Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Archaeological Approaches to Obsidian Quarries: Investigations at the Quispisisa Source

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Abstract

Prehistoric stone tool quarries can be a source information about past resource exploitation and management, tool production, and labor organization. Research is complicated, however, by the sheer abundance of discarded material and by a dearth of temporally diagnostic evidence. Here we discuss research at stone sources in light of ongoing work at the source of Quispisisa Type obsidian in highland Peru, where exploitation resulted in the excavation of numerous quarry pits and the accumulation of tailings piles and knapping debris. Using this lithic resource as an example, we discuss approaches to stone tool sources, including system-oriented and regional-scale investigations as well as considerations of the social and ritual significance of geological source areas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barberena, R., Hajduk, A., Gil, A. F., Neme, G. A., Durán, V., Glascock, M. D., et al. (2011). Obsidian in the South-Central Andes: Geological, geochemical, and archaeological assessment of north Patagonian sources (Argentina). Quaternary International, 245(1), 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bencic, C. M. (2000). Industrias líticas de Huari y Tiwanaku. In P. Kaulicke, & W. H. Isbell (Eds.), Huari y Tiwanaku: Modelos vs. evidencias. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP, (Vol. 4, pp. 89–118). Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Fondo Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benzoni, G., & Smyth, W. H. (1857 [1565]). History of the new world. London: Hakluyt Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, R. (2000). An archaeology of natural places. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, R., & Edmonds, M. R. (1993). Interpreting the axe trade: Production and exchange in Neolithic Britain. New Studies in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brumm, A. (2010). Falling Sky: Symbolic and cosmological associations of the Mt. William Greenstone Axe Quarry, Central Victoria, Australia. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 20(2), 179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L. (1984). Archaeological Areas and Prehistoric Frontiers: The case of Formative Peru and Ecuador. In D. L. Browman, R. L. Burger, & M. A. Rivera (Eds.), Social and economic organization in the Prehispanic Andes (Vol. 194, pp. 33–71). Oxford, England: B.A.R. International Series.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Asaro, F. (1977). Trace element analysis of obsidian artifacts from the Andes: New perspectives on Pre-Hispanic economic interaction in Peru and Bolivia—LBL6343. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Asaro, F., Michael, H. V., & Stross, F. H. (1984). The Source of obsidian artifacts at Chavín de Huántar. Appendix E. In R. L. Burger (Ed.), The prehistoric occupation of Chavín de Huántar, Peru (Vol. 14, pp. 263–270). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Asaro, F., Michael, H. V., Stross, F. H., & Salazar, E. (1994). An initial consideration of obsidian procurement and exchange in prehispanic Ecuador. Latin American Antiquity, 5(3), 228–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Asaro F., Salas G., & Stross F. (1998a) The Chivay obsidian source and the geological origin of Titicaca Basin type obsidian artifacts. Andean Past 5, 203–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Asaro, F., Trawick, P., & Stross, F. (1998b). The Alca obsidian Source: The origin of raw material for Cuzco Type obsidian artifacts. Andean Past, 5, 185–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Fajardo Rios, F. A., & Glascock, M. D. (2006). Potreropampa and Lisahuacho obsidian sources: Geological origins of Andahuaylas A and B Type obsidians in the province of Aymaraes, Department of Apurimac, Peru. Ñawpa Pacha, 28, 109–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Glascock, M. D. (2000). Locating the Quispisisa obsidian source in the department of Ayacucho, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 11(3), 258–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Glascock, M. D. (2001). The Puzolana obsidian source: Locating the geologic source of ayacucho type obsidian. Andean Past, 6, 289–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Glascock, M. D. (2002). Tracking the source of Quispisisa Type obsidian from Huancavelica to Ayacucho. In W. H. Isbell & H. Silverman (Eds.), Andean archaeology I: Variations in sociopolitical organization (pp. 341–368). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Glascock, M. D. (2009). Intercambio prehistórico de obsidiana a larga distancia en el norte Peruano. Revista del Museo de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia, 11, 17–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Mohr Chávez, K. L., & Chávez, S. J. (2000). Through the Glass Darkly: Prehispanic obsidian procurement and exchange in southern Peru and northern Bolivia. Journal of World Prehistory, 14(3), 267–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Salazar, L. C. (2004). Machu Picchu: Unveiling the mystery of the Incas. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Schreiber, K. J., Glascock, M. D., & Ccencho, J. (1998c). The Jampatilla obsidian source: Identifying the geological source of pampas type obsidian artifacts from Southern Peru. Andean Past, 5, 225–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cann, J. R., & Renfrew, C. (1964). The characterization of obsidian and its application to the Mediterranean region. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 30, 111–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. E. (2003). A review of twentieth-century mesoamerican obsidian studies. In K. G. Hirth (Ed.), Mesoamerican lithic technology: Experimentation and interpretation (pp. 15–54). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Close, A. E. (1996). Carry that weight: The use and transportation of stone tools. Current Anthropology, 37(3), 545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cobo, B. (1979 [1653]). History of the Inca Empire, translated and edited by Roland HamiltonRetrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.01916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, D. A. and Nado, K. (in press). Interpreting geochemically characterized obsidian from Chavín de Huántar, Peru. In D. Peterson and J. Dudgeon (Eds.), The archaeology of circulation, exchange and human migration: Techniques, cases, evidence. Equinox Publishing, Ltd.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, D. A., Tripcevich, N., & Palomino, Y. C. (2013). Investigaciones en la fuente de la obsidiana tipo Quispisisa, Huancasancos Ayacucho. In Proceedings of the XVI Congreso Peruano del Hombre y la Cultura Andina y Amazonica, UNMSM, Lima, Peru, October 2009, Lima, Peru.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooney, G. (1998). Breaking stones, making places: The social landscape of axe production sites. In A. M. Gibson, & D. D. A. Simpson (Eds.), Prehistoric ritual and religion (pp. xiii, 242 p.). Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Couture, N. C. (2003). Ritual, monumentalism, and residence at Mollo Kontu. In A. L. Kolata (Ed.), Tiwanaku and its hinterland: Archaeology and paleoecology of an Andean civilization, (Vol. 2, pp. 202–225). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, M. M. (1990). Description, understanding and the chaîne opératoire. Archaeological Reviews from Cambridge, 9(1), 55–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, M. R. (1995). Stone tools and society: Working stone in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. London: Batsford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eerkens, J. W., & Rosenthal, J. S. (2004). Are obsidian subsources meaningful units of analysis? Temporal and spatial patterning of subsources in the Coso Volcanic Field, southeastern California. Journal of Archaeological Science, 31(1), 21–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eerkens, J. W., Vaughn, K. J., Carpenter, T. R., Conlee, C. A., Grados, M. L., & Schreiber, K. (2008). Obsidian hydration dating on the South Coast of Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 2231–2239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elston, R. G., & Raven, C. (Eds.). (1992). Archaeological investigations at Tosawihi. A Great Basin Quarry, Part 1: The periphery, Vol. 1. Report prepared for the Bureau of Land Management, Elko Resource Area, Nevada. Silver City, NV: Inter-mountain Research and Bureau of Land Management.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ericson, J. E. (1984). Towards the analysis of Lithic production systems. In J. E. Ericson & B. A. Purdy (Eds.), Prehistoric quarries and Lithic production. New directions in archaeology (pp. 1–10). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Giesso, M. (2003). Stone tool production in the Tiwanaku heartland. In A. L. Kolata (Ed.), Tiwanaku and its hinterland: Archaeology and paleoecology of an Andean civilization, (Vol. 2, pp. 363–383). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glascock, M., Speakman, R. J., & Burger, R. L. (2007). Sources of archaeological obsidian in Peru: Descriptions and geochemistry. In M. Glascock, R. J. Speakman, & R. S. Popelka-Filcoff (Eds.), Archaeological chemistry: Analytical techniques and archaeological interpretation (pp. 522–552). Washington, DC: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gosden, C., & Marshall, Y. (1999). The cultural biography of objects. World Archaeology, 31(2), 169–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, R. A. (1980). Living archaeology. New studies in archaeology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healan, D. M. (1997). Pre-hispanic quarrying in the Ucareo-Zinapécuaro Obsidian Source Area. Ancient Mesoamerica, 8, 77–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, W. H. (1900). The Obsidian Mines of Hidalgo, Mexico. American Anthropologist, 2, 405–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, W. H. (1919). Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities, Part I, Introductory, The Lithic Industries. Bulletin of American Ethnology 60. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingold, T. (2006). Rethinking the animate, re-animating thought. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, 71(1), 9–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingold, T. (2011). Being alive: Essays on movement. Knowledge and description. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, J., & Glascock, M. D. (2002). Description and method of exploitation of the Alca obsidian source, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 13(1), 107–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klarich, E. A. (2005). From the monumental to the mundane: Defining early leadership strategies at late formative Pukara, Peru (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation). University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klink, C., & Aldenderfer, M. (2005). A projectile point chronology for the South-Central Andean Highlands. In C. Stanish, A. Cohen, & M. Aldenderfer (Eds.), Advances in Titicaca basin archaeology, (Vol. 1, pp. 25–54). Los Angeles, CA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lechtman, H. (1984). Andean value systems and the development of prehistoric metallurgy. Technology and Culture, 25(1), 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liritzis, I., & Laskarisa, N. (2011). Fifty years of obsidian hydration dating in archaeology. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 357(10), 2011–2023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McBryde, I. (1997). ‘The landscape is a series of Stories’. Grindstones, quarries and exchange in aboriginal Australia: A lake eyre case study. In A. Ramos-Millán & M. A. Bustillo (Eds.), Siliceous Rocks and Culture (pp. 587–607). Granada: Universidad de Granada.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCown, T. (1945). Pre-Incaic Huamachuco: Survey and excavations in the region of Huamachuco and Cajabamba. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, 39, 223–399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J. D. (2010). Making a Huaca: Memory and Praxis in Prehispanic far northern Peru. Journal of Social Archaeology, 10(3), 398–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nash, D. J. (2002). The archaeology of space: Places of power in the Wari empire (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). University of Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, B., Gabriel, C., & John, C. (2009). Materialitas: Working stone, carving identity. Prehistoric Society research papers. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogburn, D. E. (2004). Evidence for long-distance transportation of building stones in the Inka empire, from Cuzco, Peru to Saraguro, Ecuador. Latin American Antiquity, 15(4), 419–439.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen, B. D., & Goldstein, P. S. (2001). Tiwanaku en Moquegua: Interacciones regionales y colapso. In P. Kaulicke (Ed.), Horizonte Medio (Boletin de arqueología PUCP, Vol. 2, pp. 169–188). Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rademaker, K. (2006). Geoarchaeological investigations of the Waynuna Site and the Alca Obsidian Source. M.S., University of Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rademaker, K. (2012). Early human settlement of the high-altitude Pucuncho Basin, Peruvian Andes (Unpublishe Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Anthropology and Quaternary Studies, University of Maine, Orono.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudebeck, E. (1998). Flint extraction, axe offering, and the value of cortex. In M. R. Edmonds & C. Richards (Eds.), Understanding the Neolithic of north-western Europe (pp. 312–327). Glasgow: Cruithne Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, N. J. (2004). The cosmic earth: Materiality and mineralogy in the Americas. In N. Boivin & M. A. Owoc (Eds.), Soils, stones and symbols: Cultural perceptions of the mineral world (pp. 123–141). London: UCL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer, M. B. (1975). Behavioral chain analysis: Activities, organization, and the use of space. Fieldiana, 65(103–174).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellet, F. (1993). Chaîne opératoire: The concept and its applications. Lithic Technology, 18, 106–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shackley, M. S. (2005). Obsidian: Geology and archaeology in the North American southwest. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shackley, M. S. (2011). X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) in geoarchaeology. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shott, M. J. (2003). Chaîne opératoire and reduction sequence. Lithic Technology, 28(2), 95–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skeates, R. (1995). Animate objects: A biography of prehistoric ‘axe-amulets’ in the central Mediterranean region 61. London: Prehistoric Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. L. (1999). The role of ordinary goods in premodern exchange. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 6(2), 109–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taçon, P. S. C. (2004). Ochre, clay, stone and art. In N. Boivin & M. A. Owoc (Eds.), Soils, stones and symbols: Cultural perceptions of the mineral world (pp. 31–42). London: UCL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Topping, P. (2010). Neolithic axe quarries and flint mines: Towards an ethnography of prehistoric extraction. In M. B. La Porta, A. Burke, & D. Field (Eds.), Ancient mines and quarries: A trans-atlantic perpective (pp. 23–32). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrence, R. (1986). Production and exchange of stone tools prehistoric obsidian in the Aegean. New studies in archaeology. UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N. (2007). Quarries, caravans, and routes to complexity: Prehispanic obsidian in the South-Central Andes (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N. (2010). Exotic goods and socio-political change in the south-central Andes. In C. Dillian & C. White (Eds.), Trade and exchange: Archaeological studies from history and prehistory. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N., & Contreras, D. A. (2011). Quarrying evidence at the Quispisisa obsidian source, Ayacucho, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 22(1), 121–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N., Eerkens, J. W., & Carpenter, T. R. (2012) Obsidian hydration at high elevation: Archaic quarrying at the Chivay source, Southern Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39(5), 1360–1367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N., & Mackay, A. (2011). Procurement at the Chivay obsidian source, Arequipa, Peru. World Archaeology, 43(2), 271–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, R. J. W., Knight, R. J., & Rick, J. W. (1999). Geological landscape of the pre-Inca archaeological site at Chavin de Huantar, Peru. Current Research 1999-D. Geological Survey of Canada, 47–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uhle, M. (1909). Peruvian throwing-sticks. American Anthropologist, 11(4), 624–627.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P. R., Dussubieux, L., & Nash, D. J. (2012). Provenance of Peruvian Wari obsidian: Comparing INAA, LA-ICP-MS, and portable XRF. In I. Liritzis & C. Stevenson (Eds.), The Dating and Provenance of Obsidian and Ancient Manufactured Glasses (pp. 75–85). Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yacobaccio, H. D., Escola, P. S., Pereyra, F. X., Lazzari, M., & Glascock, M. D. (2004). Quest for Ancient Routes: Obsidian sourcing research in Northwestern Argentina. Journal of Archaeological Science, 31, 193–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Jesus Vilchez, Steve Shackley, Katharina Schreiber, Richard Burger, Michael Glascock, Yuichi Matsumoto, Yuri Cavero, Cirilo Vivanco, and Roger Murillo, and acknowledge support from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the Stanford University Branner Library of Earth Sciences, and the UC Berkeley Archaeological Research Facility.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California-Berkeley, 2251 College Bldg, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1076, USA

    Nicholas Tripcevich

  2. Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Olshausenstr. 75, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Daniel A. Contreras

Authors
  1. Nicholas Tripcevich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel A. Contreras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas Tripcevich .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, College Building 2251, Berkeley, 94720-1076, California, USA

    Nicholas Tripcevich

  2. , Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, West State St 700, West Lafayette, 47907, USA

    Kevin J. Vaughn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tripcevich, N., Contreras, D.A. (2013). Archaeological Approaches to Obsidian Quarries: Investigations at the Quispisisa Source. In: Tripcevich, N., Vaughn, K. (eds) Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5200-3_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation