Obsidian Craft Production at Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl, Tlaxcala

Lithic Deposit LD-E2

This excavation identified a high concentration of obsidian debitage on the floor and inside a small room annex on the west side of Structure E2 (Photo 1, shown below). This room was constructed at the level of the plaza and attached to the base of the Structure E2 platform mound (Photo 2, shown below). The quantity and type of lithic remains recovered led archaeologist’s to suggest that obsidian craft production was practiced in this room (Serra Puche 1998:57). Ceramic remains date this building and its associated obsidian refuse to the Late Formative period (350 B.C. - A.D. 100) when Cerro Xochitécatl was the center of a powerful chiefdom society that controlled a large segment of western Tlaxcala (Serra Puche 1998). All of the flaked stone remains recovered from Structure E2 were analyzed with the intent of determining the scale and context of production in this locale.

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The results of the technological analysis for the Late Formative assemblage from Edificio 2 are summarized in Table 2 and provide a good profile of the technology used during this period. Obsidian pressure blade technology dominates the assemblage with a clear preference for grey over green obsidian. Both percussion and pressure debitage is found. Obsidian reached the site primarily in the form of blocky cores and macrocores. Macroblades and narrow macroblades were removed from cores by percussion to finish shaping polyhedral cores before pressure blades were removed. Cores were prepared as both half-conical and fully conical cores with the former predominating over the later. Half conical cores leave one side flat, or are specially prepared to only remove blades from one face of the core (Photo 3, shown below). The preference for this form of core may lie in its ability to be stabilized during blade removal. The half-conical core profile was maintained throughout the sequence of pressure blade removals. In the process, highly diagnostic corner blades were produced where pressure blades were removed at the sides of the cores where they intersected its flat back surface (Photo 4, shown below). The half-conical core technology is common in Central Mexico during the Late Postclassic (Parry 2002). It has been reported during the Late Middle Formative (Cantera) phase occupation at Chalcatzingo (Burton 1987) where it was associated with the utilization of obsidian from the Paredon source.

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A total of 392 obsidian artifacts were recovered from the floor of the LD-E2 room annex. Ninety-four percent of the artifacts were manufactured of grey obsidian. The majority of the obsidian recovered was debitage created by shaping polyhedral cores using percussion, preparing pressure cores with pressure, and producing prismatic pressure blades. Little evidence was found for either the manufacture of blade artifacts or core rejuvenation. One finished biface was found in the room, but there was no biface reduction debitage found in the room. While production was carried out in this room, it was small in scale. I do not believe production was intended to produce prismatic blades for export. Instead, the items produced were intended to meet consumption needs within the civic-ceremonial zone.

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