PRELIMINARY SOURCING FOR OBSIDIAN DEBITAGE ASSOCIATED WITH EVIDENCE FOR METALLURGICAL ACTIVITY IN MANAGUA, NICARAGUA

Rocky Mountain - 55th Annual Meeting (May 7-9, 2003)
Paper No. 14-5

Presentation Time: 9:55 AM-10:10 AM
PRELIMINARY SOURCING FOR OBSIDIAN DEBITAGE ASSOCIATED WITH EVIDENCE FOR METALLURGICAL ACTIVITY IN MANAGUA, NICARAGUA
SIMMONS, E. Craig, AGGEN, Kerry L., EBERHART, Mark E., and FRAIKOR, Fred F., Department of Chemistry & Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, csimmons@mines.edu A suite of ~100 obsidian debitage fragments from the archaeological site of Ciudad Sandino, Managua, Nicaragua, previously linked to copper metallurgy (Aggen et al., 2000, GSA Abstr. With Progr., v.32, no.7, p.A424), were analyzed by ICP-MS for a suite of 26 major and trace elements in an effort to set limits upon their provenance. Preliminary analysis of this data is consistent with a local origin for virtually all of these obsidian fragments. This, combined with the fact that the splattered copper “droplets” occur on both fresh and weathered surfaces on the obsidian, suggest that both the obsidian and the copper metallurgical activity were local in origin.
Rocky Mountain - 55th Annual Meeting (May 7-9, 2003) General Information for this Meeting

Session No. 14 Relationships of Physical Systems to Archaeological Records and Prehistoric Cultures in the Four Corners Area Fort Lewis College: Noble Hall 125 8:30 AM-11:15 AM, Friday, May 9, 2003 Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 35, No. 5, April 2003, p. 40
© Copyright 2003 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.