Obsidian in Early Woodland Contexts in the Upper Mississippi Valley
James B. Stoltman and Richard E. Hughes
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to report the occurrence of obsidian artifacts from Early Woodland contexts in southwestern Wisconsin. During 1995 excavations at the Tillmont site (47CR460), seven obsidian flakes were recovered from a deeply buried paleosol in association with a virtually "pure" component of the Indian Isle phase, a local variant of the Early Woodland Marion Culture (Stoltman 1990:242-244). Geochemical analyses of four of the flakes confirm that Obsidian Cliff, Wyoming, was the source, demonstrating that this distinctive material was in use among Woodland peoples of the Midwest several centuries before the commencement of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere.
Resumen
El propósito de este artículo es proporcionar información sobre la ocurrencia de artefactos de obsidiana en contextos del período postarcaico "Bosque Temprano" (Early Woodland) en el sureste del estado de Wisconsin. Durante excavaciones llevadas a cabo en el sitio Tillmont (47CR460) en 1995, siete lascas de obsidiana fueron recuperadas en un paleosuelo profundo, dentro de un componente puro de la fase "Indian Isle," una variante de la cultura Marion (Stoltman 1990:242-244). Un análisis geoquímico de cuatro de las lascas confirma que la fuente de este material es Obsidian Cliff, en el estado de Wyoming, resultado que demuestra que este muy distintivo material volcánico se utilizaba entre los indios Woodland del mediooeste de los Estados Unidos algunos siglos antes del inicio de la esfera de interacción conocida como "Hopewell."
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