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Macusani Obsidian From Southern Peru: A Characterization Of Its Elemental Composition With A Demonstration Of Its Ancient Use, Nathan M. Craig, Robert Speakman, R. Popelka-Filcoff, Mark Aldenderfer, Luis Flores Blanco, Margaret Brown Vega, Michael Glasscock, Charles Stanish
Macusani Obsidian From Southern Peru: A Characterization Of Its Elemental Composition With A Demonstration Of Its Ancient Use, Nathan M. Craig, Robert Speakman, R. Popelka-Filcoff, Mark Aldenderfer, Luis Flores Blanco, Margaret Brown Vega, Michael Glasscock, Charles Stanish
Nathan M Craig
Transparent obsidian artifacts have been reported for the northern Lake Titicaca Basin. Based on instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of these artifacts a distinct chemical group was identified. Yet, the location of the source of transparent obsidian in the southern Andes remained unreported in the archaeological literature. This paper reports on the chemical composition and geographic location of a source of transparent obsidian from the Macusani region of Peru. Through the use of INAA and portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) we demonstrate that Macusani obsidian or macusanite comprises (at least) two chemical groups. One of these groups was used for making …
Terminal Archaic Settlement Pattern And Land Cover Change In The Rio Ilave, Southwestern Lake Titicaca Basin, Perú, Nathan M. Craig, Mark Aldenderfer, Paul Baker, Catherine Rigsby
Terminal Archaic Settlement Pattern And Land Cover Change In The Rio Ilave, Southwestern Lake Titicaca Basin, Perú, Nathan M. Craig, Mark Aldenderfer, Paul Baker, Catherine Rigsby
Nathan M Craig
Researchers have argued the modern Altiplano land cover—one of bunch grasses and few indigenous tree species—is an anthropogenic artifact of land use practices initiated after the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century a.d. Recent paleoenvironmental studies of the Lake Titicaca Basin challenge this assertion. Archaeological survey and excavation data from the Rio Ilave drainage indicate that settlement aggregation and reduced residen¬tial mobility began in the Late Archaic Period about 3000 cal b.c. Terminal Archaic occupational intensity increased after 2000 cal b.c. and continued up until about 1300 cal b.c., which marks the beginning of the Formative in the basin. …