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Expanding the Role of Trace-Element Studies: Obsidian Use in the Late and Terminal Classic Periods at the Lowland Maya Site of Colha, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Meredith L. Dreiss ,
David O. Brown ,
Thomas R. Hester  and
Michael D. Glascock
Meredith L. Dreiss
Affiliation:
Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78758, USA
David O. Brown
Affiliation:
Hicks & Co., Austin, TX 78701, USA
Thomas R. Hester
Affiliation:
Missouri University Research Reactor, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Michael D. Glascock
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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Abstract

The results of trace-element analysis of 200 prismatic blades from Colha, Belize, are reported. Questions concerning possible elite control and restriction of obsidian distribution, and the relative decline and increase of the El Chayal and Ixtepeque sources in varying functional contexts within lower- and upper-status areas are the primary focus of the study. Contrary to expectations, a high percentage (51%) of obsidian was assigned to the Ixtepeque source, 48% was assigned to El Chayal, and only two samples (1%) were assigned to Rio Pixcaya. The use of obsidian from the Ixtepeque source declines through time from Tepeu 2 through Tepeu 3 from 72% to 43%, and Ixtepeque obsidian appears to have had a largely ceremonial use by the Terminal Classic period. It appears that as Ixtepeque obsidian became less available at the site, it fell more into the hands of the elite. This trend runs counter to our expectations of an apparent lack of elite control of Ixtepeque obsidian in the Postclassic. The Colha data suggest that a slightly different process may have governed the distribution of Ixtepeque obsidian in the Late/Terminal Classic than during the Postclassic period. It is not clear, however, whether this trend extends to regional differences in control or is simply a local idiosyncratic phenomenon at Colha.

Type
Special Section: Recent Research on Obsidian in Mesoamerica
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , Fall 1993 , pp. 271 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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