Society for American Archaeology

Locating the Quispisisa Obsidian Source in the Department of Ayacucho, PeruAuthor(s): Richard L. Burger and Michael D. GlascockSource: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Sep., 2000), pp. 258-268Published by: Society for American ArchaeologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/972177 .

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In 1999, the Quispisisa source of obsidian was located in the Province of Huanca Sancos in central Ayacucho near the village of Sacsamarca. This discovery has been confirmed at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) by comparing the neautron activation analyses of source samples with artifacts. The Quispisisa source of volcanic glass provided the raw mate- rialfor most of the obsidian artifacts utilized in central and northern Peru throughout prehispanic times.

En 1999, se ubico la fuente geologica de obsidiana Quispisisa en la provincia de Huanca Sancos en la parte central de Ayacu- cho, cerca del pueblo de Sacsamarca. Esta identificacion ha sido confirmada por analisis de NAA en la Universidad de Missouri, mediante la comparacion de muestras del yacimiento con artefactos de sitios arqueologicos. El yacimiento de obsidiana Quispi- sisa fue la fuente de materia prima para la mayoria de los artefactos de obsidiana en el area central y norte del Peru durante la e'poca prehispanica.

Richard L. Burger * Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Box 2081 18, 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520 Michael D. Glascock * Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211

Latin American Antiquity, 11(3), 2000, pp. 258-268 Copyright C) 2000 by the Society for American Archaeology

A lthough roughly a dozen geologic sources of obsidian were exploited in what is now Peru during prehispanic times, three major

sources were preeminent (Figure 1): the Quispisisa source in Ayacucho, the Alca source in Arequipa (Burger et al. 1 998b), and the Chivay source in Are- quipa (Burger et al. 1998a). The broad patterns of Central Andean obsidian exchange have been known since the 1970s (Burger and Asaro 1977), but it is only in recent years that these major geological sources of the obsidian artifacts have been located. This development has been facilitated by the return of peaceful conditions conducive to fieldwork fol- lowing the defeat of Sendero Luminoso by the Peru- vian government.

The distinctive chemical signature, referred to as Quispisisa, was originally identified on the basis of obsidian artifact analyses at Lawrence Berkeley Lab- oratory. It was observed that over 90% of the obsid- ian artifacts analyzed from sites in central and northern Peru could be identified as belonging to this group. Based on incorrect information, the source of this obsidian was believed to be located near the

town of San Genaro in the Province of Castrovir- reyna, Department of Huancavelica (Burger and Asaro 1979; Petersen 1970; Ravines 1971), and this assumption has become widespread in the archaeo- logical literature. However, explorations in the San Genaro area by the senior author and other colleagues were unable to confirm this putative location and, consequently, the search for the Quispisisa source shifted further south to Ayacucho where there were unpublished reports of secondary deposits of geo- logical obsidian in the Huanca Sancos area (Victor Falcon personal communication 1998; William Isbell personal communication 1999).

Encountering The Geological Source

In April 1999, the senior author, accompanied by archaeologist Jose Pinilla, traveled to the city of Ayacu- cho to gather additional information on reports of an obsidian source in the Huanca Sancos area, and then to travel to the area in question. Mining engineer, Blas Cardenas, and topographer, Teodoro de la Cruz, con- firmed that they had visited geological deposits of obsidian within the Province of Huanca Sancos, and

258

LOCATING 1 HE QUISPISISA OBSIDIAN SOURCE IN 1 HE DEPARTMENT OF AYACUCHO, PERU

Richard L. Burger and Michael D. Glascock

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REPORTS 259

0 20 40 80 120 160 200 km s . . . . e .

Figure 1. Map of southern Peru, showing the location of principal geological sources of obsidian utilized in prehispanic times. Drawing by Rosemary Volpe.

their description of red and red-streaked obsidian nod- ules as well as black obsidian matched what was known of artifactual obsidian from the Quispisisa source. However, there was a lack of consensus between them, and Blas Cardenas indicated that the source could be found 8 km northwest of the town of Huanca Sancos, while de la Cruz located it 6 km south- east of the village of Sacsamarca. Unfortunately, the prolonged rainy season made travel to the putative source area impossible until the following July.

Four months later, Burger traveled to the District of Huanca Sancos with archaeologist Bernadino Ojeda and chemist Guillermo Garcia. They stopped in the village of Putajasa to spend the night and entered into a discussion of obsidian with Justo Palomino, the husband of the restaurant owner and a native of Sacsamarca. He not only recognized the obsidian that they showed him, but offered to take them to its source, which he indicated was located

between Putajasa and Sacsamarca, several kilome- ters to the west of the dirt road connecting these two communities. OnJuly 5, 1999, the group traveledby car to Chuecopampa (4050 m asl), where they were able to observe two large piles of large obsidian nod- ules of varying hues that had been brought by burro from the geological source in order to transport them to Lima for sale to merchants involved in the tourist trade (Figure 2). During the ensuing two-hour trek across high grasslands and shallow ravines, low quantities of debris from obsidian preform or arti- fact production were seen scattered on the surface in several spots. Finally, the group arrived at a bluff overlooking the Rfo Urabamba, a tributary of the Rio Caracha, some 250 m below (Figure 3). Ihis area appears on the Carta Geografica as Cerro Hatun- rangra, but the obsidian outcrop is known locally as Queshqa, which, in the Quechua dialect of Ayacu- cho, means glass or other reflective matenal.

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260 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 1 1, No. 3, 2000]

s

Figure 2. Large obsidian nodules collected at the outcrop near Cerro Hatunrangra. Descending the Lsteep side of a vesicular rhyolitic

deposit, the group reached a large deposit of obsid- ian (approximately 378S3750 m asl) exposed by the river. The portion of the deposit that is visible has a thickness of at least 30 m and it displays horizontal flow banding due to the presence of layers of feldspar and quartz crystals within the dominant layers of volcanic glass (Figure 4). The entire area is covered with obsidian nodules of varying sizes, the larger of which exceed 30 cm on a side. The deposit appears to be the result of a lava flow and there is some indi- cation of po.ssible vertical stacking of multiple flows. At the deposit, the ground is covered with worked and unworked artifact-grade ob.sidian, as well as cob- bles brought from the nearby river for use as ham- merstones. Several obsidian preforms were ob.served. The quality of the obsidian is uniformly excellent and lacks flaws such a.s phenocry.sts or cracking. ln terms of the region's geological history, this obsidian outcrop is part of the Grupo Barroso, a for- mation dating to the end of the Upper Pliocene or the early Pleistocene (Castillo et al. 1993:12). Deposits of the Grupo Barroso extend to the areas surrounding Sacsamarca (15 km to the north) and Huanca Sancos (19 km to the north), so the possi- bility of additional obsidian outcrops cannot be ruled

out (Asociacion LAGESA ] 996:64, Hoja 28-n), nor can the presence downstream of obsidian cobbles in alluvial deposits be addressed without additional fieldwork. In reviewing the geological maps and satellite imagery of the area, Yale University geolo- gist Jay Ague suggested that the source of the lava flows could be a massive caldera some 30 km in diameter located to the south of the obsidian source area. This hypothesis requires testing in the field. Obsidian samples were collected at the outcrop near Cerro Hatunrangra and analyzed by Michael D. Glas- cock at MURR for comparison with the MURR data base of artifact composition from the Central Andes.

Analysis

Sample Preparation

Fifteen source samples from the Hatunrangra out- crop were analyzed by NAA in this study. All 15 were prepared for neutron activation analysis by first cleaning the surfaces using tap water and a tooth- brush. Acetone and ethyl alcohol were used to remove all identification markings made with ink and/or fingernail polish from the surfaces. The cleaned specimens were cut with a diamond-edged trim saw and gently reduced to smaller fragments of

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REPORTS 261

:-.A

564000 : t d

. .. ,,., , ,.: ,,.,,.,.,.-, . ........ ... ................ ........... { }

0 1 2 3 4 5 km I I I I I I (+) Provincial Capital

+ District Capital

@ Village

* Outcrop of Quispisisa Source Obsidian

t Unconfirmed Obsidian Deposit

E Above 4000 m

Figure 3. Location of the confirmed outcrop of Quispisisa source obsidian and the unconfirmed primary and secondary obsidian deposits nearby. Drawing by Rosemary Volpe.

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262 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 1 1, No. 3, 2000]

Figure 4. Outcrop of Quispisisa source of obsidian near Cerro Hatunrangra, Ayacucho. In the foreground is the hori- zontally banded deposit containing obsidian nodules; the overlying bluff of vesicular rhyolite is visible in the back- ground.

1>25 mg size using a clean ceramic mortar and pes- tle. Individual fragments were sorted under a mag- nifying glass to remove those with inclusions, crush fractures, or metallic streaks. Analytical samples were prepared for two separate irradiation proce- dures employed at MURR by weighing them and placing them into the polyethylene vials and quartz vials used for short and long irradiations, respec- tively. For the short irradiations, a 100 mg aliquot of fragments was used, and for long irradiations, a 250 mg aliquot of fragments was used. In both instances, sample weights were recorded to the nearest 0.01 mg. Along with the source samples, reference standards were similarly prepared from SRM-278 Obsidian Rock and SRM- 1 633a Fly Ash.

Irradiation and Measurement

Neutron activation analysis of obsidian at MURR involves one or two irradiations followed by one or three measurements, respectively, to measure between 6 and 27 elements. The first procedure employs a short irradiation in sequential fashion of the samples in polyethylene vials for five seconds in a neutron flux of 8 x 1013 n cm 2 s-l followed by a

25-minute decay and 12-minute count with a high- purity germanium (HPGe) detector. By measuring the emitted radioactive gamma rays and comparison to the standards, the concentrations of up to six ele- ments (i.e., Ba, Cl, Dy, K, Mn and Na) can be deter- mined. This short irradiation procedure at MURR is frequently called our abbreviated-NAA procedure and is satisfactory to determine sources for a large percentage of artifacts in most geographic regions. (See Glascock et al. [1994] for more information.)

The second procedure involves a long irradiation of the quartz vials in batches of approximately 30 unknowns along with standard reference materials for 70 hours in a neutron flux of 5 x 10'3 n cm 2 s-l, which is followed by a pair of measurements. The first count after long irradiation occurs one week after the end of irradiation for 2000 seconds and the second count takes place about four weeks later for three hours on each sample and standard. The long irradiation procedure enables measurement of seven elements during a first count: Ba La Lu, Nd, Sm, U, andYb; and 15 additional elements during the sec- ond count: Ce Co, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, Zn and Zr.

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Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Ranges of Element Concentrations in New Source Samples from Sacsamarca (Quispisisa) Analyzed at MURR.

- - - - - - -

REPORTS 263

Element

BA LA LU ND

SM U

YB CE CO

CS

EU FE HF

RB

SB SC

SR TA TB TH ZN ZR

CL DY K MN NA

Mean (ppm)

719.307 25.992 0.178

16.771 3.287

10.070 1.107

47.954 0.467

10.967 0.418

5626.033 3.249

174.691 1.294 1.362

162.981 1.173 0.279

19.487 33.148

153.057 362.647

1.55 1

39475.387 365.607

28355.947

St. Dev.

12.344 0.205 0.034 1.301 0.022 0.212 0.041 0.536 0.009

0.099

0.009

57.837 0.036 1.623 0.025 0.014

15.419 0.013 0.013 0.169 1.074 8.540

43.612 0.320

1898.700 3.380

238.024

% St. Dev.

1.716 0.789

19.017 7.759 0.684 2.108 3.729 1.118 1.990

0.907 2.213 1.028 1.107 0.929 1.934 1.028 9.460 1.148 4.732 0.866 3.241 5.580

12.026 20.601 4.810 0.925 0.839

No. Obs.

15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15

Minimum (ppm)

695.300 25.574 0.157

15.084 3.244

9.809 1.050

47.046 0.449

10.776 0.400

5534.900 3.184

172.250 1.252 1.343

133.030 1.154 0.260

19.214 31.560

140.920 280.400

0.975

36146.300 359.700

27934.300

Maximum(ppm)

734.400 26.311 0.295

19.172 3.317

10.466 1.172

48.721 0.480

11.105

0.435 5722.800

3.310 177.490

1.340 1.381

193.170 1.196 0.304

19.756 35.420

175.210 443.800

2.337 42198.900

369.950 28667.800

ANIDs of specimens included: QP1001 QP1002 QP1003 QP2004 QP2005 QP3001

QP1004 QP1005 QP2001 QP3002 QP3003 QP3004

QP2002 QP3005

QP2003

Results

The NAA data on 27 elements from the 15 source samples from the Cerro Hatunrangra outcrop near Sacsamarca are shown in Table 1. Table 2 provides the means and standard deviations of 30 obsidian arti- facts previously assigned to Quispisisa, and a com- parison of the two tables confirms that the two groups are chemically identical. A bivariate plot of Cs vs. Hf presented in Figure S illustrates the ease with which the Quispisisa source can be distinguished from other obsidian sources in Peru.

Discussion and Conclusions

The MURR analyses confirm that the Quispisisa source is located in central Ayacucho in the Province of Huanca Sancos, rather than 110 km to the north- west near San Genaro in the Province of Castrovir- reynea, Huancavelica. An important outcrop of the Quispisisa obsidian deposit has been located near Cerro Hatunrangra between the villages of Putajasa

and Sacsamarca, but future investigation to the north may encounter additional outcrops andlor secondary deposits of obsidian nodules in alluvial contexts. Unconfirmed reports suggest the possibility of mul- tiple outcrops scattered over 20 km or more (Figure 3), and more intensive geoarchaeological investiga- tions, such as carried out in Mesoamerica (Braswell and Glascock 1998; Glascocket al. 1998), are needed to evaluate this possibility.

The identiElcation of the geological source of Quispisisa obsidian has implications for Central Andean prehistory too numerous to detail here, but we will consider briefly the issues it raises for early Central Andean prehistory. The degree of mobility and the existence of trade networks for acquiring access to unevenly distributed goods during the Pre- ceramic has been the focus of much debate (e.g., MacNeish et al. 1975; Rick 1980), but because few goods could be used as an index of interregional or long-distance contact, much of this discussion per-

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Table 2. Means, Standard Deviations, and Ranges of Element Concentrations in Artifacts from Quispisisa Analyzed at MURR.

St. Dev. % St. Dev.

ANIDs of specimens included: RLB007 RLB008 RLB009 RLB015 RLB016 RLB017 RLB026 RLB027 RLB028 RLB034 RLB035 RLB036

s\v - t s\v - U s\ - v l l RT R()37 R T .R()77

264 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 11, No. 3, 2000]

Element

BA LA LU

ND

SM U

YB CE CO

CS

EU FE

HF RB SB SC

SR TA

TB TH ZN ZR

CL DY K MN NA

Mean (ppm)

735.120 27.773 0.250

18.089 3.375

11.643 1.171

50.533 0.489

11.025 0.430

5615.667 3.265

175.797 1.410 1.352

158.431 1.173 0.280

19.395 40.069

169.476 411.863

1.581 37037.193

363.011 28434.733

No. Obs.

30 30 30 29

30 30 30 30 30 30

30 30

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

30

Minimum (ppm)

699.900 26.762

0.151

14.230 3.167 9.779 1.039

48.518 0.451

10.659 0.376

5454.000 3.171

172.200 1.312 1.304

130.000 1.135 0.250

18.701 28.660

137.140 302.200

0.964 33434.400

329.100 26262.700

Maximum (ppm)

806.700 29.565

0.304 29.310

3.550 13.146

1.519

53.701 0.654

11.408 0.523

5994.600

3.388 182.200

1.526 1.398

222.700 1.250

0.358

20.051 74.200

214.910

757.700 2.224

42181.400

402.400 31303.800

23.275 0.651 0.052 3.386 0.107 0.970 0.098 1.206 0.043 0.198 0.024

111.149 0.068 2.648 0.059

0.020 23.472 0.027 0.021 0.326 7.995

18.212 102.842

0.295 2127.929

16.226 1231.559

3.166 2.343

20.672 18.719 3.177 8.327 8.350 2.386 8.826 1.793 5.473 1.979 2.075 1.506 4.161 1.481

14.815 2.272 7.465 1.679

19.954 10.746 24.970 18.647 5.745 4.470 4.331

RLBO10 RLBO18 RLB029

RLB01 1 RLB019 RLB030 RT sR()3R

RlB012

RlB022

RlB03 1

RLB013 RLB023 RLB032

RLBO 14 RLB025 RLB033

force has dealt with formal similarities in lithic style and how such resemblances should be interpreted. Inthe 1970s,TheAyacucho-HuantaArchaeological- Botanical Project, directed by Richard S. MacNeish, documented that obsidian was utilized occasionally for tools beginning with the Ayacucho Phase occu- pation, estimated by MacNeish et al. as spanning 13,000 BC to 11,000 B.C., and obsidian points, scrapers, and other artifacts continued to be pro- duced throughout the following phases of the Pre- ceramic in Ayacucho (e.g., Lurie 1983:Tables 3-7). An earlier study (Burger andAsaro 1978) determined that the raw material for the Ayacucho obsidian arti- facts had two chemical signatures (referred to in 1978 as Quispisisa and Ayacucho Type), and pre- sumably it was coming from two geologic sources. Only now can the significance of these results be more fully appreciated. Of the 66 artifacts analyzed,

12% came from Puzolana source (referred to as the Ayacucho Type in the 1978 study), which is found immediately south of the modern city of Ayacucho (Burger and Glascock 2000), 2u25 km from the four Preceramic sites at which the obsidian artifacts were encountered. Surprisingly, the remaining 88% of the artifacts analyzed were made of obsidian brought from the Quispisisa source, which now has been located some 120 km to the south.

These findings are fascinating for a number of rea- sons. First, they indicate that the major obsidian deposit near Sacsamarca was discovered by the early inhabitants of the Central Andes no later than 1 1,000 B.C. (calibrated 14C age). Given the rarity of obsid- ian sources, this implies that the hunters and gather- ers of the Central Andes already possessed a detailed knowledge of the natural resources of the high grass- lands and intermontane valleys of the Central Andes

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l | | | w r g | | E s s

I I , i

12

REPORTS 265

0

(2\ Andahuaylas \\ ) Type B o

Jampatilla

00

o

ur

D

n n

-

I

Alca

's+1

r

a)

o

4 6 2

8

10 14

Cs (ppm) Figure 5. Bivariate plot of Hafnium versus Cesium concentrations for obsidian sources in southern Peru with 95 % con- fildence ellipses surrounding each source group.

at this early date. This inference is paralleled by com- parable evidence of the exploitation of the Alca source of obsidian in the Cotahuasi Valley, Arequipa by 13,000 to 11,000 calibrated 14c years before pre- sent (Sandweiss et al. 1998).

A second interesting implication for earlyAndean prehistory is that the dwellers of the Ayacucho Val- ley between 11,000 and 2,000 B.C. acquired most of their obsidian from a source over a hundred kilo- meters to the south rather than from one that was located only twenty kilometers away. Apparently, the early residents of Ayacucho were not satisfied to use the locally available Puzolana source, which appears to include only small obsidian nodules usu- ally 3 cm or less in size, but instead found ways to procure obsidian from the more distant Quispisisa source, where nodules frequently exceed 30 cm on a side. A hundred kilometers is a considerable dis- tance, particularly when compared to the constrlcted seasonal rounds modeled by MacNeish (1983) for the early inhabitants of Ayacucho or the procure- ment zones modeled by Rick (1980) for the puna

inhabitants of Junin. Neither of these two models sug- gest territories with a radius exceeding 10 km. Clearly, acquisition of obsidian from the Quispisisa source would have required social networks span- ning the territories of several groups if direct access was not the means of exploitation. If trips to the geo- logic source were undertaken, it would suggest a sig- nificant degree of mobility. However, the relatively small quantities of obsidian present in each of the phases of the early Ayacucho sequence would seem to point to a down-the-line pattern of exchange rather than direct exploitation.

The Ayacucho situation does not appear to be anomalous. At two cave sites in Junin, Uchku- machay, and Telarmachay, excavations recovered obsidian, albeit in smaller quantities than encoun- tered by MacNeish in Ayacucho. At Uchkumachay, for example, at least one flake was recovered from levels cross-dated to the Piki/Jaywa phases of the Ayacucho sequence and others appeared in small quantities in the Late Preceramic layers (Pires-Fer- reira et al. 1976). In the San Pedro de Cajas area,

Andahuaylas Type A

D

ChivayR

Quispisisa

Y

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LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 1 1, No. 3, 2000] 266

* Quispisisa obsidian source

* Archaeological site with artifacts of Quispisisa source obsidian

X Archaeological site utilizing obsidian artifacts only from sources other than Quispisisa

Figure 6. Map illustrating the preeminence of the Quispisisa source obsidian at prehispanic archaeological sites in cen-

tral and northern Peru. Drawing by Rosemary Volpe.

some 35 km southeast of Pachamachay, Daniele Lavallee recovered obsidian debitage in levels VI and V inferior, dated to 9000-7200 B.P. and 6800-5700 B.P., respectively (Lavallee et al. 1995:47, 76). Similarly, DavidBrowman's survey in

the Jauja-Huancayo area found that the Preceramic population of that area used obsidian for projectile points during the middle and late Preceramic (Brow- man 1970:89; MacNeish et al. 1975:2). Thus far, only the obsidian artifacts from Uchkumachay have

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REPORTS 267

been analyzed (Burger and Asaro 1978:82), but all eight flakes from the Preceramic levels tested from this site proved to have come from the Quispisisa source, over 200 km to the south. It is likely that the other early Junin obsidian likewise came from this recently discovered source area. French archaeolo- gist Daniele Lavallee has commented for Telarma- chay that, "Its [obsidian's] presence even in minute quantities is very important from a culture perspec- tive because it proves the existence from the sixth millennium B.C. of contacts or interregional exchanges over long distances" (authors' translation) (Lavallee et al. 1995:76). Based on the recent iden- tification of the geologic source of the Quispisisa obsidian, we now know that the obsidian had been brought over long distances to the puna and valley sites in the Department of Junin. These small amounts of obsidian recovered in Preceramic cave contexts in Junin are consistent with the presence of down-the-line exchange linkages that transcended the limits of local procurement zones.

By the mid-Preceramic (approximately 4,000 B.C.), obsidian artifacts from the Quispisisa source appear 400 km away at the village site of Paloma in the Chilca Valley on Peru's central coast (Robert Benfer and Michael Glascock personal communi- cation; Quilter 1989:36-37) and, by the late Prece- ramic (approximately 2,500 B.C.), large quantities of Quispisisa obsidian were being procured by the south coast population at San Nicolas near the Nasca drainage (Burger and Asaro 1978; Strong 1957:10; Vescelius 1963). While these results do not fully con- form to the extensive, early long-distance trade net- works hypothesized by MacNeish and his colleagues (1975), neither do they fit comfortably with the model of highly circumscribed and isolated groups exemplified by Rick's study of Pachamachay in Junin (1980:332-333). The new obsidian data suggest the need for reevaluating these old models.

In later times, the intra- and inter-regional exchange of Quispisisa source obsidian increased as the transport of bulk items by llama caravans became widespread (Figure 6). While the procurement of obsidian from the Quispisisa source characterized the south-central highlands in which it was located, its acquisition by groups beyond this area fluctuated over time, reflecting changing political and cultural patterns (Burger and Asaro 1977). Long-distance exchange of Quispisisa obsidian was particularly noteworthy during the Chavin horizon (approxi-

mately 500 300 B.C.) when cultural and economic interaction flourished within the context of increased religious linkages between centers. During this time, Quispisisa obsidian replaced the locally available raw materials at Chavin de Huantar, despite being located some 590 km to the north of the source area (Burger et al. 1984). Small quantities of obsidian lithics made from the Quispisisa source obsidian were even encountered at the coeval center of Paco- pampa, 1,000 km from the Quispisisa deposit (Burger 1984). Similarly, the expansion of the Wari state and its influence during the Middle Horizon resulted in the appearance of Quispisisa in Moche V burials on Peru's north coast and at political and rit- ual centers in the adjacent northern highlands of Hua- machuco; both of these areas are nearly 800 km from the geologic source of the volcanic glass (Burger and Asaro 1979). With Inka expansion during the Late Horizon, less than a century before the Span- ish conquest, obsidian from Quispisisa was carried into the Montecristo drainage on the forested east- ern slopes of the Andes where centers like Gran Pajaten are located (Burger, Church, and Glascock, unpublished data).

In summary, the shifting patterns of obsidian pro- curement from the Quispisisa source provide impor- tant information on inter-regional and long-distance prehispanic interaction in the CentralAndes, and the belated identification of the geologic source of this material will greatly facilitate these analyses. Nev- ertheless, a detailed study of the full extent of the Quispisisa source area and an investigation there of the nature of prehistoric exploitation of the primary and secondary deposits of the volcanic glass are still urgently needed.

Acknowledgments: We are deeply grateful to those who have col- laborated on the trips in search of obsidian, especially Bernadino Ojeda, Jose Pinilla, Jose Ochatoma, and Guillermo Garcia, as well as to friends and colleagues who provided unpublished information that helped guide the project. We are also indebted to Jay Ague (Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale Uni- versity) for his insight into igneous deposits and to Ramiro Matos Mendieta (National Museum of the American Indian, Smith- sonian Institution) for his encouragement and assistance. Finally, we acknowledge financial support for the fieldwork from Yale University's Provostial Research Fund and funding for the lab- oratory analysis from the National Science Foundation Archaeometry Program Grant (SBR 9802366) to MURR. We also want to express our appreciation to Rosemary Volpe for creating the maps and to Sharon Rodriguez for assistance in the prepara- tion of the manuscript.

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Received March 20, 2000; accepted May 31, 2000; revised June 6, 2000.

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