Archaeological Research Facility

The analysis here of 38 Quaternary alluvial secondary deposit obsidian indicates a diverse source provenance dominated by obsidian from the upstream primary sources of the Cow Canyon Obsidian Complex, and eachof the three major localities at the Mule Creek Obsidian Complex in eastern New Mexico, all part of the Mogollon-Datil Volcanic Province(see cover image). All of these sourceshave been eroding into the Blue, San Francisco, and Gila River systems for over 21 Ma (Shackley 2018; Shackley et al. 2018). The surface and excavated obsidian artifact assemblage (n=16) from the Sanchez Site (AZ CC:2:452 ASM) is generally a reflection of the mix of sources in the Gila River alluvium with slightly less diversity, but still dominated by sources of the Cow Canyon Obsidian Complex.