94
Potential sources of raw materiał in the Near East
The obsidian occurrences of the Anatolian and Transcaucasian regions were
little known by the international scientific community in late 80’s of last century.
Although Turkish and Armenian geologists had studied obsidian bearing
volcanics of these regions, their studies were little known abroad. During the
following decade morę detailed field work in given areas and a certain degree of
international coordination and information exchange between scientists working
with obsidian provenance studies greatly improved knowledge of the characteris-
tics of the obsidian sources of the Near East. Nevertheless, the present status of
obsidian source identification in these regions can not be considered exhaustive
yet. Descriptions and maps showing location (fig. 1) and stratigraphic
relationships of the studied obsidian occurrences of the Near East are reported
in relatively recent review articles [Ercan et al. 1996; Bigazzi et al. 1997; Poidevin
1998; Keller et al. 1996; Karapetian et al. 2001].
Fig. 1. Map of the obsidian bearing volcanics potential sources
of raw materiał for tool-making of the Near East
Analytical techniąues
Although various analytical methods based on the study of the physical and
Chemical properties of the glass have been tested in order to discriminate the
potential natural sources and to correlate the obsidian artefacts with them, the
Potential sources of raw materiał in the Near East
The obsidian occurrences of the Anatolian and Transcaucasian regions were
little known by the international scientific community in late 80’s of last century.
Although Turkish and Armenian geologists had studied obsidian bearing
volcanics of these regions, their studies were little known abroad. During the
following decade morę detailed field work in given areas and a certain degree of
international coordination and information exchange between scientists working
with obsidian provenance studies greatly improved knowledge of the characteris-
tics of the obsidian sources of the Near East. Nevertheless, the present status of
obsidian source identification in these regions can not be considered exhaustive
yet. Descriptions and maps showing location (fig. 1) and stratigraphic
relationships of the studied obsidian occurrences of the Near East are reported
in relatively recent review articles [Ercan et al. 1996; Bigazzi et al. 1997; Poidevin
1998; Keller et al. 1996; Karapetian et al. 2001].
Fig. 1. Map of the obsidian bearing volcanics potential sources
of raw materiał for tool-making of the Near East
Analytical techniąues
Although various analytical methods based on the study of the physical and
Chemical properties of the glass have been tested in order to discriminate the
potential natural sources and to correlate the obsidian artefacts with them, the