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). |
|
Weapon, with spear throwers |
Point |
Grave 16 at Asia, Preceramic context. |
Found in association with spear throwers |
|
Weapon, hafted |
Point |
Tombs at Hacienda Ocucaje, Epoch 10. |
Points hafted with gum and, in one case, cotton thread to wooden foreshafts. |
|
Weapon |
Point |
Carhua (south coast , Peru) |
Point penetrating through arm muscle near humerus (Figure C-1). |
|
Weapon, dart |
Point |
Paracas Necropolis |
Well-preserved harpoon (Figure C-9). |
|
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). |
|
Weapon, poison |
Point |
Eastern Lake Titicaca |
Obsidian is among point types dipped in strong poison from herbs, perhaps curare. |
|
Weapon, bow and arrow |
Point depiction |
Tiwanaku pottery |
Archers with bow and black tipped arrows depicted on a Tiwanaku q'ero(Figure C-4). |
|
Weapon, hunting |
Point depiction |
Nasca B vessel |
Depiction of darts sailing towards a group of camelids . |
|
Tool, Ritual |
Knife depiction |
Nasca B pottery |
Black knives associated with taking of trophy heads. |
|
Tool, Ritual |
Knife depiction |
Nasca textiles, Epoch 1 of EIP |
Black knives associated with taking of trophy heads. |
|
Tool, Ritual |
Knife, hafted |
Early Nasca |
Bifacial knife hafted to painted dolphin palate (Figure C-5). |
|
Decorative, Ritual |
Mirror fragment |
Huancayo, Middle Horizon 2 context |
Fragment of obsidian mirror ground and polished to .4 cm thickness. |
|
Decorative, Ritual |
Mirror |
Huarmey, Wari |
Mirror mounded in carved wooden hand (Figure C-8). |
|
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. |
|
Medical |
Chillisaa kala, Aymara for "black flint" |
Titicaca Basin |
Speculation about tools used for trephination. |
Table 3-10. Examples of obsidian use in the south-centralAndes (part 1).
Application |
Form |
Provenience |
Description |
Reference |
Medical, |
Material used in folk cures |
Canchis, Cuzco; and elsewhere |
Modern use in folk cures, the stone was believed to have curative powers. |
|
Medical, |
"knives of crystalline stone" |
Titicaca Basin ( ?) |
Abdominal surgery by "sorcerers" |
|
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. |
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).