Abstract
Despite uncertainty as to its place and moment of origin, the prismatic blade is present in most regions of Mesoamerica by the Early Pre-Classic or more precisely by 1200 B.C. However, some regions, especially North-Central and Western Mexico, are noticeably different. In these areas, the prismatic blade was an imported product that was not introduced until the end of the Pre-Classic period. On the other hand, during the Proto-Classic (A.D. 0–250), percussion blades acquired increasing importance in the lithic systems alongside flake and bifacial industries. Pressure blade technology was only introduced at the end of the Epi-Classic (A.D. 750–900), for the Mexican far West, and the end of the Early Post-Classic (A.D. 900–1100), for the North of Michoacan, replacing the older tradition of obtaining percussion blades.
We present a synthesis of the available data for two regions of North-Central and Western Mexico: one set from the Jalisco Highlands and the other from Northern Michoacan and the Middle Lerma Valley. Studying the lithic systems developed by the populations living in these regions allows us to focus on the conditions under which pressure blade technology appeared and explore various hypotheses. In what way did social and political factors interact with its development? Why such a delay in the adoption of this technology, despite the abundance of high-quality obsidian sources and the early existence of particularly dynamic cultural cores?
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Notes
- 1.
The obsidians’ provenance has not been determined.
- 2.
We mean this situation is linked to the complexity of the stratigraphic contexts.
- 3.
The Teuchitlan site has given its name to a cultural phenomenon that developed in the modern States of Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit between 300 B.C. and A.D. 900. It is mainly defined by circular public architectural complexes: a circular patio was bordered by a circular platform backed by several rectangular buildings and surrounding a central circular pyramid (these circular complexes are named Guachimonton). The other distinctive features of the Teuchitlan tradition are shaft tombs and the production of large clay and hollow anthropomorphic figures. The peak of the Teuchitlan tradition may be placed between A.D. 400 and 700 (Beekman and Weigand, 2000, 2010).
- 4.
The Aztatlan tradition refers to a cultural phenomenon that developed in the Mexican West and North-West, in the modern States of Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango, and Sinaloa, between A.D. 900 and 1,350/1,400. Based on the characteristics of certain features of its material culture (its pottery above all), several authors have associated it with the Mixteca-Puebla complex (which refers to a particular ceramic style and iconography), while others have found links with the Toltecs. In general, these authors agree on attributing the Aztatlan tradition to foreigners coming from the Central Highlands (Mountjoy 2000). Their success seems to have been due to prolific and diversified craftsmanship – copper working, work in shells, pottery, obsidian debitage – and a very structured widespread trading system (see Mountjoy 1990; Kelley 2000).
- 5.
To describe their material, the authors divided the blades into two large categories: “flake blades and fine blades.” The former are “more roughly formed and generally broader, with somewhat irregular edges and dorsal arrises” (in English) (Spence et al. 2002: 63). The latter are “narrower and highly regular in form, with linear dorsal arrises” (in English). No indication is given about the proximal parts.
- 6.
Of the 229,421 artifacts collected from this workshop, only 52 correspond to cores or core fragments. Twenty-three of them have a prepared platform, 3 smooth, 7 faceted, and 11 ground. But these cores are not differentiated nor connected to a particular chaîne opératoire.
- 7.
Of the 7,327 macroblade platforms it has been possible to examine, 3,287 were grinding and 2,595 had a multifaceted surface – the others being with a single facet or cortical. Among the complete blades or proximal fragments obtained with the pressure technique, which number 13,394, 7,562 have ground platform, 3,791 multifaceted platforms, and 1,856 single-facet platform.
- 8.
The three deposits of the nearby region are Los Agustinos, Ucareo, and Zinapécuaro. Some distant deposits are also found (Cerro Zinaparo and Cerro Varal, 150 km to the West and Pachuca 200 km to the East).
- 9.
Variability from one site to another is found: site JR 24, on the right bank, was massively supplied from the Los Agustinos deposit (77.5%), 20 km as the crow flies, and next from Ucareo (12.5%), on the left bank and at the same distance; the deposit of Zinapecuaro, also on the left bank but 40 km away, only represents 5%. On the other hand, for site TR6, on the left bank, 63.8% of the obsidians came from Los Agustinos, only 16 km as the crow flies, but on the other bank of the river; 13.3% came from Ucareo – the closest deposit: 15 km – and 9% from Zinapécuaro (32.5 km away). The rest comes from distant sources. The Ucareo results will be discussed below.
- 10.
Sites JR 24 and TR 6 excavated as part of the Chupicuaro project (directed by V. Darras and B. Faugère).
- 11.
Analyses by B. Gratuze and S. Boucetta, IRAMAT, Orleans (Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux).
- 12.
Archaeological research has been carried out here by the Centre of Mexican and Central American Studies (CEMCA, Mexico) and the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – National Scientific Research Centre) between 1984 and 1997. This research has resulted in several doctoral theses and various publications.
- 13.
The study concerned a collection of 74,994 obsidian artifacts collected from a total of five investigatory excavations in the workshops of four production centers (Darras 1999).
- 14.
The last production center is on the Cerro Prieto, 3 km south of the Zinaparo massif. The obsidian found here is of inferior quality. The zones of activity extend for 8 ha and include opencast extraction sectors and workshops specialized in the manufacture of unipolar cores and bifacial preforms.
- 15.
The Tarascans formed an ethnic group mainly occupying the modern State of Michoacan. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Central Highlands of Mesoamerica were dominated by two rival powers: the Aztecs in Central Mexico and the Tarascans in the West. Just as for the Aztec empire, the Tarascan kingdom was a late creation, dating from the Late Post-Classic. It was centralized politically, administratively, and economically. The Michoacan project, carried out by the CEMCA between 1982 and 1996, was concerned, in part, with understanding the beginnings of the social and political processes that resulted in the kingdom’s consolidation. The choice of the Zacapu region was made on the basis of ethnohistorical evidence from the only sixteenth century account relating the official history of the Tarascan people and which designated Zacapu as their place of origin.
- 16.
In fact, Clark (1987) suggests the abundance of raw material and access facilities to the deposits, as well as the degree of complexity of the societies’ social organization (strong hierarchization), are the conditions for development of prismatic blade technology.
- 17.
The limits of this territory still have to be defined – the Northern limits in particular. They are determined by ceramic, technological, and stylistic criteria.
- 18.
Ceramic characteristics of the Ticoman or Cuicuilco I to IV phases of the Basin of Mexico.
- 19.
While still being of good quality, this deposit does not present the same potential as Ucareo, especially as far as the size of the blocks is concerned. Healan has shown that its systematic exploitation dated above all to the Late Post-Classic and was by the Tarascans (2005).
- 20.
The variations observed from one Chupicuaro site to another also support this view: the Pre-Classic occupation levels of site TR 6 are for the moment the only ones to yield prismatic blades.
- 21.
- 22.
Teotihuacan is located 25 and 50 km, respectively, from its two favorite sources – Otumba and Pachuca. Xochicalco and Tula functioned synergetically with Ucareo at a distance of 250 km and more than 150 km, respectively.
- 23.
The presence of residual cores and a few preparation blades is not enough, however, to infer the passage of itinerant craftsmen. These residual cores may have been acquired deliberately to be recycled and used for other purposes.
- 24.
Healan’s research confirms the Ucareo deposit came under Tarascan control during the Late Post-Classic.
- 25.
Two factors could have favorite the simplification of the “chaîne opératoire”: all the stages of the reduction sequence were carried out in one place, and the blade makers had the possibility to select small angular blocks producing small prismatic blades.
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Acknowledgments
This chapter was made possible thanks to the constructive discussions with many colleagues, and I especially gratefully acknowledge Dominique Michelet, Chris Beekman, Phil Weigand, Catherine Liot, Javier Reveles, Dan Healan, and Lorenza Lopez.
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Darras, V. (2012). Development of Pressure Blade Technology in North-Central and Western Mexico. In: Desrosiers, P. (eds) The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2003-3_17
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