Sources and Distribution of Palmarola Obsidian in the Central Mediterranean during the Neolithic

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The tiny island of Palmarola, about 35 km south of Cape Circeo (between Rome and Naples, Italy), was an important source of obsidian during the Neolithic in the Central Mediterranean. While thought to have been a minor source, compared to Lipari and Sardinia, extensive artifact analyses in recent years of museum and other collections show that Palmarola obsidian was widely distributed, although the use of non-destructive pXRF spectrometers were not capable of distinguishing the three source subgroups identified through geological survey and analyses by INAA and LA-ICP-MS.

Analysis by pXRF has enabled testing of complete archaeological assemblages and has led to the identification of Palmarola obsidian within lithic assemblages at more than 60 archaeological sites throughout peninsular Italy as well as in Corsica, southern France, the Adriatic, and Croatia. Very rarely, however, was Palmarola the only obsidian source used at the archaeological sites that have been tested, and it was the major source at only 25%. The techno-typological characteristics of each artifact were also recorded in order to assess potential production and use patterns. When possible, the contexts and chronology of the lithic assemblages were incorporated in assessing and enabling potential statistical comparisons over time, space, and raw material.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32950