Obsidian in the Late-Inka Period of Antofagasta de la Sierra (Southern Argentinean Puna): basin bottom <i>versus</i> intermediate sectors?

Abstract

This paper provides information about the circulation of different varieties of obsidian in the Antofagasta de la Sierra micro-region in order to begin to evaluate some proposals about Late-Inka societies social and political organization aspects. In order to do this, geochemical analysis on obsidian samples from archaeological sites located in different microenvironments of the basin, specifically its bottom and intermediate sectors, were carried out. The results obtained are not conclusive about the existence or not of any control over the circulation of this resource by the elites located on the bottom of basin. However, in light of numerous precedents, it is possible to suggest that late local societies of Antofagasta, including the pastoral families of the intermediate sectors, kept in use long distance trade mechanisms and criteria that had a long historical trajectory. This first approach raises the need to further deepen not only in the geochemical aspects, but also in the technological ones, in order to advance in the understanding of the various practices involved in obsidian circulation in the basin’s socio-political network post ca. 1100 years BP.