A Reassessment of the Precolumbian Obsidian Industry of El Chayal, Guatemala

Abstract

M. Coe and K. Flannery (1964) a decade ago presented an account of their brief reconnaissance of a portion of the massive El Chayal obsidian quarry and workshop near Guatemala City. Noting the lack of ceramic artifacts and obsidian prismatic blades, Coe and Flannery reasoned that the workshop materials likely predated the Formative, and concluded that a date in the Archaic was the most probable. Their reasoning evidently was based on two fallacious assumptions, which, considered in the light of new data from Chalchuapa, El Salvador, indicates that the majority of the El Chayal artifacts described and illustrated actually date to the end of the Late Classic and particularly to the Postclassic (ca. A.D. 800-1500). Comments on technological analysis and basic illustration standards are included.