Weaving people and places: Landscapes of obsidian circulation in NW Argentina. A long-term view (ca. CE 100–1436)

Abstract

Ancient exchange practices have long been at the centre of comparative studies of social complexity. While finding valuable information, this approach has paid less attention to the multi-layered cultural understandings underpinning past transactions, ultimately diluting the power of archaeology to understand specific historical trajectories. This article examines the circulation and uses of obsidian in two sectors of the Calchaquí Valleys area of northwestern Argentina, considering contextual information from Early to Late Period (ca. CE 100–1436) settlements. Travelling far and widely, obsidian wove people and places in space and time through material interactions, condensing the broader regional world into partible materials for everyday use. While maintaining a generalised access ethos throughout the sequence, obsidian also enabled new forms of communal organisation and leadership. The article contributes to wider interdisciplinary approaches to the ontology of resources and their transformative social power, both in the Andes and beyond.