Imports and Outcrops: Characterizing the Baantu Obsidian Source and Artifacts from Mochena Borago Rockshelter, Wolaita, Ethiopia, Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances in Material Sourcing and Provenience Studies in Africa" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Forty-two obsidian samples from the Baantu obsidian source, including 25 outcrop samples and 17 surface artifacts, were characterized using portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. These source data were then compared to 116 obsidian artifacts from Mochena Borago Rockshelter, excavated from levels dated to >50 ka BP and ~43 ka BP. Results suggest at least three geochemical clusters present at the Baantu source: one representing local outcrops, and two deriving from as-yet unknown sources. Comparing these data to obsidian artifacts at Mochena Borago, results confirm previous analyses that local Baantu obsidian was preferred in later periods, but also reveal that Baantu obsidian was in the minority in the earliest sampled levels. These early levels preserve obsidian from as many as six as-yet unidentified sources. Comparison to published obsidian data suggests little if any procurement of obsidian from northern areas of the rift. These patterns allow archaeologists to consider the shifting scales of human and material interactions during periods when hunting and gathering peoples were dispersing not only across Africa but across the globe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Recent Advances in Material Sourcing and Provenience Studies in Africa

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36102.0