Long-Term Perspectives from Obsidian Sourcing in the Southern Levant

Summary

CAMPEAU, K., CARTER, T., GARFINKEL, Y., ROSENBERG, D. and STREIT, K.

This poster details the elemental characterization of obsidian artefacts from three prehistoric sites in Israel: Beisamoun, Nahal Lavan 109 and Tel Tsaf. Raw material sourcing was achieved using the non-destructive technique of EDXRF spectroscopy, matching the chemical fingerprint of the artefacts’ materials with those from known obsidian sources. With the assemblages spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to Chalcolithic (9th – 6th millennia BC), our aim was to generate a long durée view of supra regional connectivity . When integrated with techno-typological data, our results provide us with a deep-time perspective on not only raw material choice, but also cultural-technical traditions. Preliminary results suggest an initial conservative focus on Cappadocian (Göllü Dağ) obsidian, a habit that is radically reconfigured by the 6th millennium BC with evidence for the use of a wide array of raw materials from sources in Central, Eastern and North-Eastern Anatolia. These results are then located within a broader discussion of socio-economic changes in the southern Levant during these periods.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords