Prehistoric Mines and Obsidian Workshops at La Esperanza

Prehistoric Mines and Obsidian Workshops at
La Esperanza-Intibuca, Honduras
By
Jerrel Sorensen
Kenneth Hirth
Acknowledgements
This report would not have been possible without the advíce and
assistance of Prof. Ricardo Agurcía Fasquelle, Director of the Instituto
Hondureño de Antropologia e Historia who granted permission to survey
the La Esperanza source ares and províded access to Ann Chapman's (1982)
unpublished notes on obsidian frequencies throughout the region.
Prehistoric Mines and Obsidian Workshops at
La Esperanza-intibuca, Honduras.
Jerrel Sorensen
Kenneth Hirth
Int roduetion
In September of 1983 three members oí the Proyecto Arqueologico
El Cajon conducted a brief geological reconnaissance of a 6 km2
crea northwest of the town of La Esperanza in the Department of
Intibuca (Figure 1).
The purpose of this study was to locate and
describe obsidian deposits originally reported in the region by
Lunardi (1948:20).
Obsídian was an important resource used by
prehistoric groups te manufacture razor-sharp cutting implements.
Recent trace element studies have shown that obsidian tools from
sources in Central Mexico and Highland Guatemala were widely
traded throughout Mesoamerica as early as 1000 B.C. (PiresFerreira 1976).
Obsidian tools were required for cutting
implements in virtually all domestic households in Mesoamerica and
some authors have sugpested that the centralized control over the
manufacture and distribution of obsidian and other scarce
resources were critical variables in the emergence of stratified
societies among both the Olmec and Maya.
tar
Archaeological explorations have identified that obsidian was
widely traded throughout Honduras at least as early as 700-900
B.C.
Obsidian artifacts have been recovered ín Early and Middle
Formative contexts at Copan (William Fash, personal
comunication), Playa de los Muertos (Popenoe 1934; Kennedy 1981),
Los Naranjos (Baudez and Becquelin 1973) and Yarumela (Canby
1951).
Trace element analysis indicates that La Esperanza
obsidian was reaching the site of Los Naranjos during the Jaral
phase between 800-400 B.C.
(Baudez and Becquelin 1973:362).
If
this information is correct, it means that interregional trade
roiites existed during the Middle Formative and were capable of
moving obsidian at least 110 km. from its source.
Given the
importance of this commodity in the evolution of complex society
in Mesoamerica we were interested in determining the extent to
which centralized control of production and distribution may have
existed and effected the emergence of complex society in
southcentral Honduras.
The 1983 reconnaissance had three primary objectives: 1) to
describe the nature, location, and extent of the obsidian
deposits; 2) to determine the intensity of its prehistoric
utilization; and, 3) to document the kinds of lithic technology
associated with these depo4its. The remainder of thís paper will
present the results obtained and discuss their significance in
terms of prehistoric cultural interaction.
The Nature of Obsidian Source Areas, Quarries, and Workshops
A discussion of obsidian procurement at La Esperanza requires
that we first establish a terminology related to obsidian sources
and the production of chipped stone artifacts. An obsidian source
area is defined as a large area, up to several hundred square
kilometers in extent in which several deposits of obsidian can be
round. These deposits may or may not have similar chemical
3
characteristics.
Some, none, or all of these deposits may have
been utilized by prehistoric populations. An outcrop is defined
as a single, well bounded geological location where there is a
concentration of obsidian. The location along an outcrop where
humans have extracted obsidian from its natural matrix is referred
to as a quarry. An obsidian workshop is defined as a location
where obsidian has been worked, leaving behind a concentrated mass
of waste chippage, discarded cores, and artifacts broken during
the manufacturing process. While workshops are often associated
with quarries they can occur anywhere that an artisan chooses to
produce artifacts.
There are three major obsidian source areas documented in
southeastern Mesoamerica: El Chayal, San Martin Jilotepeque and
Ixtepeque. All these source areas are in the highlands of
Guatemala and were extensively exploited by prehistoric
populations. The descriptions of the outcrops, quarries, and
workshops in these source areas show some interesting regularities
in form and content.
The El Chayal source area covers around 110 km2 and contains at
least seven outcrops. Two of these outcrops near the villages of
El Chayal and La Joya were active prehispanic quarries (Sidrys et.
al.
1976:1).
The original description of the El Chayal quarry
provides a vivid picture of its prehistoric utilization:
"There is so much worked obsidian over the area that very
little soil can be seen. Exactly how deep these deposits are
has not been determined...but in some small mounds formed
entirely of large, crude flakes can be seen. At the summit
of one hill...the ancient inhabitants had dug several wide
pits to mine underground deposits of the material"
(Coe and Flannery 1964:43).
A more recent description oí this same quarry provides more
details:
Four of the six workshops occur in this ridge and are visible
from the main footpath.
Since many other workshops were
noted along the footpath to El Chayal and on the hills
surrounding the village, our■ map represents only a small
portion of the entire quarry area.
Both worked and unworked
obsidian nodules cover most of the site; only those areas
where debitage was extremely dense, however, were considered
workshops. The largest obsidian nodules were 25-30 cm. in
diameter." (Sidrys et. al.
1976:2).
At the La Joya quarry obsidian occurs in the forro of nodules which
are approximately 15 cm. in diameter. At La Joya obsidian
debitage was observed up to two meters thick in some 20—odd
workshop areas (Sidrys et. al. 1976:3) ..
The San Martin Jilotepeque source area is approximately 60 km2
in extent (Sidrys et. al. 1976:8-9).
There are five known
outcrops in this area including one near the village of Pachay
which shows evidence for having been quarried. The Pachay outcrop
has been surveyed and described by John Clark:
The outcrop covers the whole peak of the mountain just north
of Pachay. The obsidian deposit was not as thick here as at
La Joya. Pine trees and shrubbery also made viewing
difficult. I saw numerous cuts in the hillside made for the
footpath, pig pens, etc., which indicated that most of the
obsidian was sub—surface, approximately 40 to 50 centimeters.
An obsidian (workshop) deposit in the cut made for the
footpath appeared to be primary refuse. It was 50 cm. below
the surface of the ground and was 70 cm. thick" (Clark
1981:9).
The Ixtepeque source area is said to cover 300 km2 It contains
at least seven outcrops and numerous quarries (Sidrys et. al.
1976:6).
The obsidian nodules are embedded in a red clay matrix
and are reported to be somewhat larger than the obsidian nodules
at El Chayal.
Some of the Ixtepeque nodules range in size between
40-60 cm. in diameter. Large workshops were encountered covering
6000 m2 where the debitage deposits were from 50-80 cm. in
thickness (Sidrys et. al. 1976:7).
Mounds of waste debitage reported at major obsidian quarries
are from workshops associated with the mining-manufacturing
process.
The debris índicate that artifact processing within
these workshops was restricted to: 1) rough flaking to test the
quality of the obsidian, 2) reducing the volume and weight of good
quality obsidian by flaking off the unusable cortex and removing
flaws in the material, and 3) preliminary shaping of certain
artifacts like cores and bifaces which may be transported and
subsequently worked into finished form. All of the quarry
workshops in Guatemala are characterized by masses of coarse
debitage resulting from the inicial stages of artifact
manufacture. This debris consists of decortification flakes,
macroflakes, macroblades, smpll percussion flakes, chunks, cores
fragments, abandoned macrocores, masses of smaller debris, and
occasionally, bifacial trimming debris and broken bifaces (Clark
1981).
It appears that the primary product of most quarry workshops
were large polyhedral cores also referred to as macrocores (Clark
1979). These cores were produced by carefully reducing high
quality raw obsidian with freehand -percussion into the proper size
and shape. The finished macrocore then was taken from the quarry
workshops to other locations where these cores were more
delicately worked using controlled pressure flaking to produce
hundreds of prismatic blades and the distinctive polyhedral core
(Crabtree 1968; Clark 1981).
Evidence of prismatic blade
production is rarely found at the quarry sites.
Instead,
prismatic blade workshops are more often associated with
habitation sites, close to where the fragile edged blades were
going to be used.
Some quarry workshops also appear to have produced bifacially
worked artifacts in addition to polyhedral cores and may contain
npmerous broken bifaces in various stages of completion as have
been noted at El Chayal (Coe and Flannery 1964) and the Paplhuapa
site near Ixtepeque (Graham and Heizer 1968).
The Esperanza Obsidian Source
In 1982 Ann Chapman reported large concentrations of worked and
unworked obsidian in the low mountains near Quiaterique 4 km.
northwest of the town of La Esperanza. Reconnaissance by members
of the Proyecto Arqueologico El Cajon revisited this area with the
intent of documenting natural outcrops of obsidian and any
associated workshop debris which might be located in this zone.
Because of time limitations we focussed specifically on the
irregular ridgetop between Cerro El Cedral and the small
residencia of El Zacatal (Figure 2).
Seven locales were
identified which contained evidence for either obsidian quarrying
and/or manufacture.
Small obsidian nodules can be readily observed on the road and
in the small barrancas descending the flanks of this mountain for
2 km between the communities of Quiaterique and the north slope of
Cerro El Cedral (Photo 1).
Local 1 was the first area located on
the north side of Cerro El Cedral which clearly showed evidence
for workshop activity.
It is a moderately dense scatter of both
worked and unworked obsidian nodules which covers an area slightly
more than 1 hectare in size.
The unworked obsidian ranged in size
frdm small nodules 5-10 cm. in diameter to a small boulder
weighing between 100-150 kg (Photo 2).
Obsidian debitage
identified here varied in form. Macroflakes and perCussion blades
were collected with and without the rough external cortex of the
natural rock. There was an abundance of small flakes and small
cores in this locale as well as a few brokers bifaces.
The
obsidian from this locale, like all of those investigated had a
slightly grainy texture, was hazy or banded, and was a grey color
with a brownish tint. Although the whole area seems to have been
used at one time or another for working obsidian, concentrations
of debitage are not dense enough to be classified as specialized
workshops. Rather, it appears as if the abundant nodular
obsidian, eroding down the hillside, was recovered and worked into
rough cores and bifaces by a few indíviduals over time.
Locale 2 was located on the north slope of Cerro El Cedral and
may be a continuation of the first locale.
This locale consists
of mixed associations of unworked obsidian nodules and
miscellaneous debitage which covers an area of approximately 5
hectares. Debris was encountered up to and just below the top of
this ridge. Debitage consisted mostly of large and small
macroflakes, macroblades, crude flake cores and several biface
fragments. There was no evidence of mining, quarrying or
concentrated workshops on this slope.
Locale 3 was located in several fields on the top of the rídge
which had been cleared and planted in corn and cabbage. Small
ül Worked oósidi2o miul ufth 110 bmibi
Ityhtib
sherds were scattered across a 2-3 hectare area.
Unworked
obsidian nodules were not observed in this area.
The density of
obsidian debitage was less than in either of the other two locales
although it was evident from the quantity of obsidian along the
field borders that farmers had been clearing their fields of the
larger pieces of obsidian for some time. Worked obsidian
recovered in this locale included prismatic blades fragments,
percussion blades, small percussion flakes, unifacial tools,
flakes, a few bifaces and one small core. This locale may be a
workshop-habitation area.
Locale 4 was located in a grassy meadow 250 m. south of Locale
3. A small mound of obsidian debitage 9 m2 in area and 50 cm.
high was identified alongside a shallow depression which appeared
to be the remains of a small open-pit mine. Probing the mound
with a machete demonstrated that it was a solid mass of flakesánd
not just a veneer of debitage over a pile of earth. All of the
obsidian appeared to be the result of reducing raw nodules down
into rough cores. This debitage consisted of decortification
flakes, macroblades, macroflakes, and various smaller trimming
debris. No bifacial trimming flakes, prismatic blades or
o
polyhedral cores were mixed in with this debris.
It appears that
the depression is the eroded remains of a pitmine excavated to
reach an obsidian outcrop at some indeterminant depth below the
surface. Obsidian quarried from the mine was subsequently worked
V
in the area leaving behind debitage from the initial reduction
events. The areal extent of the workshop zone could not be
determined because of the thick grass cover in this locale.
Locale 5 is know locally as "Los Hoyos" and was the most
intensive area of prehispanic quarrying and workshop activity
located during the survey. Los Hoyos is located on an elevated
crest approximately 10 m. aboye the rest of the explored
ridgeline. The terrain in this area is uneven and hummucky and
the entire locale is covered by large trees 15-20 m. tall mixed
with thick underbrush. According to an elderly informant the area
has not been used for agriculture during the pass 60 years.
Modern residents avoid the area for fear of falling into one of
the many vertical shafts located here, many of which are covered
over by a thin covering of recent humus varying between 20-30 cm.
in thickness.
Paths leading up to Los Hoyos were covered by thousands of tiny
obsidian flakes which became a solid mat of debitage by the tiye
the survey team reached the first of the "hoyos". Between 30-40
vertical pits are still visible in this area; we did not try to
count all the hoyos and piles of debitage in this area because of
the poor visibility and real danger of falling into one of the
overgrown shafts. It appears, however, that intensive mining and
1C
workshops activity covered slightly more than 1 full hectare.
Some of these holes are clearly exposed while others are choked
with undergrowth and difficult to discern or are partially
collapsed leaving shallow, but relatively wide, shallow
depressions.
Exposed shafts varied between 1.0-.5 m. in diameter
with'vertical walls which could be observed to descent at least
4-5 m (Photo 3).
In no instances could we observe the bottom of
the shafts but local informants believe that they average between
15-20 m. ín depth.
The sides of the exposed shafts are better
preserved than one would expect precolumbian mines to be. It is
important to remember, however, that the prehispanic mines often
appear to be more recent than they are. Tylor - s visit to the
famous Mexican prehispanic obsidian mines at Pachuca in 1856 and
Holmes - visit in 1899 left both explorers with the impression that
the mines seemed relatively recent. Holmes - impression of the
Pachuca obsidian mines was nearly identical to that which we
observed at Los Hoyos:
"Reaching the site, we found the broad ridge covered with
open pine forest, in places overgrown with tall grass, and,
on the steeper parts, with underbrush. Everywhere were
scattered fragments of obsidian, and presently we carne upon
groupings of mounds alternative with depressions and pits
extending indefinitely up the forest covered ridge. We were
cautioned by our guides to beware of the pits, as they were
scattered everywhere through the glades and were hidden by °
This caution was indeed necessary at first, butrankgs.
we soon learned to recognize the various features of the
site. The pits and depressions are the ancient mines, while
the hillocks are the heaps and ridges of debris thrown out of
(Holmes 1900:408)
them."
.12
Holmes goes on to say:
Notwithstanding the fact that more than four hundred years
have passed since active operations in these mines were
suspended, evidences of work are perfectly distinct, and the
pittings and their accompanying ridges of debris are as
pronounced in outline as if they had been made by ten years
ago." (Holmes 1900:409).
-
At Los Hoyos each hole vas surrounded by a thick layer or low
mound of obsidian debitage consisting mainly of decortification
flakes, macroflakes, macroblades, small cores, a few unmodífied
obsidian nodules (Photo 4). One large crudely flaked biface was
also observed. Not present among the debitage are large obsidian
blade cores, prismatic blades or finished blade tools. Like
obsidian quarries elsewhere in Mesoamerica, production activities
at Los Hoyos appear restricted to testing the quality of the
material and working the obsidian into rough forms before
transporting it elsewhere.
Locale 6 was located in a cleared field on the eastern slope
below the ridgetop approximately 250 m. north of Los Hoyos. This
is a
m2
small scatter of obsidian debitage covering between 500-700
No
evidence for subsurface mining was observed and obsidian
debitage recovered in this locale consisted mostly of large and
small percussion flakes. The area appears to be a secondary area
of obsidian tool manufacture resembling that of locales 1-3.
Locale 7 is an obsidian outcrop located on the southeastern
slope of Cerro El Coyote 4.5 km northwest of the town of La
Esperanza—Intibuca. This area was located by members of the
Proyecto Arqueologico El Cajon in the fall of 1980 and was not
12
revisited during the 1983 reconnaissance.
1
Obsidian nodules and
chunks ranging in size from 15-40 cm were observed eroding down
the hillside which covered an area between 1-2 hectares in size.
Although no worked material was collected from this area the
southeastern summit of Cerro Coyote bears the local place name of
"Los Hoyos" and may contain a quarry-workshop area líke that
observed at Locale 5.
Subsequent reconnaissance is necessary to
evaluate this possibility.
Discussion
The results of the 1983 reconnaissance has clarified several
important aspects of the La Esperanza obsidian deposits.
Fírst it
has shown that there are extensive deposits of high quality
obsidian around the tocan of La Esperanza-Intibuca suitable for
producing all types of chipped stone artifacts.
Secondly, it has
established that these deposits were geologically accessible to
prehistoric populations which would have occupied the region;
obsidian nodules can be found in eroding into the small barrancas
and down the hillside of Cerro El Cedral and at least a portion of
the main geologic flow was accessible from the surface by shallow
pit mining. Finally, preliminary examination of the quarry
workshops reveals that obsidian was manufactured into a wide
variety of lithic tools including rough cores, bifaces unifacial
tools and polyhedral cores used to make prismatic blades.
The obsidian outcrop visited at Cerro El Cedral shares many of
the same characteristics observed at other outcrops in the
Guatemalan and Central Mexican source areas. The quarry
operations observed at Cerro El Cedral closely resemble those
observed at El Chayal and Pachuca where these is also evidence of
both excavated shallow pits and deep mine shafts. The workshop
debris found at Locales 4 and 5 as well as elsewhere at Cerro El
Cedral have the same characteristics of the workshops at such
important quarries as El Chayal l Ixtepeque
and °tumba (Clark 1979)
which include mounds of coarse and small debitage, abandoned cores
and broken and discarded biface fragments.
Finished artifacts are
rare at all quarry sites in Mesoamerica which, like locales 4 and
5 at Cerro El Cedral, were primarily loci for extracting raw
obsidian and preforming it into cores and bifaces. Prismatic
blades, bifaces and the artifacts manufacture from both would
usually be finished at other locations.
Most of these secondary
production locales were habitation sites which may be located
adjacent to the quarries like we find with Locale 3 or many
kilometers away from them.
While this reconnaissance has documented pre—Columbian
exploitation of obsidian in the La Esperanza source area further
research will be necessary before we can evaluate the significance
of these quarries and workshops for Central American archaeology.
Additional geological and archaeological reconnaissance will be
necessary in the La Esperanza area before the areal extent of this
source area can be established. Many additional obsidian outcrops
and quarries may be located in the 10-20 km2 area surrounding
Cerro El Cedral. As already noted there are other locations
called "Los Hoyos" around La Esperanza which might reveal similar,
or even more extensive, obsidian quarry—production areas than
observed at Locale 5.
Oree such place is the southeastern summit
of Cerro El Coyote located about Locale 7 and questioning local
informants suggested that there may be several more.
Regional archaeological
determine the extent
reconhaissance is also needed to
of secondary obsidian workshops which engaged
in working preformed artifacts removed from the principal quarries
or nodules recovered from alluvial deposits in barrancas. Ann
Chapman, for example, observed obsidian all along the road to
Azacualpa de Yamaranguila which included both worked and unworked
pieces (Chapman 1982). Furthermore we suspect that secondary
obsidian workshop areas may be found as far as 10 km east of
Esperanza—Intibuca (Figure 2). Preliminary survey by Ripley
Bullen and William Plowden located 4 ceramic and 10 aceramic sites
in this area and we wonder if many of their aceramic sites might
be small specialized locations for working obsidian dating to the
Classic and Postclassic periods rather than Archaic habitation
sites as previously
suggested (Bullen and Plowden 1963).
Knowing that obsidian deposits around La Esperanza were
exploited by prehistoric populations poses an even more difficult
sets of questions for archaeologists to answer. How important,
for example, was La Esperanza obsidian in structuring prehistoxic
exchange relationships in Honduras and how extensively was it
trade throughout eastern Guatemala and lower Central America?
Archaeologists can no longer assume that most of the obsidian
collected either at Copan or other sites in westcentral Honduras
came from quarries in the Guatemalan highlands. Recent analysis
11
of 25 pieces of obsidian from the El Cajon region in Central
Honduras suggest that fully 2/3rds of the obsidian entering the
area during the Late Classic period was from the La Esperanza
source area (Hirth 1983).
Esperanza obsidi an
The identification of 2 pieces of La
in Jaral
phase deposits at Los Naranjos
suggests that this material may have been extensively traded
throughout Honduras as early as 800 B.C. Furthermore, the
Esperanza obsidian source lies in an area without strong cultural
ties to the southeastern Maya. Will Esperanza obsidian be
identified in future chemical analysis at Copan, and if so what
will it indicate about the degree of the cultural interaction
between Maya/non-Maya groups along the southern frontier?
Future research will need to establish who had direct access to
the La Esperanza obsidian, how the mining activities were
organized and at what times in Honduran culture history the
quarries and workshops were actually in operation. It may be that
once these questions are answered the La Esperanza obsidian
deposits may prove to be the major obsidian source area for most
of lower Central America.
Footnotes
1. Locale 7 was visited in November 1980 by Dr. Dennis Coskren
and Arq. George Hasemann.
Information pertaining to the location
of this locale has been provided by Arq. Hasemann.
Bibliography
Baudez, Claude F. and Pierre Becquelin
1973
Archeologie de los Naranjos, Honduras. Etudes Mesoamericaínes, Vol.
II, Mission Archeologique et Ethologíque Francaise au Mexique, Mexico.
Bullen, Ripley P., and William W. Plowder, Jr.
1963 Preceramic Archaíc sites in the, highlands of Honduras. American
Antiquity, 28:382-385.
Canby, J. S.
1951
Possible chronological implications of the long ceramíc sequence
recovered at Yarumela, Spanísh Honduras. In S. Tax (ed.), The
Givílizations of Anciat America, klected faper5 of the 29th
Inter-
national Congress of Americanísts. Pp. 79-85.
Chapman, Anne
Informe on file at the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia.
1982
Clark, John E.
1979 A specialized obsidian quarry at Otumba, Mexico: Implications for the
study of Mesoamerican obsidian technology and trade. Lithic Technology, 8:46-49.
1981 Guatemalan obsidian sources and quarries: Addítional notes. Journal
of New World Archaeology, 6:1-15.
1982 Manufacture of Mesoamerican prismatic blades: An alternative technique.
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Coe, Michael D., and Kent V. Flannery
1964 The Pre-Columbian obsidian industry of El Chayal, Guatemala. Amerícan
Antiquity, 30:43-49.
Crabtree, Don E.
1968 Mesoamerícan polyhedral cores and prismatic blades. American Antiquity,
33:446-478.
Graham, John A., and Robert F. Heizer
Notes on the Papalhuapa site, Guatemala, Contributions, University of
1968
California Archaeological Research Facílity. 5:127-154.
Hirth, Kenneth G.
1983 Comercio Prehispanico y Intercambio Inter-regional en el Area de El
Cajon: Resultados Preliminares de los Analisis Tecnícos, Paper
prepared for the Segundo Seminario de Arqueologia Hondurena.
Holms, William H.
1900 The obsídian mines of Hidalgo. American Anthropologist, 2:405-416.
Kennedy, Nedenia C.
1981 The Formatíve Period Ceramic Sequence from Plaza de los Muertos,
Honduras. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology,
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Lunardi, F.
1948
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MacNeigh, Richard S., and Antoinette Nelken Terner
1983
The Preceramic of Mesoamerica.
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Journal of Field Archaeology, 10(1).:
Michels, Joseph W.
1975 El Chayal, Guatemala: A chronological and behavioral reassessment.
American Antiquity, 40:103-106.
Pires-Forrara, hrip W.
1976 Obsidian exchange ín Formative Mesoamerica. In The Early Mesoamerican
Village, edited by Kent V. Flannery. Academic Press, New York. Pp.
292-306.
Popenoe, D. H.
1934 Some excavations at Plaza de los Muertos, Ulua River, Honduras.
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Sheets, Payson
1975 A reassessment of the Precolumbian obsidian industry of El Chayal,
Guatemala. American Antiquity, 40:98-102.
Sidrys, Ramond, John Andreson, and Derek Marcucci
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del Rio Sulaco. Paper presented at the Segundo Seminario de
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List of Figures
Figure 1. Map of Western Honduras, Eastern Guatemala, and El Salvador:
tíreles --,
modern cities; triangles = archaeological sites;
squares =
obsídian source ateas,
figure Zi Mdp of La fsparlrin and vielnity.
ti
List of Photographs
Photo 1.
Localíty 1 at the base of Cerro el Cedral, showing obsidian in road
cut.
Photo 2.
Obsidian boulder observed at Cerro el Cedral.
long.
The compass ís 7 cm.
Photo 3. Mouth of obsidian mine at Los hoyos. Flashlight used as scale.
Photo 4.
Two macroblades collected from Los Hoyos.
RIBBE
Lake
Isabel
PLAYA DE LOS
MUERTOS
•
GUATEMALA
SALITRON
•
1,0S NARANJOS
COPÁll
JIL0TE rum
■
Lake
Atitlan
v¡Djg
CHAYAL
•GUATEMALA CITY
O
IXTEPEQUE
HONDURAS
LA ESPERANZAR
YARUMELA
•
TEGUCIGALPA•
• CHALCHUAPA
o EL SALVADOR
•SAN SALVADOR
QUELEPA•
CIFIC OCE
100 1cm
• Modern Cíty
Síte
■ Obsidian Source Area
• Archaeological
Figure 1. Western Honduras, Eastern Guatemala, and El Salvador.
x1937
Azocuolpo
\ de Yomaronguila
Hojos
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(A3 5
LOCALITY 7 Quioterique
,f/ ADA
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o
...LAGU4/4
Figure 2. La Esperanza and vicinity.
O
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O
Prehistoric Mines and ObSIdian Workshops at
La Esperanza-Intíbuca, Honduras
By
Jerrel Sorensen
Kenneth Hirth
Acknowledgements
Thís report would not have been possible without the advice and
assistance of Prof. Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle, Director of the Instituto
Hondurelo de Antropologia e Historia who granted permission to survey
the La Esperanza source area and provided access to Ann Chapman's (1982)
unpublíshed notes on obsidian frequencies throughout the region.
Prehistoric Mines and Obsidian Workshops at
La Esperanza-Intibuca, Honduras.
Jerrel Sorensen
Kenneth Hirth
1
In t roduction
In September
of
1983 three memberg of the Proyecto Arq ueologico
El Cajon conducted a brief geological reconnaissance of a 6 km2
area northwest of the town of La Esperanza in the Department of
Intibuca (Figure 1).
The purpose of this study was to locate and
describe obsidian deposíts originally reported in the region by
Lunardi (1948:20). Obsidian was an important resource used by
prehistoric groups to manufacture razor-sharp cutting implements.
Recent trace element studies have shown that obsidian tools from
sources in Central Mexico and Highland Guatemala were widely
traded throughout Mesoamerica as early as 1000 B.C. (PiresFerreira 1976).
Obsidian tools were required for cutting
implements in virtually all domestic households in Mesoamerica and
some authors have suggested that the centralizad control over the
manufacture and distribution of obsidian and other scarce
resources were critical variables in the emergence of stratified
societies among both the Olmec and Maya.
Archaeological explorations have identified that obsidian was
widely traded throughout Honduras at least as early as 700-900
B.C. Obsidian artifacts have been recovered in Early and Middle
Formative contexts at Copan (William Fash, personal
communication), Playa de los Muertos (Popenoe 1934; Kennedy 1981),
Los Naranjos
1951).
(Baudez and Becquelin 1973) and Yarumela (Ca .115,
Trace element analysis indicates that
obsidian was reaching the site of Los EaranjOS
phase between 800-400 B.C.
La Esperanza
during the Jaral
(Baudez and Becquelin 1973:362).
this information is correct, it means
that interregi onal
If
trade
routes existed during the Middle Formative and were capable of
moving obsidian at least 110 km. from its source.
Given the
importance of this commodity in the evolution of complex society
in Mesoamerica we were interested in determining the extent to
which centralized control of production and distribution may have
existed and effected the emergence of complex society in
southcentral Honduras.
The 1983 reconnaissance had three primary objectives: 1)
to
describe the nature, location, and extent of the obsidian
deposits; 2) to determine the intensity of its prehistoric
utilization; and, 3) to document the kinds of lithic technology
associated with these deposits. The remainder of this paper will
present the results obtained and discuss their significance in
terms of prehistoric cultural interaction.
The nature of Obsidian Source Areas, Quarries, and Workshops
A discussion of obsidian procurement at La Esperanza requires
that we first establish a terminology related to obsidian sources
and the production of chipped stone artifacts. An obsidian source
area is defined as a large area, up to several hundred square
kilometers in extent in which several deposits
of obsidian can be
found. These deposits may or may not have similar chemical
3
Some, none, or all of these deposits may have
characteristics.
been utilized by prehistoric populations. An outcrop is defined
as a single, well bounded geological location where there is a
concentration
oLs1J1An.
The 10C211011 úlong
ln
outcrop where
humans have extracted obsidian from its natural matrix is referred
to as
a
quarry.
An obsidian workshop
is ¿elinád
1. 2 location
where obsidian has been worked ) leaving behind a concentrated mass
of waste chippage, díscarded cores, and artifacts broken during
the manufacturing process. While workshops are often associated
with quarries they can occur anywhere that an artisan chooses to
produce artifacts.
There are three major obsidian source areas documented in
southeastern Mesoamerica: El Chayal, San Martin Jilotepeque and
Ixtepeque. All these source areas are in the highlands of
Guatemala and were extensively exploited by prehistoric
populations. The descriptions of the outcrops, quarries, and
workshops in these source areas show some interesting regularities
in form and content.
The El Chayal source area covers around 110 km2 and contains at
least seven outcrops. Two of these outcrops asear the villages of
El Chayal and La Joya were active prehispanic quarries (Sidrys et.
al.
1976:1).
The original description of the El Chayal quarry
provides a vivid picture of its prehistoric utilization:
"There is so much worked obsidian over the area that very
little soil can be seen. Exactly how deep these deposits are
has not been determined...but in some small mounds formed
entirely of large, crude flakes can be seen. At the summit
of one hill...the ancient inhabitants had dug several wide
pits to mine underground deposits of the material"
(Coe and Flannery 1964:43).
A more recent description of this same quarry provides more
details:
Four of the six workshops occur in this ridge and are visible
Since many other workshops were
from the main footpath.
El Chayal and on the hills
footpath
to
the
alon8
noted
surrounding the village, ou/4 map representa only 2
portion of the estire quarry area. Both worked and unworked
,
small
those areas
' where debitage was extremely dense, however, were considered
workshops. The largest obsidian nodules were 25-30 cm. in
1976:2).
diameter." (Sidrys et. al.
obsidian nodules cover most of the site; only
At the La Joya quarry obsidian occurs in the forra of nodules which
are approximately 15 cm. in diameter.
At La Joya obsidian
debitage was observed up to two meters thick in some 20—odd
workshop areas (Sidrys et. al.
1976:3) ..
The San Martin Jilotepeque source area is approximately 60 km2
in extent (Sidrys et. al. 1976:8-9).
There are five known
outcrops in this area including one near the village of Pachay
which shows evidence for having been quarried. The Pachay outcrop
has been surveyed and described by John Clark:
The outcrop covers the whole peak of the mountain just north
of Pachay. The obsidian deposit was not as thick here as at
La Joya. Pine trees and shrubbery also made viewing
difficult. I saw numerous cuts in the hillside made for the
footpath, pig pens, etc., which indicated that most of the
obsidian was sub—surface, approximately 40 to 50 centimeters.
An obsidian (workshop) deposit in the cut made for the
footpath appeared to be primary refuse. It was 50 cm. below
the surface of the ground and was 70 cm. thick - (Clark
1981:9).
The Ixtepeque source area is said to cover 300 km2 It contains
at least seven outcrops and numerous quarries (Sidrys et. al.
1976:6).
The obsidian nodules are embedded in a red clay matrix
and are reported to be somewhat larger than the obsidian nodules
at El Chayal.
Some of the lxtepeque nodules range in size between
40-60 cm. in diameter. Large workshops were encountered covering
6000 m2 where the debitage deposits were from 50-80 cm. in
thicluebb (drys
et. al. 1976:7) T
Mounds of waste debitage reported at major obsidian quarries
are from workshops
process.
associated
with the mining - manufacturin8
The debris indicate tliat
artifat
rrolepssing winin
these workshops was restricted to: 1) rough flaking to test the
quality of the obsidian, 2) reducing the volume and weight of good
quality obsidian by flaking off the unusable cortex and removing
flaws in the material, and 3) preliminary shaping of certain
artifacts like cores and bifaces which may be transported and
subsequently worked into finished form. All of the quarry
workshops in Guatemala are characterized by masses of coarse
debitage resulting from the initial stages of artifact
manufacture.
This debris consists of decortification flakes,
macroflakes, macroblades, smáll percussion flakes, chunks, cores
fragments, abandoned macrocores, masses of smaller debris, and
occasionally, bifacial trimming debris and broken bifaces (Clark
1981).
It appears that the primary product of most quarry workshops
were large polyhedral cores also referred to as macrocores (Clark
1979). These cores were produced by carefully reducing high
quality raw obsidian with freehand percussion into the proper size
and shape. The finished macrocore then was taken from the quarry
workshops to other locations where these cores were more
t
delicately
h
worked usina controlled pressure flaking to produce
hundreds of prismatic blades and the distinctive polyhedral core
(Crabtree 1968; Clark 1981). Evidence of prismatic blade
production is rarely found at the quarry sites.
p rima
Iiiiy workshops are
habitation sites, Glose to
Instead,
more often associated with
where the fragile edged blades were
going to be used.
Some quarry workshops also appear to have produced bifacially
worked artifacts in addition to polyhedral cores and may contain
npmerous broken bifaces in various stages of completion as have
been noted at El Chayal (Coe and Flannery 1964) and the Paplhuapa
site near Ixtepeque (Graham and Heizer 1968).
The Esperanza Obsidian Source
In 1982 Ann Chapman reported large concentrations of worked and
unworked obsidian in the low mountains near Quiaterique
4 km.
northwest of the tocan of La Esperanza. Reconnaissance by members
of the Proyecto Arqueologico El Cajon revisited this area with the
intent of documenting natural outcrops of obsidian and any
associated workshop debris which might be located in this zone.
Because of time limitations ve focussed specifically on the
irregular ridgetop between Cerro El Cedral and the small
residencia of El Zacatal (Figure 2).
Seven locales were
identified which contained evidence for either obsidian quarrying
and/or manufacture.
Small obsidian nodules can be readily observed on the road and
7
in
Z
the
small barrancas descendinb
tne flanks of this mountain for
111 between the communities of Quiaterique and the north slope of
Local 1 was the first area located on
Cerro El Cedral (Photo 1).
thenorthsideofCerronCedrallwhich clearly showed evidence
for workshop activity.
worked
It
is a moderately dense scatter of both
and unworked ohldian
nodules which covers an area slightly
more than 1 hectare in size. The unworked
obsidian ranged in size
fróm small nodules 5-10 cm. in diameter to a small boulder
weighing between 100-150 kg (Photo 2).
Obsidian debitage
identified here varied in form. Macroflakes and percussion blades
were collected with and without the rough external cortex of the
natural rock. There was an abundance of small flakes and small
cores in this locale as well as a few brokers bifaces.
The
obsidian from this locale, like all of those investigated had a
slightly grainy texture, was hazy or banded, and was a grey color
with a brownish tint. Although the whole area seems to have been
used at one time or another for working obsidian, concentrations
of debitage are not dense enough to be classified as specialized
workshops. Rather, it appears as if the abundant nodular
obsidian, eroding down the hillside, was recovered and worked into
rough cores and bifaces by a few individuals over time.
Locale 2 was located on the north slope of Cerro El Cedral and
may be a continuation of the first locale.
This locale consists
of mixed associations of unworked obsidian nodules and
miscellaneous debitage which covers an area of approximately 5
hectares. Debris was encountered up to and just below the top of
this ridge. Debitage consisted mostly of large and small
F‘_
macroflakes, macroblades, crude flake
truumonu. Rue Wn no CYAGIiii
cores and several biface
yf mininu luarrying or
concentrated workshops on this slope.
Locale 3 was located in several fields on the top of the rídge
which had been cleared and planted in corn and cabbage. Small
concentratíons of
wórked obsidian inixed with red banded
ceramic
sherds were scattered across a 2-3 hectare area. Unworked
obsidian nodules were not observed in this area. The density of
obsidian debitage was less than in either of the other two locales
although it was evident from the quantity of obsidian along the
field borders that farmers had been clearing their fields of the
larger pieces of obsidian for some time. Worked obsidian
recovered in this locale included prismatic blades fragments,
percussion blades, small percussion flakes, unifacial tools,
flakes, a few bifaces and one small core. This locale may be a
workshop-habitation area.
Locale 4 was located in a grassy meadow 250 m. south of Locale
3. A small mound of obsidian debitage 9 m2 in area and 50 cm.
high was identified alongside a shallow depression which appeared
to be the remains of a small open-pit mine. Probing the mound
with a machete demonstrated that it was a solid mass of flakesánd
not just a veneer of debitage over a pile of earth. All of the
obsidian appeared to be the result of reducing raw nodules down
into rough cores. This debitage consisted of decortification
flakes, macroblades, macroflakes, and various smaller trimming
debris. No bifacial trimming flakes, prismatic blades or
9
polyhedral cores were mixed in with this debris.
It appears that
the depression is the eroded remains of a pitmine excavated to
reach an obsidian outcrop at some indeterminant depth below the
surface. Obsidian quarried from the mine was subsequently workeá
in the area leaving behind debitage from the initial reduction
events.
The areal extent of the workshop zone could not be
determined because of the thick grass cover in this locale.
Locale 5 is know locally as "Los Hoyos" and was the most
intensive area of prehispanic quarrying and workshop activity
located during the survey. Los Hoyos is located on an elevated
crest approximately 10 m. aboye the rest of the explored
ridgeline. The terrain in this area is uneven and hummucky and
the entire locale is covered by large trees 15-20 m. tall mixed
with thick underbrush. According to an elderly informant the area
has not been used for agriculture during the past 60 years.
Modern residents avoid the area for fear of failing into one of
the many vertical shafts located here, many of which are covered
over by a thin covering of recent humus varying between 20-30 cm.
in thickness.
Paths leading up to Los Hoyos were covered by thousands of tiny
obsidian flakes which became a solid mat of debitage by the tiwe
the survey team reached the first of the "hoyos". Between 30-40
vertical pits are still visible in this area; we did not try to
count all the hoyos and piles of debitage in this area because of
the poor visibility and real danger of falling into one of the
overgrown shafts. It appears, however, that intensive mining and
10
uoricliopc Jctivily covvrú ill#Dtly more Inan 1 11111
Some of these holes are clearly exposed while others are choked
11
with undergrowth and difficult to discern or are partially
collapsed leaving shallow, but relatively wide, shallow
depressions.
Exposed shafts varied between 1.0-.5 m. in diameter
with'vertical walls which could be observed to descent at least
In no instances could we observe the bottom of
4-5 m (Photo 3).
the shafts but local informants believe that they average between
15-20 m. in depth.
The sides of the exposed shafts are better
preserved than one would expect precolumbian mines to be. It is
important to remember, however, that the prehispanic mines often
appear to be more recent than they are. Tylor's visit to the
famous Mexican prehispanic obsidian mines at Pachuca in 1856 and
Holmes' visit in
1899
left both explorers with the impression that
the mines seemed relatively recent. Holmes' impression of the
Pachuca obsidian mines was nearly identical to that which we
observed at Los Hoyos:
"Reaching the site, we found the broad ridge covered with
open pine forest, in places overgrown with tall grass, and,
on the steeper parts, with underbrush. Everywhere were
scattered fragments of obsidian, and presently we came upon
groupings of mounds alternative with depressions and píts
extending indefinitely up the forest covered ridge. We were
cautioned by our guides to beware of the pits, as they were
scattered everywhere through the glades and were hidden by 4'
rank grass. This caution was indeed necessary at first, but
we soon learned to recognize the various features of the
site. The pits and depressions are the ancient mines, while
the hillocks are the heaps and ridges of debris thrown out of
them."
(Holmes 1900:408)
Holmes goes on to say:
Notwithstanding the fact that more than four hundred years
have ¡assed since active operations in these mines were
-
/il!t, 2fld
dis
suspended, evidences of work are per!ectly
their accompar7ing ridges of debris are as
Elle
pittingb aud
pronounced in outline as if they had been nade by ten years
ti
aso." (Holmes 1900:409).
At Los Hoyos each hole s'
surround ed by a thick layer o r low
mound of obsidían debitage consisting mainly of decortification
flakes, macroflakes, macroblades, small cores, a few unmodífied
obsidian nodules (Photo 4). One large crudely flaked biface was
also observed.
Not present among the debitage are large obsidian
blade cores, prismatic blades or finished blade tools. Like
obsidian quarries elsewhere in Mesoamerica, production activities
at Los Hoyos appear restricted to testing the quality of the
material and working the obsidian into rough forms before
transporting it elsewhere.
Locale 6 was located in a cleared field on the eastern slope
below the ridgetop approximately 250 m. north of Los Hoyos. This
is a small scatter of obsidian debitage covering between 500-700
2 No evidence for subsurface mining was observed and obsidian
debitage recovered in this locale consisted mostly of large and
small percussion flakes. The area appears to be a secondary area
of obsidian tool manufacture resembling that of locales 1-3.
Locale 7 is an obsidian outcrop located on the southeastern
slope of Cerro El Coyote 4.5 km northwest of the town of La
Esperanza—Intibuca. This area was located by members of the
Proyecto Arqueologico El Cajon in the fall of 1980 and was not
2
revisited during the 1983 reconnaissance.
cbunks rfingin£ in size from 15 - 40 cm
the hillsicle which
1
Obsidian nodules and
were observed eroding down
tove red an area between 1-2 h_ectares
in size.
Although no worked material was collected from this area the
southeastern summit of
Cerro Coyote bears the local
place narre of
"Los Hoyos" and may contain a quarry-workshop area like that
obselmi
nt Lonl@
J.
51,1115n unt
íiionnaissance is necessary to
evaluate this possibility.
Discussion
The results of the 1983 reconnaissance has clarified several
important aspects of the La Esperanza obsidian deposits. First it
has shown that there are extensive deposits of high quality
obsidian around the tocan of La Esperanza-Intibuca suitable for'
producing all types of chipped stone artifacts.
Secondly, it has
established that these deposits were geologically accessible to
prehistoric populations which would have occupied the region;
obsidian nodules can be found in eroding into the small barrancas
and down
the hillside of Cerro El Cedral and at least a portion of
the main geologic flow was accessible from the surface by shallow
pit mining. Finally, preliminary examination of the quarry
workshops reveals that obsidian was manufactured into a wide
variety of lithic tools including rough cores, bifaces unifacial
tools and polyhedral cores used to make prismatic blades.
The obsidian outcrop visited at Cerro El Cedral shares many of
the same characteristics observed at other outcrops in the
Guatemalan and Central Mexican source areas. The quarry
13
operations observed at Cerro El Cedral closely resemble those
observed at El Chayal and Pachuca where these is also evicience of
both excavated shallow pits and deep mine shafts. The workshop
debris found at Locales 4 and 5 as well as elsewhere at Cerro El
Cedral have the same characteristics of the
workshops at such
important quarries as El Chayal, Ixtepeque and Otumba (Clark 1979)
which include mounds of coarse and small debitage, abandoned cores
and broken and discarded biface fragments.
Finished artifacts are
rare at all quarry sites in Mesoamerica which, like locales 4 and
5 at Cerro El Cedral, were primarily loci for extracting raw
obsidian and preforming it into cores and bifaces. Prismatic
blades, bifaces and the artifacts manufacture from both would
usually be finished at other locations. Most of these secondary
production locales were habitation sites which may be located
adjacent to the quarries like we find with Locale 3 or many
kilometers away from them.
While this reconnaissance has documented pre-Columbian
exploitation of obsidian in the La Esperanza source area further
research will be necessary before we can evaluate the significance
of these quarries and workshops for Central American archaeology.
Additional geological and archaeological reconnaissance will be
necessary in the La Esperanza area before the areal extent of this
source area can be established. Many additional obsidian outcrops
and quarries may be located in the 10-20 km2 area surrounding
Cerro El Cedral. As already noted there are other locations
called "Los Hoyos" around La Esperanza which might reveal similar,
or even more extensive, obsidian quarry-production areas than
observed at Locale 5.
One such place is the southeastern summit
of Cerro El Coyote located about Locale 7 and questioning local
informants suggested that there may be several more.
Regional archaeological reconhaissance is also needed to
determine
the extent of secondary obsidian workshops which engaged
in uorkin preformed arIlíiiii
removed from the principal quarries
or nodules recovered from alluvial deposits in barrancas. Ann
Chapman, for example, observed obsidian all along the road to
Azacualpa de Yamaranguila which included both worked and unworked
pieces (Chapman 1982). Furthermore we suspect that secondary
obsidian workshop areas may be found as far as 10 km east of
Esperanza—Intibuca (Figure 2). Preliminary survey by Ripley
Bullen and William Plowden located 4 ceramic and 10 aceramic sites
in thís area and we wonder if many of their aceramic sites might
be small specialized locations for working obsidian dating to the
Classic and Postclassic periods rather than Archaic habitation
sites as previously suggested (Bullen and Plowden 1963).
Knowing that obsidian deposits around La Esperanza were
exploited by prehistoric populations poses an even more difficult
sets of questions for archaeologists to answer. How important,
for example, was La Esperanza obsidian in structuring prehistozic
exchange relationships in Honduras and how extensively was it
trade throughout eastern Guatemala and lower Central America?
Archaeologists can no longer assume that most of the obsidian
collected either at Copan or other sites in westcentral Honduras
carne from quarries in the Guatemalan highlands. Recent analysis
15
of 25 pieces of obsidian from the El Cajon region in
Honduras suggest that fully 2/3rds of the obsidian
Central
entering the
area during the Late Classic period was from die La PsperáMl
source area (Hirth 1983).
The identification of 2 pieces of La
Esperanza obsidian in Jar -:al
phase deposits at Los Naranjos
suggésts that this material may have been extensively traáeci
throughout Honduras as early as
800 B.C. Furthermore,
the
Esperanza obsidian source lies in an area without strong cultural
ties to the southeastern Maya. Will Esperanza obsidian be
identified in future chemical analysis at Copan, and if so what
will it indicate about the degree of the cultural interaction
between Maya/non-Maya groups along the southern frontier?
Future research will need to establish who had direct access to
the La Esperanza obsidian, how the mining activities were
organized and at what times in Honduran culture history the
quarries and workshops were actually in operation. It may be that
once these questions are answered the La Esperanza obsidian
deposits may prove to be the major obsidian source area for most
of lower Central America.
Footnotes
1. Locale 7 was visited in November 1980 by Dr. Dennis Coskren
and Arq. George Hasemann.
Information pertaining to the location
of this locale has been provided by Arq. Hasemann.
Bibliography
Baudez, Claude F. and Pierre Becquelin
1973
Archeologie de los Naranjos, Honduras. Etudes Mesoamericaines, Vol.
II, Mission Archeologique et Ethologique Francaise au Mexique, Mexico.
Bullen, Ripley P., and William W. Plowder, Jr.
1963 Preceramic Archaic sites in the highlands of Honduras. Ámerican
Antiquity, 28:382-385.
Canby, J. S.
1051 PoneíblD Ihronologies1 lullutions of tne long mon Seque ce
recovered at Yarumela, Spanish Honduras. In S. Tax (ed.), The
Civílizations of Ancient America, Selected Papers of the 29th International Congress of Americanists. Pp. 79-85.
Chapman, Anne
1982
Informe on file at the Instituto Hondurerio de Antropologia e Historia.
Clark, John E.
1979 A specíalized obsidian quarry at Otumba, Mexico: Implications for the
study of Mesoamerican obsidian technology and trade. Lithic Technology, 8:46-49.
1981 Guatemalan obsidian sources and quarries: Additional notes. Journal
of New World Archaeology, 6:1-15.
1982 Manufacture of Mesoamerican prismatic blades: An alternative technique.
American Antiquity, 47:355-376.
Coe, Michael D., and Kent V. Flannery
1964 The Pre-Columbian obsidian industry of El Chayal, Guatemala. American
Antiquíty, 30:43-49.
Crabtree, Don E.
1968 Mesoamerícan polyhedral cores and prismatic blades. American Antiquity,
33:446-478.
Graham, John A., and Robert F. Heízer
Notes on the Papalhuapa site, Guatemala. Contributions, University of
1968
California Archaeological Research Facility. 5:127-154.
Hírth, Kenneth G.
1983 Comercio Prehispanico y Intercambio Inter-regional en el Area de El
Cajon: Resultados Preliminares de los Analisis Tecnicos. Paper
prepared for the Segundo Seminario de Arqueología Hondurena.
Holms, William H.
The obsidian mines of Hidalgo. American Anthropologist, 2:405-416.
1900
Kennedy, Nedenia C.
1981 The Formative Period Ceramic Sequence from Plaza de los Muertos,
Honduras. Unpublíshed Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology,
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Lunardi, F.
1948
Honduras Maya: Ethnologia y Arqueología
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Honduras. Tegucigalpa,
Honduras.
MacNeish, Richard S., and Antoinette Penen Terner
1983
Journal of Field Archaeology, 10(1).:
The Preceramic of Mesoamerica.
71-84.
Michels, Joseph W.
1975
a
lAtionnnawnnt
El Chayal, Guatemala: A chronol ogical andillf
Denavloral reassesswenL.
American Antiquíty, 40:103-106.
'
Pires-Ferreira, Jane W.
1976 Obsidian exchange in Formative Mesoamerica. In The Early Mesoamerican
?Illa g e, edlted by Venl V.
Plállm. Amlumie YrAg, 1\tv Torki
292-306.
Popenoe, D. H.
1934
Some excavations at Plaza de los Muertos, Ulua River, Honduras.
109DUTP4, 1:6101.
Sheets, Payson
1975 A reassessment of the Precolumbían obsidian industry of El Chayal, •
Guatemala. American Antiquíty, 40:98-102.
Sidrys, Ramond, John Andreson, and Derek Marcucci
1976 Obsídian sources in the Maya area.
Journal of New World Archaeology,
1:1-15.
Sorensen, Jerrel H.
1983 Observaciones preliminares sobre los artefactos liticos en el Valle
del Rio Sulaco. Paper presented at the Segundo Seminario de
Arqueología Hondurena, Tequcígulpa.
List of Figures
Fibure 1.
Na of Western Honduras, Eastern Guatemala, and El Salvador:
circles = modern cities; triangles = archaeol4 ogical sita!
squares = obsidian source areas.
Figure 2. Map of La Esperanza and vicinity.
Lis t
01.1111pinál
Photo 1.
Locality 1 at the base of Cerro el Cedral, showing obsidian in road
cut.
Photo 2.
Obsidian boulder observed at Cerro el Cedral. The compass is 7 cm.
long.
Photo 3.
Mouth of obsidian mine at Los hoyos. Flashlight used as scale.
Photo 4.
Two macroblades collected from Los Hoyos.
Lake
Isabel
PLAYA DE LOS
MUERTOS
•
GUATEMALA
LOS NARANJOS
COPAN
JILOTEPEQUE
■
Lake
Atitlan
SALITRON VIEJO
•
gEL CHAYAL
'GUATEMALA CITY
O
IXTEPEQUE
HONDURAS
LA ESPERANZAS
A CHALCHUAPA
YARUMELA
•
TEGUCIGALPA'
0EL SALVADOR
PACIFIC OCE
'SAN SALVADOR
QUELEPA •
C171ESeffimigla
100 km
0
Modern City
A Archaeological Síte
■ Obsidian Source Area
Figure 1. Western . Honduras, Eastern Guatemala, and El Salvador.
sr—D
•
o
5
1 Ocm