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Definition: Obsidian |
ObsidianNoun1. Acid or granitic glass; usually dark, but transparent in thin pieces. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "obsidian" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
Etymology: Obsidian \Ob*sid"i*an\, noun. [Latin expression Obsidianus lapis, so named, according to Pliny, after one Obsidius, who discovered it in Ethiopia: compare to French obsidiane, obsidienne. The later editions of Pliny read Obsianus lapis, and Obsius, instead of Obsidianus lapis, and Obsidius.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Chemistry | A dark, hard, glassy volcanic rock, usually having the same composition as volcanic granite. Source: European Union. (references) |
Geography | Very viscous lava, rich in silica and lakales, . . that. . may solidify to bubble-free volcanic glass. Source: European Union. (references) |
Geological | Dark-colored volcanic glass. Usually has the same chemical composition as the extrusive igneous rock, rhyolite. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The color of obsidian varies depending on the presence of impurities. Iron and magnesium typically give the obsidian a dark green to black color. The inclusion of small, white, radially clustered crystals of cristobalite in the black glass produce a blotchy or snowflake pattern (Snowflake Obsidian). It may contain patterns of air bubbles remaining from the lava flow, aligned along layers created as the molten rock was flowing before being cooled. These bubbles can produce interesting effects such as a golden (sheen obsidian) or rainbow sheen (rainbow Obsidian). Small nuggets of obsidian that have been naturally rounded and smoothed by wind and water are called "apache tears." Obsidian is relatively soft with a typical hardness of 5 to 5.5. Specific gravity is approximately 2.6.
Obsidian is commonly used for ornamental purposes, for it possesses the peculiar property of presenting a different appearance according to the manner in which it is cut. When cut in one direction it is of a beautiful jetty black; when cut across another direction it is glistering gray.
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Pig carved in snowflake obsidian, 10 cm (4 inches) long. Larger version |
Obsidian was highly valued in certain Stone Age cultures because, like flint, it can be fractured to produce sharp blades or arrow heads. Like all glass and some other types of naturally occurring rocks, obsidian breaks with a characteristic conchoidal fracture. It may also have been polished to create early mirrors.
In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican obsidian use was extensive and sophisticated with carved and worked obsidian for tools, as well as for decorative objects. Well crafted obsidian blades are capable of having a cutting edge as fine as high quality surgical steel scalpels. The ancient Mesoamericans also made a type of sword with obsidian blades mounted in a wooden body.
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Obsidian was an important part of the material culture of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Its uses, value, production, trade, sources, and analysis are all important aspects of the study of cultures in this region.
Almost no site in Mesoamerica is without obsidian, called "Itztli" in the Nahuatl language. It was an item that had both frequent, common uses and ritual use. Obsidian was available to all households and was found in hunting, agriculture, and many other everyday situations. Examples of possible obsidian tools are knives, lance and dart points, prismatic blades sometimes used for woodworking or shaving, bone working tools, bifaces, retouched flakes, and spearheads for ritual warfare. Blades have been found in situ with rabbit, rodent, and mollusk remains, indicating use in butchery.
Obsidian was also used in graves, at sacrifices, and in art. Some non-utilitarian forms are miniature human effigies, ear spools and labrets with gold and turquoise workings, carved animal figurines, beads, vases, and masks. Obsidian is frequently seen in the form of ritual blood-letting devices as well as buried in elite tombs and special deposits or caches. Debitage is found in many of these tombs in addition to evidence of obsidian use in temple dedications, potlaching, or offerings. For example, flakes have been found in association with stela offerings and related to specific gods at the Maya site of Tikal. Lancet and prismatic blades are also found in frequent association with self-sacrifice. Obsidian was a highly integrated part of Mesoamerican daily and ritual life. This widespread and varied use may be a significant contributor to this culture's lack of metallurgy.
Obsidian was widely distributed throughout Mesoamerica by trade. Its importance to Mesoamerican societies has been compared to the value and importance of steel to modern civilization. However, archeological evidence provides varied evidence of the individual value placed on obsidian. For example during the Formative period, obsidian was a rare item in the lowland areas, found predominately in elite and ritual contexts. In many Maya excavations evidence of obsidian is likewise found most frequently in privileged settings; as the Late Classic period progressed, obsidian changed from an elite item to one found in abundance among the lower classes of Maya civilization. Nevertheless, the Maya elite continued to remain in possession of the more prestigious Teotihuacan green obsidian.
In the Teotihuacan culture obsidian was perhaps traded at a loss of human effort in transport across long distances. The profit from the trade was prestigious elite items received in return. Obsidian has both been seen as a key element to Teotihuacan's rise to power and as a side trade element that simply augmented their already developing wealth. Obsidian is a part of many elite items such as valuable ear-spools, but these obsidian ear-spools have been discovered in exclusively non-elite settings. Thus the value of obsidian can be considered highly variable. It was an important trade item, but found in both elite and common settings, unlike many items whose ownership was confined to the elite. Finally, there is no indication that obsidian was used as a currency in Mesoamerica.
Obsidian is relatively easy to work, aiding its prolific use throughout Mesoamerica. Obsidian is obtained by quarrying a source site. Pieces then are shaped by fracture as in the production of blades or knives. It may be also be formed by pecking and grinding, producing animal figurines, beads, labrets, ear ornaments, and other erratics. Pressure flaking blades from a prepared core was a common practice. Edge-rejuvenation or resharpening of blades was performed to prolong the lifespan of many pieces. Modern attempts to recreate production techniques are heavily based on Spanish records and accounts of obsidian knapping. Motolinia, a Spanish observer, left this account of pressure flaking: "It is in this manner: First they get out a knife stone (obsidian core) which is black like jet and 20 cm or slightly less in length, and they make it cylindrical and as thick as the calf of the leg, and they place the stone between the feet, and with a stick apply force to the edges of the stone, and at every push they give a little knife springs off with its edges like those of a razor."*
The widespread use of obsidian necessitated a large workforce to produce enough tools to supply an area. During Monte Alban's most populous period 900 to 1800 people were working obsidian. In Teotihuacan, a major contributor, if not possessing monopolistic control of obsidian trade and production, possessed more than 100 obsidian workshops within the city.
Obsidian sources were limited in Mesoamerica. Principal sources in Mexico included Jalisco, Oyameles, Zaragoza, Guadalupe Victoria, Cerro de Minas, Cerro de las Navajas, and Ucareo, the post-classic source for the Toltec state. Sources in the Valley of Mexico and under Teotihuacan control were Pachuca, Otumba, and Chicoloapan. Pachuca was a notable source with its high quality green obsidian, which was traded widely throughout Mesoamerica. In Guatemala three sources were significant: El Chayal, Ixtepeque, and San Martin Jilotepeque. These highland Guatemalan sources served the Mayans through long-distance trade. The Olmec heartland and the Valley of Oaxaca are two significant locations that lack obsidian sources.
Obsidian, a volcanic glass, comes from several geological sources in Mesoamerica, as listed above. Each of these sources has a distinctive “fingerprint” of trace elements of the chemicals in a particular obsidian sample. Neutron activity analysis and X-ray fluorescence are two methods of analysis to identify a sample's geological source. Dating analysis is also performed on obsidian artifacts. Hydration dating permits absolute or relative dating of a sample. The degree of hydration observed indicates how long it has been since an artisan exposed the obsidian surface. All of these analysis techniques are invaluable for obsidian production and trade studies in the region.
Practical and Ritual Obsidian Use
Value
Production and Techniques
Trade
Obsidian sources are relatively easily identified through trace chemical element analysis, making obsidian an excellent medium for the study of long-distance trade in Mesoamerica. This pan-Mesoamerican trade industry is due to the limited number of quality sources; the low bulk of obsidian in transport, thus requiring less human effort in trade; and the large quantity of items that may be produced from that small amount. Two cultures are good examples of the source side of trading and the recipient side; Teotihuacan held significant control over major obsidian sources, and the Mayan culture did not control a single significant source. Evidence of Teotihuacan's trade strength is seen in the presence of obsidian artifacts originating from their controlled sources throughout Mesoamerica, even at a distance of over 350 miles. It is debated whether the rise of this culture's dominance came from obsidian trade or if the trade simply served as a mode for obtaining elite items or human labor. The Maya acquired their obsidian from long-distance trade arriving at central places such as Tikal, Uaxactan, and Palenque. These Maya centers then redistributed the obsidian to smaller settlements. This is seen by the lack debitage from core production, cortex flakes or large percussion flakes, in the more rural areas of Maya territory. The larger centers may have exported fully pre-formed cores to outlying regions. Evidence also points towards much coastal trade, with higher quantities of obsidian artifacts found in coastal sites than in those farther inland in areas such as Belize. Obsidian trade was far-reaching, allowing opportunities for contact and trade of a variety of other items and ideas during pre-Hispanic times.Sources
Chemical Analysis
Cited Resource
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Obsidian."
Crosswords: Obsidian |
| English words defined with "obsidian": Spherulite ♦ Trichite ♦ Volcanic glass, Volcanic rocks. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "obsidian": banded obsidian ♦ conchoidal fracture, copper pitch ♦ lithophysae ♦ marekanite ♦ porphyritic obsidian ♦ rhyolite glass, rock glass ♦ schiller obsidian ♦ tuff lava. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Obsidian" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. German (obsidian), Swedish (obsidian). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Obsidian (1997) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Aleuts planting glass, obsidian, and jade darts in school of humpback whales At Akoon Island, Bering Sea, Alaska Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection. |  | Obsidian bed located at the Glass Buttes.Credit: Zanc. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Obsidian" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 57.14% of the time. "Obsidian" is used about 28 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 57.14% | 16 | 87,710 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 42.86% | 12 | 101,599 |
| Total | 100.00% | 28 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
1. Obsidian, ID |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "obsidian": obsidian-carapaced. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "obsidian"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | xham vullkanik. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | السبج زجاج بركاني. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | обсидиан. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | obsidienne. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Obsidian. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | οψιάνοσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | obszidián. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | obsidiano, vetro vulcanico. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 黒曜石 , 黒曜岩 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | こくようがん, こくようせき. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | creg glessagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | obsidianay preocupação constante. (various references) обсидиан. (various references) opsidijan. (various references) obsidiana. (various references) obsidian. (various references) обсидіан. (various references) đá vỏ chai. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | zu. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "obsidian": obsidians. (additional references) | |
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"Obsidian" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Obeidi, obsidion, obssidian. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "obsidian" (pronounced ubsi"dēun) |
| 5 | -i" d ē u n | meridian. |
| 4 | -d ē u n | accordion, arcadian, circadian, collodion, comedian, custodian, Guardian, median, nickelodeon, Odeon. |
| 3 | -ē u n | agrarian, alien, amphibian, authoritarian, barbarian, bohemian, Campion, carrion, centenarian, centurion, chameleon, champion, Clarion, contrarian, criterion, Cyprian, disciplinarian, draconian, egalitarian, equestrian, galleon, gorgonian, halcyon, herculean, historian, humanitarian, hyperborean, lesbian, libertarian, librarian, majoritarian, mammalian, mediterranean, Napoleon, nonsectarian, oblivion, octogenarian, ovarian, pagurian, parliamentarian, pedestrian, planarian, plutonian, praetorian, presbyterian, proletarian, salutatorian, scorpion, sectarian, seminarian, septuagenarian, simian, subterranean, symbion, theologian, thespian, totalitarian, unitarian, utilitarian, utopian, valedictorian, valerian, vegetarian, veterinarian. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-d-i-i-n-o-s" | |
-2 letters: adonis, basion, bindis, bonsai, danios, iodins. | |
-3 letters: adios, bands, basin, bindi, binds, bison, bonds, danio, donas, iodin, nabis, obias, oidia, sabin. | |
-4 letters: abos, ados, aids, ains, ands, anis, bads, band, bani, bans, bias, bids, bind, bins, bios, boas, bods, bond, dabs, dais, dibs, dins, dona, dons, ibis, inia, ions, isba, nabs, naoi, naos. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-d-i-i-n-o-s" | |
+1 letter: obsidians. | |
+2 letters: antibodies. | |
+3 letters: abdications, arabinoside, broadsiding, dubitations, isoantibody, subaudition. | |
+4 letters: arabinosides, bastinadoing, boardsailing, cannabinoids, nondiabetics, proboscidian, sailboarding, subauditions. | |
+5 letters: boardsailings, boatbuildings, daunorubicins, debilitations, deliberations, indissociable, indissociably, insubordinate, isoantibodies, proboscidians, sailboardings, subordinating, subordination, subordinative, subsidization. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4F 62 73 69 64 69 61 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)--- -... ... .. -.. .. .- -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "obsidian" |
