Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The geographic distribution of toolstone and human modified minerals is a fundamental element of modern archaeological analysis. Documenting and defining both natural and manuport distributions of these materials can address questions about settlement/mobility, economy, exchange, kinship, gender, ethnogenesis, and other areas of anthropological inquiry. For example, what does the distribution of chemically sourced obsidian or a distinctive regional chert tell us about the lifeways, networks, and social hierarchies of past peoples. This symposium explores case studies from a variety of global contexts and eras to elucidate the geological, geographical, and human relational contexts of toolstones and/or minerals and to generate a more holistic view of the geological landscape.