

Point

Looted tomb at Hacienda Mosojcancha, Huancavelica.

A point made from obsidian was found embedded deeply in a human lumbar. (Figure C-10).

(Ravines 1967)

Weapon, with spear throwers

Point

Grave 16 at Asia,
(central coast of Peru).

Preceramic context.

Found in association with spear throwers

(Engel 1963: 56;Uhle 1909)

Weapon, hafted

Point

Tombs at Hacienda Ocucaje, Epoch 10.
Early Horizon context.

Points hafted with gum and, in one case, cotton thread to wooden foreshafts.

(Burger and Asaro 1977: 14)

Weapon

Point

Carhua (south coast , Peru)

Point penetrating through arm muscle near humerus (Figure C-1).

(Engel 1966: 212)

Weapon,

dart

Point

Paracas Necropolis

Well-preserved harpoon (Figure C-9).

(Engel 1966: 180c)

Weapon,

dart

Hafted projectile

depiction

Nasca Phase B1 and B2 diagnostic attribute

Phase B has "Atlatl darts (arrows) in series as ornaments" (Figure C-6).

(Carmichael, et al. 1998: 151)

Weapon, poison

Point

Eastern Lake Titicaca

Obsidian is among point types dipped in strong poison from herbs, perhaps curare.

(Cobo 1990 [1653]: 216-217)

Weapon, bow and arrow

Point depiction

Tiwanaku pottery

Archers with bow and black

tipped arrows depicted on a Tiwanaku q'ero(Figure C-4).

(Bennett 1934: 426-459;Posnansky 1957: plate XXa)

Weapon, hunting

Point depiction

Nasca B vessel

Depiction of darts sailing towards a group of camelids .

(Burger and Asaro 1977: 16)

Tool, Ritual

Knife depiction

Nasca B pottery

Black knives associated with taking of trophy heads.

(Burger and Asaro 1977: 15)

Tool, Ritual

Knife depiction

Nasca textiles, Epoch 1

of EIP

Black knives associated with taking of trophy heads.

(D'Harcourt 1962: 110, 112)

Tool, Ritual

Knife, hafted

Early Nasca

Bifacial knife hafted to painted dolphin palate (Figure C-5).

(Disselhoff 1972: 277)

Decorative, Ritual

Mirror fragment

Huancayo, Middle

Horizon 2 context

Fragment of obsidian mirror ground and polished to .4 cm thickness.

(Browman 1970: 86)

Decorative, Ritual

Mirror

Huarmey, Wari

Mirror mounded in carved wooden hand (Figure C-8).

(Lavalle and Perú 1990: 185)

Medical

Obsidian knives with blood-stains.

Cerro Colorado, Paracas

Part of medical kit that also contained a chachalote (sperm whale) tooth knife, bandages, balls of cotton, and thread.

(Tello 1929: 55)

Medical

Chillisaa kala, Aymara for "black flint"

Titicaca Basin

Speculation about tools used for trephination.

(Bandelier 1904;Marino and Gonzales-Portillo 2000)

Table 3-10. Examples of obsidian use in the south-centralAndes (part 1).



Application

Form

Provenience

Description

Reference

Medical,
Ritual

Material used in folk cures

Canchis, Cuzco; and elsewhere

Modern use in folk cures, the stone was believed to have curative powers.

(Burger and Asaro 1977: 17;Cobo 1990 [1653])

Medical,
Ritual

"knives of crystalline stone"

Titicaca Basin ( ?)

Abdominal surgery by "sorcerers"

(Cobo 1990 [1653])

Animal castration

Flakes, unmodified or retouched

Colca

"We use sharp pieces of obsidian or glass to castrate herd animals it doesn't cause infection like rusted metal knives."

T. Valdevia 2003, Pers. Comm. (my translation).

Shearing

Flakes, unmodified or retouched

Andes

"Aboriginal shearing required special implements, perhaps obsidian knives." Some modern pastoralists use broken glass and tin lids for shearing.

(Dransart 2002: 108-109;Gilmore 1950: 446)

Table 3-11. Examples of obsidian use in the south-centralAndes (part 2).

Many of these examples are shown in Appendix C. of this volume. While the diversity of artifact forms was relatively low, it is evident that the visual and fracture properties of obsidian were relevant to the tools that were used from this material. Further north in the Andes, in Ecuador, a greater percentage of obsidian artifacts seems to have filled a primarily decorative role, including abead, an ear spool, and three polished mirrors(Burger, et al. 1994: 246).

The evidence of use lithics may also take the form of cutting and scraping marks on faunal remains, but the lithic material type can rarely be established by these means. The continued use of glass and obsidian in modern contexts for shearing, butchery, and castration suggests that the prehispanic metals such as copper and bronze did not displace obsidian and other lithic materials for utilitarian tasks. Prehispanic metals were used largely for display, although metals were used in some weaponry, such as mace-heads (Lechtman 1984).