The Importance of Identifying Specific Obsidian Subsources on Sardinia to Interpreting Long-Distance Trade in the Neolithic Central Mediterranean

Summary

This is an abstract from the "2019 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of M. Steven Shackley" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For the Central Mediterranean island of Sardinia, studies have shown that the usage of obsidian from specific subsources changed over time. Human selection may have been based on their accessibility, physical properties of the raw material, and the size and quantity available. In addition, socioeconomic factors, lithic technology, and usage needs affected their production practices, which varied geographically and changed over time from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age (ca. 5700-1500 BC). Production and widespread distribution was rapidly established in the Early Neolithic, and beyond Sardinia dwindled away after 3000 BC. Analyses of thousands of artifacts from many sites in Corsica, the Tuscan Archipelago, and mainland sites in Italy and southern France clearly show an extensive distribution overall of Sardinian obsidian, reaching more than 750 km away in Spain, but with significant differences not only in their percentage of the overall lithic assemblage but in the subsources that were utilized. The extensive data now available allows assessments of variables including changes over time in territorial control of source localities with the development of complex societies; in the distance and frequency of maritime transport; in the production technology used and involvement of specialists; and in contextual characterization and lithic usage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2019 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of M. Steven Shackley   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22979