Obsidian circulation: A case study from Antofagasta de la Sierra Basin (Southern Argentine Puna) during the Middle and Late Holocene

Abstract

Obsidian provenance studies through geochemical characterization analysis have a long tradition in archaeology worldwide. In South Central Andes research based on obsidian sources and related investigations of obsidian exchange networks has been explored since the mid-1970s. Nevertheless, in NW Argentina this kind of analysis was systematically overlooked until the 1990s. So far, in this area obsidian provenance studies have focused on the consolidated agro-pastoralist, urban and Inka occupations and only recently have joined studies in hunter-gatherers and late hunter-gatherers (in transition to food production) high desert contexts. This paper attempts to obtain a better understanding of obsidian procurement and distribution during the Late Middle and Late Holocene (ca. 4500-1100 AP) in Southern Argentinean Puna. The time span considered encompasses a local process of gradual transformation of hunter-gatherer/early agro-pastoral groups to consolidated agro-pastoral societies. Consequently, obsidian regional circulation in a high desert environment during the considered time span and differential distribution and use of this raw material are discussed. Furthermore, this obsidian research allows support the occurrence of exchange networks based on use of extra-regional different obsidian sources located in Northern Argentinean Puna. We present the results of XRF analysis regarding the provenience of 112 obsidian samples from six archaeological sites of the Antofagasta de la Sierra basin (Catamarca). This information will be supplemented by previous provenience NAA results performed on 59 obsidian archaeological artifacts from three of the six sites analyzed here and from an agro-pastoralist site of the same area. A chemical and macroscopic characterization of five obsidian sources already known by previous analysis located in Southern Argentinean Puna is also presented.