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The Obsidian Industry of Teotihuacan Michael W

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The Obsidian Industry of Teotihuacan Michael W THE OBSIDIAN INDUSTRY OF TEOTIHUACAN MICHAEL W. SPENCE ABSTRACT responsiblefor this expansion;of the intensity Several areas with extensive obsidian-workingdebris and natureof specializationwithin the industry; on the surface have been found in TeotihuacAn. These insofaras possible,of the identityof, and social date from the Late Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic and economicrelationships through time among, periods. During the Late Preclassic and Classic periods there seems to have been a continuousexpansion of the those who obtained the material,those who city's obsidian industry,accompanied by an increasing worked it, and those who used the products. trend toward specializationin certainof its aspects. It is Thus sources,workshops, and marketswill be probable that the introductionof some new markets,for studied and interrelatedas thoroughlyas pos- example the Mayan area, into the Teotihuacan economy sible. Also, some informationmay be obtained was one factorinvolved in this expansion. Anotherprob- able factor was the growth of population within the on the social relationshipsamong those involved Valley of TeotihuacAnitself, which in these periods de- in obsidian production,and on their relative pended upon the city'sworkshops for its supply of ob- statusin the social systemof the cityas a whole. sidian. The obsidian areas are discussed below in chronologicalorder. Their sizes and locations TO DATE, some150 sitesin theancient city are noted,and someof the typical artifacts found of Teotihuacan, in the Valley of Mexico, in each are presented. These artifacts,in all have produced an unusually heavy obsidian cases except that of the square base knife,are cover. Many of theseobsidian sites are clustered not diagnosticof any one area or phase within in groups,while others are isolated. Due to the ancientcity. They are here associatedwith timeand the preliminarynature of the obsidian a particulararea or areas because theyseem to typology,many of the obsidiansites have notyet be most common there and, consequently,in been satisfactorilystudied. Only thosethat are the time period that area or those areas seem better knownwill be discussedhere. Even these to represent.Some of theseartifact forms, how- requiremore extensiveexamination, so the'con- ever, extend, in lower proportions,through clusions presentedin this paper must be con- much or all of the city'shistory. sideredhighly tentative. Preliminarydetermination of when a given DATA obsidian area was used forobsidian working is based on the dating suggestedby surface ce- Obsidian area No. 1 has been well dated to ramics,by comparisonof the obsidian artifact the Tzacualli phase (TeotihuacainI, IA) by sur- formswith publishedand unpublishedsources, face ceramics,by artifacttypes, and by some and in some cases by ceramicsrecovered from material recoveredfrom a partiallydestroyed floorspartially destroyed by lootersand erosion. floor. It is verynear the north-centraledge of Within any one obsidian area it is difficult, Tzacualli phase Teotihuacan and consistsof 10 sometimesimpossible, to saywhich sites actually obsidian sites (Fig. 1, No. 1). There seem to containedworkshops and which merelyrepre- have been at least three actual workshopsites sent obsidian-workingdebris carried from else- withinthe area. Each sitereveals the fullrange whereby erosionor by post-workshopoccupants of items- blades, scrapers,knives, projectile as fillfor construction. The level of the terrain, points,etc. However,no zoomorphiceccentrics the amountand natureof erosion,and the pro- were found. This, plus their absence in the portionsand distributionsof obsidiandebris and tunnelsof the Sun Pyramid,suggests that these structuralevidence must all be carefullycon- formsare post-Tzacualli. The materialused in sidered. In most of the areas to be discussed the Tzacualli area is almost entirelygrey ob- below,the numberand locationof actual work- sidian. Even the polyhedralcore blades (as shop siteswithin an obsidian area can only be opposed to the cruderflake blades) show a pro- suggested. portionof about 70% greyobsidian to 30% It is hoped eventuallyto produce a typology greenobsidian. of the city'sobsidian, perhaps adapted to a suit- One typicalitem in this area is a knifechar- able existingtypology, and to producea reason- acterized by a pointed base and varyingin ably complete picture of the obsidian indus- widthfrom 33 to 50 mm. (Fig. 2 a-b). It forms try-of its expansionand the factorspossibly about 16% of the total knivesfrom this area. 507 This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:33:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 508 AMER8CAN ANTIQUITY [ VOL. 32,No. 4, 1967 W9 W8 W7 W6 WS W4 W3 W2 W1 121 1E3 K4 ES 6 E7 IS E9 NB N8 F I I i mKILO|MUIS NT 7 N7 N6 N6 N5 N5 N4 N4 N3 N3 N2 - V L >4- N2 dom~~~Sc Nl H S = S s =IDA n C t NI S2 52 S3 _S 54 \ SLX54X< 55 55 S6 L1S 1 |? E F 1 OIS I 6 57 57 s - TopographicMap and GridSystem so W9 WS W7 W6 WS W4 W3 W2 WI El E2 13 E4 E5 E6 E7 18 19 FIG. 1. Distributionof obsidian sites in Teotihuacan. Another frequentitem is a relativelynarrow thoughit mightwell have a long history,it was knifeor drill with parallel or slightlycontract- most common within the ancient city in the ing sides and a straightto convex base (Fig. 2 Tzacualli phase. Another common Tzacualli h-j). It has a lenticularcross section and ranges projectilepoint form is ashort,broad pointwith in widthfrom 10 to 28 mm.The chippingvaries straightto barbedshoulders and a wide, roubd- fromfine to relativelycrude. Also commonin based, and relativelyshort stem (Fig. 3 c-d). the Tzacualli area is a small end scraper,26 to Muller places this form in her type 6, and 50 mm. long, with a handle which sometimes dates it as strongin Late Tzacualli and as lasting shades into, and at other times is clearly dis- into the Tlamimilolpaphase (Muller 1965). A tinguishedfrom, the head (Fig. 3 a-b). In gen- numberof specimensare knownfrom the Sun eral formthese resemblewhat have been called Pyramid (Noguera 1935, Lam XXII, row 1, "maguey scrapers,"but theirsmall size would No. 8; row 2, No. 8; row3, Nos. 1-3). make themrather inefficient as such. Finally,one anthropomorphicobsidian figu- Two projectile point forms are commonly rineis knownfrom the Tzacualli phase. It was found in the Tzacualli area. One is a diamond- discoveredduring recent excavations in the Sun shaped point,often thick and crudelyworked Pyramid. As pointedout by its discoverers,it (Fig. 3 e-f). Muller places it in her type1 (Mul- differsfrom later specimens in some details ler 1965). The presentwriter's data suggestthat, (Millon, Drewitt,and Bennyhoff1965: 24, 26, This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:33:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPENCE] TEOTIHUACAN OBSIDIAN 509 (Noguera 1935, Lam. XXIV, row 1; Millon, sse # ...... ........~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.............Drewitt,and Bennyhoff 1965, Fig. 94, row 1). The pointed-baseknife of Tzacualli seems to drop sharply in frequency,and zoomorphic eccentrics appear. An unfinished"serpent" eccentricfrom this area (Fig. 3 g) closelyre- sembles those of the Miccaotli phase ofrendas in the Adosada of the Sun Pyramid(Noguera 1935, Lam XXIV, bottom two rows; Millon, 4 0 f.0tg... Drewitt,and Bennyhoff1965, Fig. 94, bottom two and in Ofrenda 1 of the structure K a d knives or d l f rows) .. .G..2. n.... ': called "QuetzalcoatlViejo" (Borbolla 1947: 69, Fig. 9, row 3). Also foundin area No. 2 was a i Xb...... .... ............ A..... .. ....... .... thickdisk of greyobsidian (Fig. 3 h) like that from the Adosada of the Sun Pyramid (No- guera 1935, Lam XXIII, row 1, far right).-A new projectile point form appears, a corner- notchedpoint of somewhatvariable form, which becomesmore commonin areas 3 and 4. Two obsidian areas appear on the east edge of the Miccaotli phase city,and they seem to date fromthe latterpart of the Miccaotliphase, towardsthe end of the Preclassicperiod. One tihuacin obsidian sites. Scale in cm. Fig. 93). The Tzacualli figurinehas a less angu- lar formabout the shouldersand thighs,and rather short arms separated in part fromthe trunk. The next obsidian area is just slightlysouth- east of the Tzacualli area, separatedfrom it by a small zone lackinga good obsidiancover (Fig. 1, No. 2). It has only recentlybeen discovered ........... and has not as yet been satisfactorilystudied. To date, it seems to consistof seven sites,at least one of which was a workshop. The pre- ......... liminaryexamination of the obsidian artifacts and surfaceceramics suggests that the area was ......... ...... .... .. .. .. .. .... used forobsidian working early in the Miccaotli FIG 3 Scrapersprojectile points, serpenteccentric,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....... phase (TeotihuacainII). It is on the northedge anddik ...........ro Teo.h.a..obsdia...... sits.cal.i of the Miccaotli city. Smaller and poorerthan the Tzacualli area, it was probablyrelatively short-lived. Again, greyobsidian forms the greatmajority of non-bladematerial (points,knives, scrapers, etc.), althoughthe proportionof greenobsidian in core blades has risen to 60%. The narrow knifeor drill commonlyfound in the Tzacualli area continues,though it is less frequent.It is, though, a common feature of the Miccaotli ofrenda in the Adosada of the Sun Pyramid This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:33:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 510 AMERICANANTIQUITY [ VOL. 32, No. 4, 1967 is a singlelarge area (Fig. 1, No. 3) consisting Moon Pyramid (Fig. 1, No. 6). In the south of 12 sites,of which 3 give evidence of being sectionthere are 19 sites. Six of these,located workshops.The otherarea (Fig. 1, No. 4) in- in an almostflat area, were possiblyworkshops. cludes two small sections,separated only by This flatarea seemsto have been a zone without 90 m., and appears to consistof two sites,one structuresbetween a long east-westwall to the of which was a workshop,in each section. In northwestof the Moon Pyramidand another comparisonwith the earlier Miccaotli phase wall directlynorth of Group 5'.
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