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Production And Exchange Of Obsidian From The Colca Valley, Arequipa Perú, Nicholas Tripcevich

Nicholas Tripcevich, Ph.D.

In Andean archaeology, it is stylistic evidence that form the basis for many investigations of long-distance relationships

and evidence of regional interaction. From hunter-gatherer projectile point type distributions to evidence of expansive

states like Wari and Tiwanaku, the basis of much of the inference regarding prehistory in the Andes is stylistic

relationships in workmanship, architecture, or iconography. In the past fifty years chemical characterization studies have

permitted a second basic form of regional evidence to emerge: provenancing studies.

Provenancing studies complement stylistic evidence because chemical provenance provides unqualified evidence of

contact between two regions. With provenancing studies: We know that …