Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

By means of geochemical sourcing of obsidian and its relationship to human behavior, including procurement, production, transport, trade, distribution, use, and discard, archaeologists have illuminated technological, economic, ritual, and political domains in a wide range of organizations from foraging hominins using the Oldowan stone tools to craft specialists in Teotihuacan. In addition to methodological advancement in the provenance studies of obsidian using standard analytical techniques (notably, portable-EDXRF), archaeologists have explored diversified theoretical, methodological, and empirical studies to squeeze potential knowledge regarding human use of obsidian (e.g., formation processes, micro-wears, surface modifications, obsidian hydration, and core/tool reductions). Because obsidian is globally exploited material, the goal of the present symposium is to enhance our understanding of the current variability in archaeological questions and approaches to complexity in human use of obsidian, through assembling archaeological studies of obsidian from various temporal settings from the Pleistocene to the contemporary world between the Old and New Worlds.

Other Keywords
Trade and exchange • Paleolithic • Maya: Classic • Archaeometry & Materials Analysis: XRF/pXRF • Lithic Analysis: Obsidian • Chronology • Dating Techniques • Mobility • Pueblo • Neolithic

Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) • United Mexican States (Country) • Peten (State / Territory) • Yucatan (State / Territory) • Belize (Country) • Orange Walk (State / Territory) • Cayo (State / Territory) • Corozal (State / Territory) • Belize (State / Territory) • Stann Creek (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)

  • Documents (7)
Documents
  • Assessing the Potential for ED-XRF in Archaeometric Studies: A Focus on Data Sharing and Bulk Chemical Analysis (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeffrey R. Ferguson.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past few decades, the increasing use of compositional studies of archaeological materials has dramatically enhanced our knowledge of the past, but as the diversity and availability of analytical techniques increases it is necessary to understand all of the variables involved in the choice of analytical method. In this...

  • An Assessment of the Intrinsic Water Content to Understanding Obsidian Hydration: A Case Study of Paleolithic Obsidian from the Shirataki Region in Hokkaido, Japan (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Yuichi Nakazawa. Kyohei Sano.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Among the various factors that potentially affect the obsidian hydration rates, intrinsic water content of obsidian has been considered a significant factor. Despite this understanding, variation in water content even within the geochemically identical provenance of obsidian makes us difficult to evaluate the effect of water content...

  • Paleotemperature Adjustments for Obsidian Hydration Dating (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexander Rogers. Christopher Stevenson.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Obsidian hydration dating (OHD) is a method for estimating age of an obsidian artifact based on time-dependent absorption of water. The process is temperature-sensitive, and its application to archaeological dating currently requires assuming that current temperature parameters are a reasonable approximation to ancient temperatures....

  • Pitchstone in Prehistory: New Insights into the Mesolithic and Neolithic use of Pitchstone in Scotland (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Clive Bonsall. Maria Gurova.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pitchstone is a glassy volcanic rock similar to obsidian but in Europe, its geological occurrence and its use as a raw material for prehistoric chipped-stone assemblages are much more restricted. In northern Britain where good quality flint is scarce, pitchstone circulated widely in the Neolithic with artifacts made from this...

  • Potential Applications for Agent-Based Models in Obsidian Studies (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Phyllis Johnson.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists have been using agent-based modelling (ABM) to re-create prehistoric social, economic, and political processes, along with prehistoric environments since the first publication of the model commonly known as "Artificial Anasazi." Very few archaeologists have attempted to model prehistoric lithic technology, however,...

  • Temporal Changes in Obsidian Procurement Strategy during the Upper Paleolithic on Hokkaido (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Masami Izuho. Jeffrey Ferguson.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Reconstruction of obsidian procurement strategies based on systematic obsidian sourcing analysis in the Upper Paleolithic on Hokkaido will provides an important basis for examining several key issues of human evolutionary history, including how modern humans adapted to the cold, harsh environment of the north, and how these...

  • Variation in Obsidian Source Consumption within the Kingdom of Piedras Negras (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Max Seidita. Whittaker Schroder. Alejandra Roche Recinos. Charles Golden. Andrew Scherer.

    This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. More than a decade of archaeological research has characterized the political landscape of the middle Usumacinta river valley as a tense political rivalry between the Classic period Maya (250 – 900 C.E.) kingdoms. Recent archaeological work in the kingdoms of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan has sought to unravel how the internal...