Editing Obsidian (section)

===Americas===
{{see also|Obsidian use in Mesoamerica}}
[[File:ObsidianWareLopezMAPHidalgo2.JPG|thumb|left|Obsidian worked into plates and other wares by Victor Lopez Pelcastre of Nopalillo, Epazoyucan, Hidalgo. On display at the [[Museo de Arte Popular, Mexico City]].]]
[[Lithic analysis]] helps to understand pre-Hispanic groups in [[Mesoamerica]]. A careful analysis of obsidian in a culture or place can be of considerable use to reconstruct commerce, production, and distribution, and thereby understand economic, social and political aspects of a civilization. This is the case in [[Yaxchilán]], a Maya city where even warfare implications have been studied linked with obsidian use and its debris.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Brokmann|first=Carlos|title=Tipología y análisis de la obsidiana de Yaxchilán, Chiapas|journal=Colección Científica|number=422|publisher=INAH|year=2000|language=es}}</ref> Another example is the archeological recovery at coastal [[Chumash people|Chumash]] sites in California, indicating considerable trade with the distant site of [[Casa Diablo Hot Springs]] in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]].<ref>{{cite web|first=CM|last=Hogan|year=2008|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18502|title=Morro Creek|editor=A. Burnham|website=Megalithic.co.uk|access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref>

Obsidian tools found in [[Mission Santa Clara]] has shown the existence of exchange networks between various tribes in [[California]]. Obsidian in California comes from 5 major locations all around the state, and when Mission Santa Clara was built, the tribes took their obsidian tools with them and from the analysis the of the obsidian tools it showed that all 5 major location of obsidian were present.<ref>Panich, L. M. (2016). Beyond the colonial curtain: Investigating indigenous use of obsidian in Spanish California through the PXRF analysis of artifacts from Mission Santa Clara. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 5, 521–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.01.008 </ref>

[[File:Takalik Abaj obsidian 1.jpg|thumb|Raw obsidian and obsidian blades from the Mayan site of Takalik Abaj]]
[[Pre-Columbian]] Mesoamericans' [[Obsidian use in Mesoamerica|use of obsidian]] was extensive and sophisticated; including carved and worked obsidian for tools and decorative objects. Mesoamericans also made a type of sword with obsidian blades mounted in a wooden body. Called a ''[[macuahuitl]]'', the weapon could inflict terrible injuries, combining the sharp cutting edge of an obsidian blade with the ragged cut of a serrated weapon. The [[polearm]] version of this weapon was called ''[[tepoztopilli]]''.

[[Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture|Obsidian mirrors]] were used by some Aztec priests to conjure visions and make prophecies. They were connected with [[Tezcatlipoca]], god of obsidian and sorcery, whose name can be translated from the Nahuatl language as 'Smoking Mirror'.<ref name="bl.uk"/>

[[File:Obsidian from Milos in Crete, 3000-2300 BC, AMH, 144707.jpg|thumb|left|Obsidian imported from [[Milos]], found in [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]]]]
Indigenous people traded obsidian throughout the Americas. Each [[volcano]] and in some cases each volcanic eruption produces a distinguishable type of obsidian allowing archaeologists to use methods such as non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence to select minor element compositions from both the artifact and geological sample to trace the origins of a particular artifact.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Panich|first1=Lee|last2=Michelini|first2=Antonio|last3=Shackley|first3=M.|date=December 1, 2012|title=Obsidian Sources of Northern Baja California: The Known and the Unknown|url=https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/anthro_fac_pubs/38|journal=Faculty Publications}}</ref> Similar tracing techniques have also allowed obsidian in Greece to be identified as coming from [[Milos]], [[Nisyros]] or [[Gyali]], islands in the [[Aegean Sea]]. Obsidian cores and blades were traded great distances inland from the coast.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stark|first1=Barbara L.|last2=Boxt|first2=Matthew A.|last3=Gasco|first3=Janine|last4=González Lauck|first4=Rebecca B.|last5=Hedgepeth Balkin|first5=Jessica D.|last6=Joyce|first6=Arthur A.|last7=King|first7=Stacie M.|last8=Knight|first8=Charles L. F.|last9=Kruger|first9=Robert|date=March 1, 2016|title=Economic growth in Mesoamerica: Obsidian consumption in the coastal lowlands|journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology|volume=41|pages=263–282|doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2016.01.008|issn=0278-4165|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In Chile obsidian tools from [[Chaitén Volcano]] have been found as far away as in [[Chan-Chan]] {{convert|400|km|abbr=on}} north of the volcano, and also in sites 400&nbsp;km south of it.<ref name=pino>{{cite journal|author1=Mario Pino Quivido|author2=Rayen Navarro|name-list-style=amp|title=Geoarqueología del sitio arcaico Chan-Chan 18, costa de Valdivia: Discriminación de ambientes de ocupación humana y su relación con la transgresión marina del Holoceno Medio|journal=Revista Geológica de Chile|year=2005|doi=10.4067/S0716-02082005000100004|volume=32|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Naranjo|first=José A|author2=Stern, Charles R|title=Holocene tephrochronology of the southernmost part (42°30'–45°S) of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone|year=2004|volume=31|issue=2|pages=225–40|oclc=61022562|doi=10.4067/S0716-02082004000200003|journal=Revista Geológica de Chile|doi-access=free}}</ref>