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lAOS Business Address: Michael A Gottesman. lAOS Secretary­Treasurer, 4291 At ;ad:a SUeet; TOlldllCC, en !165M-

Bulletin assembled and edited by William 1. McFarlane

CONTENTS

News and Information - IAbstracts and Annotations - 2

Reports, Articles, and New Research - 6About the fA OS - 9

NEWS AND INFORMAnON

The LAOS Annual Meeting will be held during theupcoming SAA Meetings in New Orleans. Themeeting will be held from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PMFriday, April 20. Check your program for an exactlocation.

The LAOS web site has recently been rewrittenfrom the bottom up, including a new address:W\V\v.pcak.org/obsidian. Plans for the immediatefuture include posting back issues ofthe Bul/etin infull te,,1 fonnat and to convert some of them to adownloadable Adobe Acrobat (PDF) fonnat.Craig Skinner, the webmaster, also hopes to locateand post more full-text articles and abstracts toallow the site to function more usefully as aresearch resource as well as supplementing theLAOS Bibliography (also accessible from the homepage). In an effort to expand the utility ofthe site,

Craig will continue to develop state and countryreference lists to be tied into the source catalog.These are now available in varied degrees ofcompleteness for several states. Please contactCraig, via the website or atcskinner{{i)obsidianlab.com, if you have anyinfonnation about obsidian characterization orhydration labs with a web presence.

The LAOS is pleased to announce two colllpetitivefunding opportunities to students. A $500 stipendwill be given to the organizer (or co-organizers) ofa session at the next Society for AmericanArchaeology meetings in Denver. The sessiontopic is open to any aspect of obsidian studies,including but not limited to methodological andtheoretical issues ofsourcing and dating, exchange,production, or use ofobsidian artifacts. Interestedstudents should send a one page proposal toMichael Elam at jmcri4uLkux.utcC.IlIk.cdu by JulyI, 2000. The recipient of this stipend will alsoreceive a one year LAOS membership.

A $500 grant will also be offered by the LAOSduring the next year. Students conducting researchon any aspect of obsidian are eligible to apply.Please send a proposal no longer than one page inlength to Michael Ela'll by November I, 200 I.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

18-22 April 2000 - 66"' Annual Meeting of theSociety for American Archaeology, New Orleans.

Get your events added to the calendar listings bydropping an e-mail note to the editor.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 200I - I

ABSTRACTS AND ANNOTATIONSCompiled by William McFarlane

SUNY-Buffalo, Department of Anthropology380 MFAC, Ellicott Complex

Buffalo, NY 14214

jnlernational Associa'Jo;" 'ajObsidian... StudieS; .

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President J. Michael Elam

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Braswell, Geoffrey E., Clark, John E., Aoyama, Kazuo,McKillop, Heather I., and Glascock, Michael D.

Determining the Geological Provenance ofObsidianArtifacts from the Maya Region. A Test of theEfficacy of Visual Sourcing. Latin AmericanAntiquity (2000) II (3P69-282.

During the last four decades, mesoamericanarchaeologists regularly have employed various chemicalassay techniques to determine the geological sources ofobsidian artifacts. In recent years, the reliability of theseanalytical procedures has increased and their costs havedeclined, encouraging the assay of ever larger samples.Nonetheless, several constraints make it unlikely thatcompositional data will be used routinely 10 attribute

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prepared core teclroologies seems to corroborate theimportance of raw material quality in toolkit design.Recent sludies of a late Pleistocene lithic asscmblagefrom the Lower Grotto at Tsagaan Agoi cave, Mongolia,suggest however that raw material quality is not anabsolute constraint on the development or sophisticatedcore reduction strategies. LevalJois-like alld otherprepared core forms based on large flake bl" nks areconspicuous in tlle Lower Grotto assemblage, dcspite thepoor quality of raw material available at the site.Contral)' to ex-pectations, these core forms appear to havedeveloped in response to poor raw material quality. Theimplication is tllat raw material quality alone canootexplain the apparent technological simplicity of theNorth Chinese Middle and Upper Paleolithic.

The design and assembly oflithic toolkits is mediatedby a number of factors including the abundance andquality ofraw materials available. In general, low rawmaterial abundance and high raw material quality arethought to lead to formal tool designs, whereas highraw material abundance and low raw material qualitylead to informal designs. Low raw material quality isseen as the overriding factor producing informal tooldesigns, even where low raw material abundancewould favor formal designs.In North China, the predominance of simple flake andcore technologies, based on relatively poor quality rawmaterials, and the near absence of sophisticated

Bellot-Gurlet,L.,Poupcau, G.,Dorighel, 0., Calligaro,Th., Dran, J.C., and Salomon, J.

A PIXE/ission-Track Dating Approach toSourcing Studies of Obsidian Artcfacts inColumbia and Ecuador. Journol ojArchaeological Science (1999) 26, 855-86.

Using PIXE, we measured the chemical composition of142 obsidian artefacts from 45 prehispanicarchaeological sites and 22 obsidian samples fromseven geological occurrences from Colombia andEcuador. From PIXE data, these 164 samples may beclassified into five chemical groups. Two sourccsamples and a selection of 41 artefacts were dated byfission tracks. Some artefacts belonging to a singlechemical group may have different formation ages and,hence, come from different sources. This resulls, forthese 41 artefacts, in a minimum of eight sourccs, ofwhich only three are identified. These are the RioHondo (Columbia), Mullumiea and Quiscatola­Yanaureu (Ecuador) sources. More than half (22) ofthe artefacts dated by fission tracks pertain to a single0·25-0·30 Ma, age/composition group related to anunknown source. These artefacts were foundessentially in archaeological sites (four in Columbia,12 in Ecuador) of the Regional Development Periodsituated along the Pacific coast.

Brantingham, P. Jeffrey, Olsen, John 0., Rech, JasonA., and Krivoshapkin, Andrei 1.

Raw Material Quality and Prepared CoreTechnologies in Northeast Asia. Journal ojArchaeological Science (2000) 27,255-27.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 2001 - 2

entire collections 10 their geological sources. Thisreport describes a test of visual sourcing, a techniquethat for many sites in U,e Maya region is only slightlyless accurate than compositional assay. We alsopropose sampling strategies U,at combine visual andcompositional sourcing in ways that allow largecollections to be accurately sourced at low costs.Finally, we suggest ways to develop the technique foruse throughout Latin America

Burger, Richard L. and Glascock, Michael D.Locating the Quispisisa Obsidian Source in theDepartment of Ayacucho, Peru. La/in AmericanAntiquity (2000) 11(3):258-268.

In 1999, the Quispisisa source of obsidian was locatedin the Province ofHuanca Sancos in central Ayacuchonear the village of Sacsamarca. This discovery hasbeen confirmed at the University ofMissouri ResearchReactor (MURR) by comparing the neutron activationanalyses of source samples ,vith artifacts. TheQuispisisa source of volcanic glass provided the rawmaterial for most of the obsidian artifacts utilized incentral and northern Peru tllfoughout prehispanictimes.

Glascock, Michael, Kunselman, Raymomd, andWolfman, Daniel (deceased)

lntrasource Chemical Differentiation ofObsidianin U,e Jemez Mountains and Taos Plateau, NewMexico. Journal 0/ Archaeologicol Science(1999) 26, 861-868

Obsidian specimens from the Jemez Mountains andTaos Plateau source regions of north central NewMexico were characterized by instrumental neutronactivation analysis and X-ray fluorescence analysis toestablish the number of geochemical groups present.In addition, 37 obsidian artefacts from sites in NewMexico were similarly analyzed. The results of tltisresearch have determined that at least eightgeochemical varieties ofobsidian exist wiOlin the twosource regions. The results also indicate that anabbreviated-INAA procedure previously found to besuccessful in assigning obsidian artefacts fromMesoamerica is also capable of sourcing artefacts fromthe northern New Mexico sources.

Gratuzc, B.Obsidian Characterization by Laser Ablation ICP­MS and its Application to Prehistoric Trade in theMediterranean and the Near East: Sources andDistribution of Obsidian within the Aegean andAnatolia. Journal 0/ Archaeological Science(1999) 26, 869-88.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 2001 - 3

For geological studies, interest in mass spectrometry withan inductively coupled plasma as an ion source and itsassociation with laser ablation as a sample introductiontechnique (LA-ICP-MS) has steadily increased duringthe past few years and is now being developed in otherfields such as archaeology. After a description of theanalytical procedure and the calculation method, weshow U,e potential of this technique to characterize,almost non-destructively, archaeological anefacts.Among the 70 elements that could be routinely analyzedby LA-ICP-MS with detection limits below the ppmlcvcl, we choose to detennine the more critical ones inorder to evaluate the geochemical models of themagmatic process (major elements, rare earths and sometransition elements). A detailed survey of Cappadocianobsidian flows is given, and includes the characterizationof nine different sources. Evidence of complex tradeactivities is clearly shown by the obsidian tools found atdifferent prehistoric sites (from Neolithic to Bronze Agelevels) in U,e Mediterranean and the Near Eas!. Newresults on some archaeological sites located in Turkey,Syria and Cyprus are presented. They show theimportance of Cappadocian sources in obsidian trade.Our results show Our results show U,at LA-ICP-MSallows a non-destructive analysis of archaeologicalobjects and that it combines the advantage of thedifferent classical methods used to characterize obsidiansources (mainly XRF and INAA) with high sensitivityand rapidity. Thus LA-ICP-MS appears to be a verypowerful analyl lcal tool and, at Utis time, U,is techniqueis the only one which can non-destructively determinesuch an important number of elements with such lowdetection limits.

Hamilton, Victoria E.; Christensen, Philip R.A Global View of Martian Surface Compositionsfrom MGS-TES[Report]. Science 287(5458): 1626­1630, March 3, 2000.

Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data from theMars Global Surveyor (MGS) arc used to determinecompositions and distributions of martian low-albedoregions. Two surface spectral signatures are identifiedfrom low-albedo regions. Comparisons with spectra ofterrestrial rock samples and deconvolution resultsindicate that the two compositions are a basalticcomposition dominated by plagioclase fcldspar andclinopyroxene and an andesitic composition dominatedby plagioclase feldspar and volcanic glass. Thedistribution of U,e two compositions is split roughlyalong the planetary dichotomy. The basaltic compositionis confined to older surfaces, and the more siliciccomposition is concentrated in the youngcr northernplains.

Morgenstein, Maury E., Wicket, Carolyn L., andBarkalt, Aaron

Considerations ofHydration-rind Dating ofGlassArtefacts: Alteration Morphologies andEx-perimentaJ EvidenceofHydrogeochemical Soil­zone Pore Water Control. Journal ofArchaeological Science (1999) 26,1193-1210.

SEM-EDAX textural-chemical alterationmorphologies of man-made glass from Egypt andmodem soda lime glass are compared to literature datafor obsidian and sideromelane (rhyolitic and basalticglass). A series of laboratory experiments using sodalime glass slides held at 90° C for 3-21 days of bathsusing different salt solutions (MgCl" LiC;, NaCl,CaCI" and Kel) in various concentrations providescompelling evidence that for any particular glasscomposition the style of glass corrosion (hydration­dissolution) is dependent on solution geochemistry.Two fundamental styles of glass corrosion occur:pitting dissolution and gel-laminated hydration.Glasses of different compositions may be havedifferently in similar anthrosols. Reaction style andkinetics, and hydration-dissolution rates are controlledby soil temperature, glass and soil water chemistry,and ultimately alkali exchange between the glassartefacts and the soil-zone pore water. Glass and gelthickness loss through dissolution reactions maycomprise hydration dating and may be responsible fora variety of reported apparent chronologicalinconsistencies. Future studies with obsidian andsideromelane under bath conditions and in the naturalenvironment are needed to assess tlleir response tovariable soil-zone solution geochemistry.

Nakazawa, YuichiManagement ofcore blanks in terms oflithic rawmaterialavailability in the Last GlacialMaximumin }fakkaido, Japan .. Presented at the 30thannual meeting of Japan Association forQuaternary Research, Chiba, Japan, August 25th,2000.

Management of core blanks of Upper Paleolithichunter-gatherers, dated at approximately 20,00014Cyrs.B.P. in terms oflithic raw material availabilityis discussed, based on the examination of two lithicassemblages, recovered from Kashiwadai I site andMarukoyarna site. The distance of both sites is 7 kmand the nearest provenance ofobsidian, which is calledAkaigawa, is more than 70 km away fTom both sites indirect. Two main issues, regarding lithic raw materialavailability of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, areexamined. First is the issue how we can elucidate lithicraw material management in terms ofmaintainability

lAOS Bulletin No. 26; Winter 2001 - 4

and productivity. Second is how lithic raw materialavailability relates to site occupation duration andfrequency of activities across the site.

In terms of core reduction sequences, 85 cores fromKashiwadai I site are classified into four types of A, B,C and D. The mean size of each type is signifieantlydifferent (ANOYA; df=3, F=5.1365, P<O.OI) and type Aand B are apparently smaller than type C and D(ANOYA; df=2, F=4l.5778, p<O.OI). Type A and B aremade from flakes while the type C and D are made fromnodules, represents thaI size difference is in relation tothe form of blanks.

The productivity of Oakes from those cores areestimated by a value tluit the weight of each core isdivided by number of scars on it. DistriQulion of thisvalue in each type of core, showed that Oake core blankshave higher productivity tI,an nodule core blanks in bothassemblages. Thus, the productivity of Oakes from typeA and B are higher tI,an type C and D. However, ti,e datatI,at Marukoyama assemblage has higher rate ofobsidiancores than the Kashiwadail ([02=4.487, df=l, p<0.05.),may contradict the issue that the lithic raw material isnot necessarily correlated with the distance between rawmaterial provenance and the site. This result is wellexplained with ti,e data thaI Marukoyama assemblageshows higher rate of retouched tools reutilized from cores(Oake core blanks) than that ofKashiwadai I assemblage([02=21.268, df= J, p<O.OO I). Thus, the maintainabilityofobsidian·Oake core blanks in Marukoyama is relativelyhigher than that.ofKashiwadai l.

As a consequence, obsidian is utilized for small flakecore blanks (type A and B) that have highermaintainabilil)' and productivity, is suitable for the toolkits managed by foragers who would occupied for a shortduration at Marukoyama site for their. specific task.

Gerard Poupeau, Ludovic Bellot-Gmle!, Yerane Brisottoand OlivierDorighel

Nouvelles donnees sur la provenance del'obsidienne des siles neolith-iques du Sud-Est de laFrance (with an extended abstract in English).Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, vol.330, 297-303, 2000.

We analyzed the chemical composition of 22 artefactsconsidered obsidian by PIXE in non-destructive mode.The samples were collected from II Neolithic st.1tions inSouth-East France, between the Rhone valley and theNorthern Alps. One piece appeared not to be an obsidian.Among the others, 20 came from a single source inSardinia and one from an unknown source. These dataconlirm the importance of the Sardinian origin of theobsidian found in France, in part.icular for the MiddleNeolithic.

Richct, P., and Polian, A.

Water as a Dense lcelike Component in SilicateGlasses [Report). Science (1998) 281(5375):396­398.

Density and Brillouin-scattering measurements ofhydrous andesite glasses at ambient conditions showedthat dissolved water has a concentration-independentpartial molar volume of 12 +/- 0.5 cubic centimetersper mole and a bulk modulus of 18 +/- 3 gigapascals.Dissolved as hydrox")'1 ions or as molecular water,water has volume properties similar to those of ice VII,the densest form of ice. These properties point tohydrogen bonding as·an important factor in waterdissolution, and they indicate that changes of waterspeciation are driven by the entropy and not by thevolume ofthe system. Water in a concentration greaterthan I percent by weight also causes a markeddecrease of the shear modulus of the glass.

Roth, Barbara J.

Obsidian Source Characterization and Hunter­gatherer Mobility: an Example fTom the TucsonBasin. Journal ofArchaeological Science (2000)27,305-314.

Obsidian source characterization is another tool thatcan be use by archaeologists to examine hunter­gatherer mobility strategies by allowing them toreconstruct the potential geographic eX"tent of groupmobility. In this paper, data on obsidian sourcecharacterization from nine Archaic sites in the TucsonBasin of southern Arizona are used to deternunewhether changes in obsidian procurement ranges areassociated with a reduction .in residential mobilitydocumented in the area between the Middle and LateArchaiclEarly Agricultural periods. Analysis of thedata reveals that not only do procurement rangeschange, but procurement strategies may also havechanged. It is argued that obsidian sourcecharacterization is a useful tool for examining groupmobility when used in conjunction with otiler site data.

Sandweiss, Daniel H., Mcinnis, Heather, Burger,Richard L., Cano, Asuncion, Ojeda, Bernardino,Paredes, Rolando, Sandweiss, Maria del Carmen, andGlascock, Michael D.

Quebrada Jaguay: Early South AmericanMaritime Adaptations [Report). Science (1998)281(5384): 1830-1832.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 2001 - 5

Excavations at Quebrad~ Jaguay 280 (QJ-280)(16°30' S) in south coastal Peru demonstrated thatPaleoindian-age people of the Terminal Pleistocene(about 11,100 to 10,000 carbon-14 years before thepresent or about 13,000 to 11,000 calibrated years beforethe present) in South America relied on marine resourceswhile resident on the coast, which extends the SouthAmerican record of maritime eX"j)loitation by amillennium. This site suppons recent evidence that

. Paleoindian-age people had diverse subsistence systems.The presence of obsidian at QJ-280 shows that theinhabitants· had contact witi, ti,e adjacent Andeanhighlands during the Ternlinal Pleistocene.

VanPooI, Todd L., VanPool, Christine S., Antillon,Rafael Cruz, Leonard, Roben D., and Harmon, Marcel 1.

Flaked Stone and Social Interaction in the CasasGrandes Region, Chihuahua, Mexico. LalinAmerican Antiquity (2000) II (2): 163-174.

This analysis uses. flaked stone artifacts to gain insightinto the social and economic structure of the CasasGrandes region, nonhern Chihuahua, Mexico. It beginsby considering the intrasite variation in flaked stonereduction at Galeana, a large site near the modem townof Galeana. The analysis of debitage and cores fromGaleana indicates that the assemblage is primarily ti,eproduct of hard hammer, generalized reduction oflocallyavailable materials. Differences within the assemblageindicate the presence ofspatially distinct reduction areas,with initial core reduction occurring in open areas, andthen continuing in room blocks. We then compare theGaleana assemblage with the flaked stone assemblagefrom the site ofPaquime assemblage is characterized bya greater proportion of cryptocrystaline silicates andobsidian than ti,e Galeana assemblage. Furthermore,much of the raw material from Paquime does not appearto be locally available. We conelude that the prelustoricinhabitants of Paquime had greater access tocryptocrystaline silicates and obsidian acquired throughtrade than did the inllabitants of Galeana. This evidenceindicates that the economic pattern evident at Paquimedid not ex"tend to Galeana and supports ti,e idea thatPaquime's economic and political inDuenc.e over otherCasas Grandes sites was linlited beyond a 30-km radius.

Reports. Articles: and'New Research

Composition Analysis of an Obsidian Artifact from Pubenza, ColombiaAlejandra Gudilio l

, Gonzalo Correal Urregtl, Sergio Herrera l & Michael D, Glascock)'Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

'Depanment of Anthropology, Universidad Nacional, Bogota, Colombia

Pacific Ocean

,0> Peru

Colombia

Atlantic Ocean

Venezuela

Fig J. Map showing the locations ofPubenza and the obsidian sources in Co!u.mbia and Ecuador

Colombia has a long history of researchfocused on the time between' the Tardiglacial andHolocene periods, roughly 14,300-11,OOO B.P. Theproject entitled "The Pleislocene Environment andPrehistoric Man in Colombia" conducted by Correalbetween 1969-1979, had three areas of emphasis.They were (i) the reconstruction of the paleo­environment in the Savannah of Bogota; (ii)documentation of human presence by 12,000 B. P.,and (iii) identification of a simple lithic industry inwhich simple percussion prevailed and the absenceof projectile points on the Atlantic Coast, theMagdalena Valley and the Altiplano of the Easternmountain range. Although these sites did notpresent direct evidence ofan association ofartifactsto megafauna, the existence of these associations inNorth and South America suggested that theyexisted in Colombia. (Figure I).

In 1981, excavations at Tibito producedassociations of remains from Haplarnastodons andEquus with retouched flakes. In 1992, excavationsat El Tutumo produced remains of proboscides andMega/heriurn associated with lithic artifacts.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 2001 - 6

Excavations at Pubenza, in 1993, revealcd theremains of mastodons, also associated with artifacts(Correal 1993). In this note we will present theresults of a geochemieal analysis of an obsidianartifact recovered from Pubenza. Detcrmination ofthe trace element concentrations of the artifactallows us to compare its chemical signature to thesignatures to the obsidian flows at Yanaurco­Quiscatola and Mullurnica in Ecuador and thepreviously measured Azafatudo and Rio Hondosources in Colombia.

The site ofPubenza is located near modem dayBogota in the valley separating the Central·Occidental mountain ranges, at an altitude of 289meters above sea level. The upper portion of thevalley is characterized by rolling hills accompaniedby a dry tropical forest. The lower region of the·valley consists of wide grasslands and floodplainsformed by alluvial processes. The dominant.geologieal materials in this area are clays and sandsderived from the degeneration of tertiary-ageformations, volcanic ash produced from the many.nearby volcanoes, and limestone banded with chert.

networks may have existed in earlier times.Even though the frequency of lithic artifacls at

Pubcnza is low, there is no doubt about human activityduring this early period of time. Thc presence of theobsidian flake from Mullumica indicates movementandlor contact through the Magdalena Valley 10 thesouth. Lithic industries of simple flakes and pebblesare found in the north of Colombia, the CentralAndes, the Coast of Peru and the central and C<1stemparts ofBrazil. The research at Pubcnza implies thatprocesses of specialization and diversification ofhunter-gatherer groups did not necessarily occurduring the early Holocene, but rather earlier. Thevariation of adaptive strategies resulting from diverseecosystems in South America calls into question theidea that adaptation was only possible in open areascoupled \"th a specialized economy.

ReferencesBigazzi. G., Co~telli, M., Hadler Neto, J., Osorio Araya,A., Oddone, M., & Salazar, E. (1992) Obsidian-bearinglava flows and pre-columbian artifacts from the ecuadorianandes: fIrst new multidisciplinary data. Jouma/ of SOIII1IAmen'can Earlh Sciences 6:21-32.Burger, R & Asaro, F. (1977) Trace Element AnalysiS ofObsidianArti!acts!rom theAndes: NewPerspectives 011 Pre­Hispanic Economic Interaction in Pern and Bolivia.University of California, Lawrence Bcrkerley Laboralory,Berkerley.Correal Urrego, G. (1993) HI Sitia Arqueologico­Paleontologico Fubenza 1, Municipio de Girardot. Ms.Glascock, M.D., Braswell, G.E. and Cobean, RH. (t 998)"A Systematic Approach to Obsidian SourceCharacterization." in Shackley, S (Ed) ArchaeologicalObsidian Studies: Method and Theory. Plenum Press. NewYork.Gnecco, C. (1992) Un complejo paeloindio en el noroestede Sudamen"ca. Paper presented at the Vl Congress ofanlrhopology in Colombia, Universidad de los AndesBogota.(1994) The pleistocene holocene boundary in the llorthemandes; an archaeological perspective. PhD WashingtonUniversity.Kelly, RL & Todd. L C. (1988) Coming into the Country:early paleoindian hunting and mobility. American Antiquity53:231-244.Salazar. E. (l980) Talleres Prehiston'co en los AltosAndes del Ecudao. Universidad de Cuenca-Ecuador.(1985) ''Investigaciones Arqueologicas en Mullimica(Provincia del Pichincha)" en Miscela1lia AntropologicaEcuatoriana 5. Cuenca-Guayaquil-Quito.(1992) EI Intercambio de Obsidiana en el EcuadorPrccolombino: Perspectivas Teorico-Metodologicas. EnArqueologia en America Latina Hoy. Edt Politits BancoPopular, Bogota.Tankersley, K B. (1989) Patterns in Lithic exploitation inthe Midwestern united States. In Current Research ;11 thePle;srocelle 6:38-39.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Wimer 2001 - 8

A Proposal for New Research

Maria Diakoslamatiou (ph.D. candidate)Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Aegean, RhodesUnder Ole supervision of Professor loannis

Liritzi's

The proposed research will focus on anassemblage of samples and artifacts fromMediterranean sources and sites (e.g. AegeanSea, Greece, Karpathian, Slovakia, Sicily andItaly). The initial stage of investigation seeks toidentify the physical and the chemical propertiesof obsidian, as well as the mass-transportmechanism of obsidian glass. An effort will alsobe made to refine the OHD age equation.

At the recently established Laboratory of'Archaeometry in the Aegean University, acomplimentary sct of experimental procedureswill be perfonned including: ED XRF analysis,a detailed calibration ofa portable spectrometer,radicals by EPR, FTIR, and radioactivitymeasurements (pair techniques). The Uraniumand Thorium contents and radon emanation perobsidian source will be investigated, as well.

The hydration rims of the artifactsderived from the previously listed sources andsites, will be measured. Also an effort, for amore precise specification of the hydration rim,will be made. This will be approached bydetennining alternative procedures forspecification.

Well provenieced obsidian artifacts, withsecure archaeological dates, will 'be selected totest the relaibility of the refined OHD ageequation. The dates derived from themeasurement values ofthe hydration rims will becompared to the archaeological dates.

Finally, the parameters that affect therate of hydration will be investigated. Thisstudy serves as the first attempt to revisit OHDin Europe and we envisage the establishment ofa reliable OHD method in Rhodes for OHD inMediterranean region.

The candidate's background is inchemical engineering with a specializedknowledge of the science and technology of thematerial~. The proposed research was thesubject of her graduation thesis.

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Fig. 2. Biven·ate plot 01!.A versus Rb showing the obsidian arlifacIsfrom Pubenza compared tosources in Columbia and Ecudaor. Confidence ellipses ollhe 95% confidence interval are shown.

Interest in the site ofPubenza developed with thediscovery of the skeletal remains of two mastodonsinterred one on top of the other. Looking to establishthe presence of cultural elements, Alejandra Gudinoparticipated in excavations of the site carried out in1993. The excavations revealed that the site had oncebeen located in an area characterized by lakes andmarshes as indicated by the remains of crustaceans,snails, and turtles. We also found calcified plants,pollen and seeds, mastodons, annadillos, and rodents.Fragments of red ochre, resins and substantialquantities of charcoal were found, although no fire­pits were identified.

Most important was the discovery of. lithicartifacts of obvious human production. The artifactsincluded a large scraper, 19 harnmerstones producedfrom local chert, retouched flakes used as smallscrapers similar to those found at Abra andTequendama, the two earliest known sites on thesavannah of Bogota. Also, one obsidian flakeassociated with wood charcoal, ochre, bones and chertflakes was found. On the dorsal surface of the artifactone can see the ridge formed from two separate blows.The venlIal surface manifests a prominent percussionbulb. These features are consistent with those oftenseen in retouched blades.

Four samples of charcoal were analyzed at theGronigcn CI4 laboratory in Hol,land, and thefollowing results were obtained. The obsidian artifactwas collected from level 9 and associated with anuncorrected date of 16, 400 B.P. plus or minus 420years. Ochre, resins and chen flakes were also foundin the stnlta.

After determining the chemical signature of theartifact with neutron activation analysis at MURR(Glascock et al. 1998), we compared it to the chemicalprofiles of the four known characterized obsidiansources in Colombia and Ecuador (Bigazzi et al. 1992;Burger & Asaro 1977; Gnecco 1994). In Fi.gure 2, weshow a biv,ariate plot of lanthanum and rubidiumwhere the artifact matches the profile of theMullurnica source in Ecuador. Thus, we can be surethat the artifact found at Pubenza originated from thisflow located a great distance to the south.

The Mullurrtica source appears to have been themost heavily exploited source in' northern Ecuadorfrom prehistory to the time of the Conquest. Thisheavy exploitation can most certainly be attributed tothe large quantities of high quality obsidian that itprovides. In the lower pan of the source valley,mining pits adjacent workshops were discovered in1979 (Salazar 1980, 1985, and 1992). Over 70% ofthe dcbilagc found at the workshop suggest that flakesoccurred over a great length of time.

Although the distance between Pubell2ll and theMullimica source is over 4ookm, long distance travelis not uncommon. Research conducted by Kelley &Todd (1988), Tankersley (1989) and many others inNorth America indicates that distances up to 1500 krnwere sometimcs traveled in order to eX'Ploit non-localresources.

Another case study by Gnecco (1992) describeSthe existence of obsidian exchange networks linkingsouthwestern Colombia ,vith the northern pan ofEcuador hack to 11,000 B.P. This study is importantbecause it documents the possibility that such

IAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 2001 - 7 ,

,

ABOUT THE lAOS

The lAOS was established to:

I. Develop standards for analytic procedurcs andcnsure inter-laboratory comparability;

2. Develop standards for recording and rcportingobsidian hydration and charactcrization results;

3. Provide technical support in the fonn oftraining and workshops for those wanting todevelop their cxpertise in the field, and;

4. Provide a central source of informationregarding the advances in obsidian studies andthe analytic capabilities of various laboratories

and institutions.

Membership

The lAOS needs membership to ensure success ofthe organization. To be included as a memberand receive all of the benefits thereof, you mayapply for membership in one of the followingcategories:

Regular member S20.00/yearInstitutional memberSSO.OOStudent member SlO.OO/year or free witl,submission of paper to newsletter andcopy.of current student identification

Life-Time Member S200.00

Regular members are individuals or institutionswho are interested in obsidian studies, and wish tosupport the goals of the lAOS. Regular memberswill receive any general mailings; announcementsof meetings, conferences, and symposia; bulletins;and papers distributed by the lAOS during the year.Regular members are entitled to attend and vote inAnnual Meetings.

Institutional members are those individuals,facilities, and institutions who are active inobsidian studies and wish to participate in inter­laboratory comparisons and standardization. If aninstitution joins, all members of that institution arelisted as lAOS members, although they will receiveonly one mailing per institution. Institutionalmembers \vill receive assistance from, or be able tocollaborate \vith, other institutional members.Institutional members are automatically on tlleExecutive Board, and as such have greaterinfluence on the goals and activities of the lAOS.

lAOS Bulletin No. 26, Winter 200 I - 9

.~,

CALL FOR ARTICLESAND INFORMAnON

Submissions ofarticles, short reports, abstracts,or announcements for inclusion in the newsletter

are always welcome. We accept electronic

media on IBM-compatible diskettes in a variety

of word-processing formats, but Word Pcrfect

(up to 9.0) or Word 97 is preferred. A hard

COpy of the text and any figures should

accompany diskettes.

Deadline for Issue No. 27 is 30 May 2001

Send Submissions to ­

William J. McFarlane

SUNY - Buffalo

Department of Anthropology

380 MFAC, Ellicott Complex

Buffalo, NY 14261

To send announcements, short contributions,

discuss article ideas, or make suggestions,

please get in touch bye-mail:

wi 111 J(cj)acsu. blltTaJo.e<lll

'Membership fee may be reduced and/orwaived in cases of financial hardship or difficultyin paying in foreign currency. Please complete thefonn and return to the Secrctary-Treasurer with ashort explanation regarding lack of payment.

"Because membership fees are very low, thelAOS asks that all payments be made in US dollarsin international money orders or checks payable ona bank with a US branch. If you do not do so,much of your dues are spent in currency exchange.Ifyou wish to join us, mail a check or money orderto the lAOS:

Michael Gottesman,Secretary-Treasurer4291 lOr:! '8BS StreetTOl Ilwee. C.\ 98583