Question: have you ever seen with your eyes a obsidian?

Andrew McDowall answered on 17 Mar 2025:

Yes, I have an obsidian knife gifted by friends in Mexico. It’s a wonderful natural material, quite beautiful and terrifyingly sharp. Before the Europeans brought steel to Central America obsidian was highly desirable. Possession was power. Access to it promoted the creation of long distance trades routes – obsidian for feathers, obsidian for shells – much like the tin and copper trades did in the Bronze Age. It spread civilisation, though was probably less good news for birds with the most colourful feathers.

I’d love to go to Teotihuacan, see the city and the obsidian mines in the mountains, but haven’t got there yet.