Pressure-flaked prismatic obsidian blades
Navajas prismáticas de obsidiana por presión
- Date
- c. 1200 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, Texistepec, Veracruz, Mexico
- Credited to
- Mesoamerican Formative cultures (Olmec)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A technique that detaches regular obsidian blades several centimetres long and sharper than steel by pressing a punch against a prismatic core. It was Mesoamerica's cutting tool and was made in specialised workshops.
The date of pressure prismatic blade-making in Mesoamerica is hard to pin down: it appears in the Early or Middle Formative, and its precise origin (Olmec or otherwise) is not established. Pressure blade technology is also known in Asia and the Near East, so this is an independent development.
What it led to
- knives, scrapers, bloodletters and razors for domestic and ritual use
- obsidian trade from El Chayal, Ixtepeque and Pachuca
- craft specialisation in the workshops of Mesoamerican cities