Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Begehrtes Gesteinsglas, Jirka Niklas Menke

Daniel A. Contreras

Natürliche Ressourcen sind seit jeher Anlass für Kriege und Land­schafts­zerstörung. Humboldt-Stipendiat Dr. Daniel Contreras erforscht, wie die Menschen in den Anden einst mit solchen Quellen umgingen.

Patterning In Procurement Of Obsidian In Chaco Canyon And In Chaco-Era Communities In New Mexico As Revealed By X-Ray Fluorescence, John Kantner, Andrew I. Duff, Jeremy M. Moss, Thomas C. Windes, M Steven Shackley

John Kantner

Investigaciones En La Fuente De La Obsidiana Tipo Quispisisa, Huancasancos-Ayacucho, Daniel A. Contreras, Nicholas Tripcevich, Yuri I. Cavero Palomino

Daniel A. Contreras

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Human Occupation Of The Upper Río Caracha, Ayacucho, Peru, Daniel A. Contreras, Nicholas Tripcevich

Daniel A. Contreras

Regional consumption patterns of obsidian in Peru testify to the significance of the Quispisisa source; by 500 BCE this obsidian was reaching sites 1000 km distant. The source area thus provides both an opportunity to investigate quarrying and an case study in the long‐term occupation of a regionally important highland valley. Using satellite imagery and results of preliminary field prospection, we examine the upper Caracha drainage, where Quispisisa‐type obsidian is found. The valley is extensively terraced, and contains several large sites downstream of the source area. Our data on the settlement system and anthropogenic landscape of this regionally‐significant highland valley …

The Character And Use Of The Soros Hill Obsidian Source, Antiparos (Greece), Tristan Carter, Daniel A. Contreras

Daniel A. Contreras

This article details the geological and elemental character of the obsidian from the Soros Hill source on the Cycladic island of Antiparos, Greece. EDXRF was used to analyse 40 geological geo-referenced samples. The products are clearly chemically discriminated from those of the other Aegean sources, and those from the Carpathians and central Anatolia. While the obsidian is of excellent tool-making quality, the small size of its nodules seems to have made it a less attractive raw material, attested at only a handful of prehistoric sites in the central Cyclades.

Complexities Of Collapse: The Evidence Of Maya Obsidian As Revealed By Social Network Graphical Analysis, Gary M. Feinman, Mark Golitko, James Meierhoff, Patrick Ryan Williams

Gary M. Feinman

The authors use a social network analysis to map the changing patterns of obsidian supply among the Maya during the period of Classic to Postclassic transition. The quantity of obsidian received from different sources was calculated for 121 sites and the network analysis showed how the relative abundance of material from different sources shifted over time. A shift from inland to coastal supply routes appears to have contributed to the collapse of inland Maya urban centres. The methods employed clearly have a high potential to reveal changing economic networks in cases of major societal transitions elsewhere in the world.