The Chivay obsidian source (15.6423° S, 71.5355° W, 4972 masl) is the geological origin of a chemically distinct type of obsidian that is found throughout the south-central Andean highlands including southern Peru and western Bolivia. Obsidian of this type is also known as the Cotallalli type or the Titicaca Basin type.
Studies have shown that up to 90% of artifacts from the Lake Titicaca Basin were made using obsidian from this source. These chemical characterization studies were performed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) techniques.
Obsidian from the Chivay source is found in large and homogeneous nodules in a high altitude volcanic crater approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the east of the town of Chivay in the Colca Valley (Caylloma, Arequipa, Peru).[1]
Consumption sites
Obsidian from the Chivay source has been chemically identified among artifacts from over fifty sites in the south-central Andes. Chivay obsidian was the predominant type found at the Archaic and Formative period site of Jiskairumoko on the western side of Lake Titicaca in the Ilave Valley of Puno, Peru.
Burger, Richard L.; Asaro, Frank; Salas, Guido; Stross, Fred (1998), "The Chivay obsidian source and the geological origin of Titicaca Basin type obsidian artifacts", Andean Past, vol. 5, pp. 203–223
Burger, Richard L.; Mohr-Chávez, Karen L.; Chávez, Sergio J. (2000), "Through the Glass Darkly: Prehispanic obsidian procurement and exchange in southern Peru and northern Bolivia", Journal of World Prehistory, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 267–362, doi:10.1023/a:1026509726643, S2CID160153428
Giesso, Martin (2000), Stone Tool Production in the Tiwanaku Heartland: the Impact of State Emergence and Expansion on Local Households, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago
Giesso, Martin (2003), "Stone tool production in the Tiwanaku heartland", in Kolata, Alan L. (ed.), Tiwanaku and Its Hinterland: Archaeology and Paleoecology of an Andean Civilization, vol. 2, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 363–383
Palacios, O.; de la Cruz, J.; de la Cruz, N.; Klinck, B. A.; Allison, R. A.; Hawkins, M. P. (1993), Geología de la Cordillera Occidental y Altiplano al oeste del Lago Titicaca-sur del Perú, Boletín No. 42, República del Perú, Sector Energía y Metalúrgico, Lima
Shackley, Steve M. (2005), Obsidian: Geology and archaeology in the North American southwest, Tucson: University of Arizona Press
