%0 Book Section
%B Geochemical Evidence for Long-Distance Exchange
%D 2002
%T Long-Distance Obsidian Traffic in Northwestern Argentina
%A Yacobaccio, Hugo D. ,
%A Patricia S. Escola,
%A Marisa Lazzari,
%A Fernando X. Pereyra
%E Michael D. Glascock
%C Westport, CN
%I Bergin and Garvey
%P 167-203
%X Instrumental neutron activation analysis was used on a collection of geological and artifactual samples from NW Argentina to study archaeological sites located in several ecological environments throughout the region, and dated between 2200 BP to 400 BP. The results show that two out of the nine sources characterized supplied the 84% of all archaeological obsidian. The distribution patterns from these sources were quite stable both spatially and temporally, and suggest that the mechanisms for obsidian distribution were quite autonomous over time. The spatial and temporal stability of obsidian distribution is discussed as part of a more general traffic system of commodities associated with the onset of institutionalized caravan networks around 2500 years BP.