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OBSIDIAN PRODUCTION AND CHANGING CONSUMPTION IN THE LAKE PATZCUARO BASIN, MICHOACAN, MEXICO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2010

Karin J. Rebnegger
Karin J. Rebnegger*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, 354 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

Many Tarascan settlements surrounded Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacan, Mexico, during the Late Postclassic period. A hierarchy of settlements existed from the capital of Tzintzuntzan to secondary administration sites and small tributary communities. Obsidian artifacts from the large site, Erongaricuaro, have been studied by the author. Analysis of the obsidian from this site highlighted particular patterns in the production and consumption of prismatic blades and large scrapers. Data from another site, Urichu, was collected and analyzed more recently. Urichu was a tributary center to Erongaricuaro during the Tarascan empire. Local and state elites inhabited both sites, and analysis of obsidian manufacture indicates that the sites may have had different functions. Obsidian from the sites also varies by source location. This too may indicate site function and the changing sociopolitical organization of obsidian production and use throughout the Tarascan empire.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring 2010 , pp. 79 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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