Browsing by Autor "Michael D. Glascock"

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Evidence for Early Long-Distance Obsidian Exchange and Watercraft Use from the Southern Lake Titicaca Basin of Bolivia and Peru
(Cambridge University Press, 2002) Charles Stanish; Richard L. Burger; Lisa M. Cipolla; Michael D. Glascock; Esteban Quelima
Excavations at two sites on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca, called Ch'uxuqullu and Titinhuayani, discovered significant preceramic (ca. 2000 B. C.) through Formative period (up to ca. A. D. 400) occupations. Excavation data indicate that there was a continuous occupation from the first known settlements on the island up to the present day. The early occupations on the island were culturally linked to the populations on the mainland, as indicated by ceramic analysis and the presence of nonlocal obsidian from the Colca Valley source, 275 km to the northwest. Our excavation data also reveal that there was a brisk exchange network between the island and mainland beginning at least during the Formative period, and probably earlier during the end of the Late Archaic period. Furthermore, paleoenvironmental data indicate that the island has been isolated from the mainland during most or all of the human occupation. The Lake Titicaca region of Peru and Bolivia was characterized by a system of exchange that relied, in part, on watercraft beginning at least by 1600 B. C.
High-altitude adaptation and late Pleistocene foraging in the Bolivian Andes
(Elsevier BV, 2016) José M. Capriles; Juan Albarracín-Jordán; Umberto Lombardo; Daniela Osorio; Blaine Maley; Steven T. Goldstein; Katherine Herrera; Michael D. Glascock; Alejandra I. Domic; Heinz Veit
Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia
(Wiley, 2018) José M. Capriles; Nicholas Tripcevich; Axel E. Nielsen; Michael D. Glascock; Juan Albarracín-Jordán; Calógero M. Santoro
Primary questions regarding the foraging behaviour of the first hunter–gatherers who colonized the New World are how they found, procured and utilized high‐quality raw materials for manufacturing stone tools. In this paper, we present evidence from the late Pleistocene site of Cueva Bautista in the highlands of south‐western Bolivia, which demonstrates that a substantial portion of the recovered stone tool assemblage originated in Cerro Kaskio, a recently discovered obsidian source located 15 km south‐west of the site. In addition to describing the geological and geochronological setting, we provide the first geochemical characterization of the Cerro Kaskio source by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. Supported on the technological analysis and archaeometric sourcing of the obsidian lithics found in Cueva Bautista, we discuss the nature of the procurement strategies practised by the earliest mobile hunter–gatherers who explored and colonized the Andean highlands. We conclude that opportunistic lithic resource procurement was probably an important component of the first foraging societies that explored the highland Andes.