Turquoise Exchange and Procurement in the Chacoan World
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Turquoise Exchange and Procurement in the Chacoan World by Sharon Kaye Hull A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2012 by Sharon Kaye Hull Abstract The large amount of turquoise artifacts recovered from archaeological sites in the American Southwest and Mesoamerica suggests that turquoise was an important commodity in pre-Columbian trade networks. However, the spatial and temporal patterns of turquoise exchange networks and the provenance regions of the turquoise in the southwestern United States and Mesoamerica are poorly understood. Turquoise (CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8•4(H2O)) is a supergene mineral that forms from meteoric water along fractures that are often associated with copper porphyry deposits. This copper-rich mineral can range in color and chemistry within a single sample or deposit. The ability to identify the turquoise resource areas of turquoise artifacts using the stable isotopes of hydrogen (2H/1H) and copper (65Cu/63Cu) has overcome many of the limitations of trace element analyses of complex minerals such as turquoise. The geography and geology of turquoise deposits dictate the isotopic composition of turquoise. Employing the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) technique to measure the hydrogen and copper stable isotope ratios in turquoise samples, a comparative reference database consisting of 876 analyses from 21 turquoise resource areas in the western United States was established. Sixty-two turquoise artifacts recovered from Aztec Ruin, Salmon Ruin, and nine sites in Chaco Canyon were analyzed and their isotopic signatures were compared to the reference database identifying the turquoise resource areas of 35 artifacts. These results were compared to pre-existing models of trade and exchange in the American Southwest and models that explain the complex culture history of the inhabitants of these sites. The results showed that turquoise was obtained from several different turquoise provenance regions across the western United States and there are notable differences in the turquoise procurement patterns between the ii three major great houses and between Pueblo Bonito and the small sites within Chaco Canyon. The results from this study improved the understanding of turquoise trade and relationships among the occupants of important Ancestral Puebloan sites in northwestern New Mexico. The development of the turquoise comparative reference database established the foundation of future research for reconstruction of ancient turquoise trade networks and investigation of turquoise procurement strategies in the American Southwest and Mesoamerica. iii Acknowledgments I convey my most sincere appreciation to my advisor, Professor Mostafa Fayek of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and Dr. Frances Joan Mathien for funding and making this interdisciplinary project possible. I thank Dean Norman Halden and Assistant Professor Brooke Milne who participated on my advisory committee and Dr. Linda Cordell for participating as my external examiner. I also thank the many people who guided and allowed me access to turquoise resource areas and collections: Homer Milford, Bill Baxter, Doug Magnus, and Todd Brown (Cerrillos Hills), Ken Frye (BLM) and Anne Horton (King Manassa), Mary Hughes (Villa Grove), Marty Colbaugh (Mineral Park), Robert Reynolds, Robert Hilburn, Ed Nazelrod, and Jim Sherer (Halloran Springs), Bill Crank (Crescent Peak), Bruce Woods (Godber), Dean and Donna Otteson (Royston Mine area), Chris Lott (Lone Mountain), Phil Weigand (Museum of Northern Arizona), and Virgil W. Lueth (New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources), and Dan Courvoisier who sent samples from Sleeping Beauty Mine. For the artifacts, I thank Nancy Sweet Espinosa, Larry Baker, and Paul Reed (Salmon Ruins Museum), Wendy Bustard (Chaco Culture National Historical Park Museum), and David Hurst Thomas, Kristen Marble, and Anibal Rodriquez (American Museum of Natural History). This work was funded by Canada Research Chairs in Environmental and Isotope Geochemistry, a Major Facilities Access Grant, Research Tools and Equipment, and Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, a Canada Foundation for Innovation Grant under professor Mostafa Fayek, and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0609638 to Professor Mostafa Fayek (principle investigator) and Dr. Frances Joan Mathien (co-principle investigator). iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Turquoise Resource Areas ................................................................................ 9 2.1. The Mineral Turquoise and Turquoise Formation ................................................. 10 2.2. Turquoise Resource Areas and Provenance Samples ............................................ 14 2.2.1. Rio Grande Rift................................................................................................ 19 2.2.2. South Central and Southwestern New Mexico ................................................ 35 2.2.3. Arizona Turquoise Provenance Regions ......................................................... 40 2.2.4. Mineral Park, Halloran Springs, and Crescent Peak........................................ 48 2.2.5. Nevada Turquoise Provenance Regions .......................................................... 60 2.2.6. Turquoise Provenance Regions of Mexico ...................................................... 78 2.3. Ancient Turquoise Mining ..................................................................................... 81 Chapter 3: Turquoise Provenance Techniques ................................................................. 85 3.1. Turquoise Provenance Research ............................................................................ 86 3.2. Limitations of Trace Element Concentration Studies ............................................ 93 3.3. Isotope Research in Archaeology ......................................................................... 100 3.4. Analytical Methods for Measuring Stable Isotopes ............................................. 103 3.5. Lead and Strontium Isotope Analyses .................................................................. 108 3.6. Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Copper Isotopes ............................................................ 109 3.7. Using Hydrogen and Copper Isotopes to Source Turquoise ................................ 111 Chapter 4: Culture History and Exchange Models of the Greater Southwest ................ 114 4.1. Culture History of the Greater Southwest ............................................................ 116 4.2. The Greater Southwest and Mesoamerican Connection ...................................... 119 4.3. Exchange Models for the Greater Southwest ....................................................... 124 4.3.1. World Systems Model ................................................................................... 125 v 4.3.2. Pochteca-like Trade Models .......................................................................... 128 4.3.3. Prestige Goods Model.................................................................................... 133 4.3.4. Peer Polity Interactions .................................................................................. 135 4.3.5. Trade Festival Model ..................................................................................... 136 Chapter 5: The Chacoan World ...................................................................................... 138 5.1. The Archaeological Sites...................................................................................... 140 5.1.1. Chaco Canyon ................................................................................................ 142 5.1.2. The Northern San Juan Basin: Aztec and Salmon Ruins .............................. 147 5.2. Turquoise Resource Areas ................................................................................... 153 5.3. Turquoise Artifacts ............................................................................................... 157 Chapter 6: Methods ......................................................................................................... 161 6.1. Sample Preparation .............................................................................................. 162 6.2. Electron Microprobe ............................................................................................ 162 6.3. Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer ....................................................................... 163 Chapter 7: Results ........................................................................................................... 176 7.1.