The Early Preclassic Obsidian Industry of Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, México

Abstract

This paper differs from previous descriptions of Mesoamerican obsidian in that a simple flake industry rather than a blade industry is reported. Flake industries have been noted in many parts of Mesoamerica for the Early Preclassic period (Boksenbaum, 1978: Cobean et al., 1971; Coe, 1961; Coe and Flannery, 1967; Ceja, 1978; Grove, 1971: 40; Green and Lowe, 1967; Lowe, 1975; :MasNeish et al., 1967; Niederberger, 1976; Pires-Ferreira, 1976: 309; Zeitland, 1978, 1979), but to date only one attempt has been made to describe these in detail (Boksenbaum, 1980). The purpose of this study is to present another description of an Early Preclassic flake industry. The descriptive format differs significantly from that recently proposed by Boksenbaum (1980) and follows instead the principles of behavioral typology (Collins, 1975; Sheets, 1975) in defining the obsidian industry. The obsidian industry is described in the first section. Following this descriptive section are brief discussions on techniques, as evidenced in the artifacts and an analysis of the imported obsidian commodities.