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Excavation and Preliminary Analysis of an Obsidian Workshop in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico

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Excavation and Preliminary Analysis of an Obsidian Workshop in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico Excavationand PreliminaryAnalysis of an Obsidian Workshopin Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico Dan M. Healan Janet M. Kerley George J. Bey III Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana Previoussurvey of the Toltec site of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, revealedwhat is believed to have been a zone of obsidianworkshops within the Early Post- classic city. TulaneUniversity conducted excavation of part of one topo- graphiccomplex within the zone, revealinga workshopcomplex consisting of a linear arrangementof residentialcompounds, peripheral refuse dumps, and open workareas, the latter tentativelyidentified by microscopicanalysis of soil samples. Over500,000 pieces of obsidianwere recovered,revealing an exclusivelycorelblade industry that importedpercussion macrocores from at least two differentsources and producedprismatic blade cores, blades, and certain bladeproducts. The reductionsequence and differencesin the processingof obsidianfrom differentsources are well documented.Ceramic and stratigraphicdata suggest the locality was originallymarginal land set- tled relativelyearly in Tula's history,possibly by immigrantsfrom the Basin of Mexico. Introduction the courseof prehispaniccultural development. In Cen- The study of prehistoric obsidian exploitation is a rel- tral Mexico there appearsto have been a successionof atively new and multifaceted area of research covering powerfulcenters that controlledsystems for the exploi- a variety of topics that include reconstruction of regional tationof resourcesthat included Middle Formative Chal- exchange networks, reduction technology, and archae- catzingo,'possibly Late Formative Cuicuilco, and Classic ological investigation of lithic reduction sites including periodTeotihuacan. Teotihuacan is of particularinterest both quarry and non-quarry workshops. Obsidian work- becauserecent researchhas demonstratedthat its econ- shops have been identifed in many prehistoric commu- omy was inextricablytied to obsidianexploitation.2 The nities largely on the basis of anomalous surface con- EarlyPostclassic period has been a notablegap in current centrations of obsidian debitage and other artifacts. Their knowledgeabout this patternof succession, which has identification has played a major role in assessing the up to now been filled by speculationthat Tula, the dom- importance of obsidian exploitation in prehistoric eco- inantcenter in CentralMexico duringthe EarlyPostclas- nomic systems as well as in reconstructing such systems. Unfortunately, much of the archaeological investigation 1. David Grove, KennethHirth, David Buge, and Ann Cyphers, of obsidian workshops has been restricted to surface sur- "Settlementand Cultural Development at Chalcatzingo,"Science 192 vey or limited test-pitting, despite obvious benefits of (1976) 1203-1210; KennethHirth, "Interregional Trade and the For- large-scale excavation for technological, functional, and mationof PrehistoricGateway Communities," AtnAnt 43 (1978) 35- chronological study, as well as for providing information 45. about domestic, social, and other non-technological 2. MichaelSpence, "The ObsidianIndustry of Teotihuacan,"AtnAnt realms of workshop activity. 32 (1967) 507-514; idem, "ObsidianProduction and the State at Teotihuacan,"AtnAnt46 In Mesoamerica, it is apparent from many lines of (1981) 769-788; ReneMillon, Urbanization at Teotihuacan, Mexico: The Teotihuacan Map l (University of Texas research that control of the exploitation of various re- Press;Austin 1973) 45-46; ThomasCharlton, ''Teotihuacan, Tepea- sources, including obsidian, played a key role in shaping pulco, and ObsidianExploitation," Science 200 (1978) 1227-1236. 128 Excavationof an ObsidianWorkshop in Tula, Mexico/Healan,Kerley, and Bey Table 1. Provisional chronology of the Tula region. PERIOD PEIASE A .C . 1600 Colonial Tesoro 1500 _ 1400 Late Postclassic Palacio (Second Intermediate phase 3 and Late Horizon) 1300 Fuego 1200 1100- Early Postclassic Tollan (Second Intermediate phase 2) 1000 Figure 1. Landform map of Central Mexico, showing the location of Tula with respect to the Classic period site of Teotihuacan and TerminalCorral three obsidian sources expoited by Tula: 1, Pachuca (Cruz del 900 Milagro), Hidalgo; 2, Otumba, Mexico; 3, Zinapecuaro, Michoacan. Corral Epiclassic sic, inherited the obsidian exploitation system previously 800 (Second Intermediate controlled by Teotihuacan.3 - phase l) This paper is a preliminary report of the excavation and analysis of an obsidian core/blade workshop located Prado in what was probably a larger workshop zone at Tula. 700 The excavation involved extensive exposure of a single workshop complex, and the artifact analysis is unusual in the sheer quantity of workshop debitage plus other artifacts recovered in situ. The report is preliminary in nature, since much of the analysis and interpretation is ers and the moderntown of Tula de Allende (FIG. 2).5 still in progress. Ethnohistoricalresearch by W. Jiminez-Morenoand ex- tensive archaeologicalexploration by J. Acosta7 have Background Tula is located in sw Hidalgo about 70 km. NW of 5. Sources: James Stoutamire, ''Trend Surface Analysis of Archae- Mexico City (FIG. 1).4 The site incorporates the alluvial ological Survey Data from Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico," unpublishedPh.D. bottoms and adjacent uplands of the Tula and Rosas Riv- dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia ( 1975) figs. 5-10; Juan Yadeun Angulo, "E1 Estado y la Ciudad: E1 Caso de Tulae Hgo.," Coleccion Cientifica 25 (INAH 1975) figs. 17, 25-32; Alejandro Pas- 3. Michael Spence and Jeffrey Parsons, "Prehispanic Obsidian Ex- trana Cruz, "Produccion de Instrumentos en Obsidiana-Division del ploitation in Central Mexico: A Preliminary Synthesis,'' MichMus- Trabajo," unpublished thesis, Escuela Nacional de Antropologia e Anth 43 (1972) 29; Charlton, op. cit. (in note 2) 1235; Lee Parsons Historia (=E.N.A.H.) (Mexico D.F. 1977); Enrique Nalda and Ale- and Barbara Price, ''Mesoamerican Trade and its Role in the Emer- jandro Pastrana, 'Una Proposicion para la Investigacion de los "Tall- gence of Civilization,9' Contributions of the University of California eres de Litica" en Tula, Hgo.," in 'wProyectoTula, Segunda Parte,'' Archaeological Research Facility (CARFC) 11 (1971) 188; Robert EduardoMatos Moctezuma, ed., Coleccion Cientifica 33 (INAH 1976) Zeitlin, "Towards a More Comprehensive Model of Interregional 75-83. Commodity Distribution: Political Variables and Prehistoric Obsidian Procurement in Mesoamerica," AmAnt 47 (1982) 270. 6. Wigberto Jiminez-Moreno, ''Tula y los Toltecas Segun las Fuentes Historicos, " Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropo/ogicos 5 ( 1941 ) 4. Adapted from Landforms of Mexicos Prepared for the GeographAt 79-83. Branch of the Office of Naval Researchs by Erwin Raisz (Cambridge 1959). 7. Jorge Acosta, ';InteIpretacion de Algunos Datos Obtenidos en Tula \\ C e *r r r o \ sM s< 0 s r9 ' o- ,> n s e; > o; . { j'r{ .- j { u ; s\v>l tL>;W o 4 Journalof Field ArchaeologylVol.10, 1983 129 Figure 2. The archaeological zone of Tula, Hidalgo, as determined by the tSo/// X\Sl"f"fovo *w-*@\*\ University of Missouri and INAH concentration surface surveys. A more detailed map of ol C- V the area east of E1 Salitre (box) is continuous presented in Figure 3. ...,. X . = .. < =4 ,.<-.< ,,,,,,,,,,'... B . !H.. A}IJ#ssulbJswwJLt8ttltst88C--;;t>Ns>/<jf a (; { / 1 M I0 n h a ) A II e n d e t provided persuasive evidence that the site constitutes the of Missouri,'°which have greatlyamplified our knowl- ruins of Tollan, legendary capital of the Toltec empire edge of Tula's historyand internalstructure. Cobean has between the 10th and 12th centuries A.C.8Recently, Tula recentlyprovided a revised ceramicchronology for the was the subject of two extensive archaeological research Tula area (TABLE 1)ll based upon the Missouriproject's projects, conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Antro- urban survey, and the residentialexcavations and se- pologia e Historia (INAH) of Mexico9 and the University lected test pits of the INAH project. Data from both projects indicate that Tula was originally a relatively modest settlementsome 3-5 sq. km. in area that was Relativos a la Epoca Tolteca,'' Rerista Mexicana de Estudios Antro- centeredaround Tula Chico, a smallerversion of Tula pologicos 14, segunda parte (1956-1957) 75-110. Acosta also pub- lished detailed summaries of his field seasons at Tula, which are listed Grande, the political-religiouscenter of the later city in the bibliography of Supplement to the Alandbookof Middle American (FIG. 2). Duringthe Tollanphase of the EarlyPostclassic lndians, Volume 2, Victoria Bricker and Jeremy Sabloff, eds. (Uni- period(TABLE 1), Tula underwentexpansive growth, and versity of Texas Press: Austin 1981) . 8. Pedro Armillas, "Teotihuacan, Tula, y los Toltecas," Runa 3 (1950) 37-70; Lawrence Feldman, ''Tollan in Hidalgo: Native Accounts of 10. Diehl, ed., op. cit. (in note 8); ''Tula," in Bricker and Sabloff, the Central Mexican Tolteca," in ''Studies of Ancient Tollan," Rich- op. cit. (in note 7) 277-295. ard Diehl, ed., University of Missouri Monographs in Anthropology 11. Robert Cobean, ''The Pre-Aztec Ceramics of Tula, Hidalgo," 1 (1974) 130-149; Nigel Davies, The Toltecs Until the Fall of Tula unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University (Cambridge 1978) (Oklahoma 1977). fig. 4. We have modified Cobean's period designations by including 9. Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, ed., "Proyecto Tula, Primera Parte," in parentheses an alternate scheme proposed by the 1972 Valley of Coleccion Cientifica 15 (INAH 1974); Matos
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