SELENE, SIERRA EL TIGRE, RIO BAVISPE, NORTHERN SONORA

(Location of Selene and El Colorín Jecota a newly discovered source in Sonora, from Carpenter et al. 2024; Kibler et al. 2014:171)

An energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of nineteen obsidian source rocks from a mid-Tertiary rhyolite/perlite flow in the upper Río Bavispe basin of northeastern Sonora, Mexico solved the location of “Sonora Unknown B” as reported by Shackley (2009, 2011) for recent archaeological projects in northeastern Sonora and southeastern Arizona. This newly discovered source, called Selene, is a relatively extensive and large marekanite source consisting of a very high silica rhyolite with regionally distinct high barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) values, and low zirconium (Zr) elemental concentrations suggesting a peraluminous volcanic rock rather than the more common peralkaline obsidian of the Sierra Madre (Shackley 2005). The Selene marekanites are relatively large compared to nodules from other northern Sonoran and Chihuahuan obsidian sources, except perhaps for Sierra Fresnal in northern Chihuahua, and have excellent knapping qualities. These attributes contributed to the transport, trade, and use of Selene obsidian hundreds of kilometers from the source.  Artifacts produced from Selene obsidian have been recovered from a number of archaeological contexts in a number of time periods in Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, and Chihuahua.  It is one of, if not the most widely distributed northwest Mexico obsidian source (Carpenter et al. 2021, 2024; Hard and Roney 2020; Hinojosa-Prieto et al. 2016; Kibler et al. 2014; Shackley 2024; Vidal-Solano 2020).

Nodules at the source typically range from 30-80 mm, but marekanites over 50 mm are uncommon.  The obsidian is often banded and nearly transparent in thin flakes.  It is as good a media for chipped stone tool production as any obsidian on either side of the border. 

Table 1.  Elemental concentrations for Selene source obsidian.

Sample Source Name Location Ti Mn Fe Zn Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Ba
1 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1321 371 9186 41 174 148 16 123 11 1284
2 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1312 396 9234 44 172 148 20 122 13 1135
3 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1284 419 9542 42 180 155 18 130 10 1155
4 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1145 330 8485 36 162 136 15 118 15 1256
5 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1176 344 8463 36 153 134 18 119 12 1433
6 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1445 379 9720 39 173 151 21 129 20 1581
7 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1544 399 10206 44 173 145 17 119 17 1285
8 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1375 400 10043 43 178 157 18 126 15 1385
9 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1030 308 7962 37 152 138 20 119 11 1252
10 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1283 379 9037 40 172 146 16 124 16 1248
11 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1210 365 8892 36 166 145 17 126 13 1393
12 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1249 372 9207 37 175 146 15 124 13 1132
13 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1200 366 8728 39 166 145 14 123 13 1283
14 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1363 405 9643 40 180 152 20 129 11 1322
15 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1345 423 9755 47 187 154 16 130 14 1365
16 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1283 372 9083 67 164 140 19 121 12 1364
17 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1293 347 9154 39 170 149 20 123 17 1365
18 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1301 401 9417 42 176 150 18 128 14 1236
19 Selene Sierra el Tigre, NE Sonora 1291 407 9656 43 182 159 17 125 15 1247
 

 

Table 2.  Mean and central tendency for the Selene data in Table 1.

Selene, Sonora, PCD data
  N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Ti 19 1030 1544 1287 111
Mn 19 308 423 378 31
Fe 19 7962 10206 9232 568
Zn 19 36 67 42 7
Rb 19 152 187 171 9
Sr 19 134 159 147 7
Y 19 14 21 18 2
Zr 19 118 130 124 4
Nb 19 10 20 14 3
Ba 19 1132 1581 1301 110

 

 

Marekanites in a perlite matrix at Selene (from Kibler et al. 2014:175).

REFERENCED CITED

Carpenter, J.P., G.M. Sánchez, P.O. Hernández-Espinoza, C.E. León Romero,  A.R. Krug, and A. Abrego-Rivas, M.S. Shackley, J. Ferguson, and M. Pailes, 2021, Recent research in the Sahuaripa region of Sonora, Mexico.  Kiva 87:461-485.

Carpenter, J.P., G.M. Sánchez, M.S. Shackley, W.E. Doolittle, J.A. López-Rivera, and M. Pailes, 2024, Obsidian circulation in the Sierra Madre Occidental of northern Mexico:
New source identification and analysis of procurement patterns. Journal of Archaeological Research Reports, in press.

Hard, R.J., and J.R. Roney (Eds.), 2020, Early Farming and Warfare in Northwest Mexico.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Hinojosa-Prieto, H.R., J.R. Vidal-Solano, K.W. Kibler, and H.J. Hinojosa-García, 2016, Geology of the Selene perlite deposit in the northern Sierra Madre Occidental, northeastern Sonora, Mexico.  Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana  68:129-163.

Kibler, K.W., H.R. Hinojosa-Prieto, M.S. Shackley,  and H.J. Hinojosa-García, 2014, The Selene Obsidian Source (Formerly Sonora Unknown B) of the Upper Río Bavispe Basin, Sonora, México.  Kiva 80:168–192

Shackley, M.S. 2009, An Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Obsidian Artifacts From AZ EE:12:60 (ASM), Southern Arizona. Report prepared for Northland Research, Inc., Tempe, Arizona.

Shackley, M.S. 2011, Source Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from the Rio Moctezuma Valley, Sonora. Report prepared for Matthew Pailes, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Shackley, M.S. 2024, Obsidian Sources and Source Provenance of Archaeological Obsidian in Northern Sonora: The Known and Unknown.  Kiva, in press.

Vidal-Solano, J.R., A.M. Gomez-Valencia, A Hinojo-Hinojo, and R. Lozano-Santa Cruz, 2020, Geochemistry and geological control of Sonora obsidian: new instights into the provenance study of archaeological obsidian in Mexico.  Journal of South American Earth Sciences 104:1022840.

 

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Revised: 18 July 2024