Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Chinchilla Mazariegos, Oswaldo

Abstract

This dissertation expands scholarly modeling of pre-contact economic organization in Mesoamerica through an in-depth examination of obsidian systems of Cotzumalhuapa, an important polity during the Late-Terminal Classic (650-950 CE) in Escuintla, Guatemala. The exchange of obsidian into the region from several sources was critical because other types of tool-grade stone were locally unavailable. Overtime, sophisticated systems developed to mine, transform, and move obsidian in a variety of forms across the landscape. Technological changes in manufacturing processes led to universal adoption of prismatic blades and fomented the importance of lithic artisans specializing in core-blade reduction. Access to obsidian to produce tools was variably restricted over time and space; and it is often modeled as a critical piece of the political economies of early complex societies. The question of how obsidian systems were organized and their role in the cultural history of the Pacific Coast of Guatemala and Chiapas is explored through a synthesis of the existing literature and unpublished data beginning with the Paleo-Indian period and ending with the Early-Middle Classic, prior to Cotzumalhuapa’s ascendency. It continues with an in-depth reconstruction of obsidian exchange, production, and consumption at Cotzumalhuapa. Data is drawn from legacy collections and recent excavations at obsidian production loci to reconstruct this critical component of the economy and test several models. Multicrafting is explored through particular emphasis on the associated artifacts recovered at these loci to discern if obsidian crafting occurred in domestic or specialized non-domestic settings. These associated artifacts are used to identify the presence and types of non-obsidian crafting and infer whether the locus is domestic or non-domestic. Craft specialization and skill are through a combination of architectural evidence, analysis of task segmentation, and error rates observed at production loci. This study is designed to challenge assumptions about top-down economics in pre-modern societies, illuminate the contexts of production, and offer methods that give a more complete understanding of craft specialization in pre-modern societies.

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