DOI article:
Oddone, Massimo: Provenance studies of obsidian artefacts in the Near East: a multidisciplinary study
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41864#0107
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Armenian and Georgian sources, excepted those referred to as K-D (Kars-Digor)
which have FT parameters very similar to those of the obsidians located SE of
Kars. Nevertheless, considering the hydrography of the region, whereas a Kars-
Digor provenance is highly probable for the Argishtikhinili terraces because they
belong to the Araxe river which receives the water from a tributary which cross
the Digor area volcanics, the Akhourian river receives the water from NE of
Kars. Very probably Akourian lOa represents one of the sources located NE of
Kars whose characteristics are unknown to us.
We have reported in table 3 also results referring to two samples —
Tsakhkahovit 3b and Kuchak 1 — in order to exemplify peculiar data some
artefacts may yield. Tsakhkahovit 3b, with an age of few thoudands of years,
suffered during its use an intense heating process which erased pre-existing
tracks. The tracks we counted are due to fissions occurred after this event, and
the determined age is an „archaeological” age — the age of the use of the
artefact instead of the formation age of the obsidian it originated from. Kuchak
1 represents a morę rare phenomenon. In this case the heating process was not
enough intense to totally reset the FT clock. This artefact showed a bimodal
spontaneous track-size distribution. Using the population of the larger tracks,
which formed after the thermal event, it was possible to determine the
archaeological age of Kuchak 1, and using the population of the smaller tracks,
it was possible to identify its source.
Summary and conclusions
Around 90 obsidians from Anatolian and Transcaucasian occurrences have
been characterized using INAA and FT dating. INAA and/or FT dating have
been applied to artefacts from 35 settlements from Anatolian and Armenian sites
in order to identify their source. The results of these studies performed in the
frame of international joint research projects are summarized in fig. 3.
Although many efforts have been madę in order to enhance knowledge of the
characteristics of the obsidian sources of these regions, the present stage of
knowledge of those from Anatolia can not be considered satisfactory yet.
Nevertheless, the combined use of two techniąues based upon different
parameters — Chemical characterisation by INAA and FT dating — allowed to
identify most volcanics the studied artefacts originated from. These results of this
study prove the potentiality of a multidisciplinary approach based on different
techniąues, that may turn very useful in case of dubious source identification.
However, due:
— the poor resolution of FT dating for discriminating events occurred in short
time spans compared to their age;
Armenian and Georgian sources, excepted those referred to as K-D (Kars-Digor)
which have FT parameters very similar to those of the obsidians located SE of
Kars. Nevertheless, considering the hydrography of the region, whereas a Kars-
Digor provenance is highly probable for the Argishtikhinili terraces because they
belong to the Araxe river which receives the water from a tributary which cross
the Digor area volcanics, the Akhourian river receives the water from NE of
Kars. Very probably Akourian lOa represents one of the sources located NE of
Kars whose characteristics are unknown to us.
We have reported in table 3 also results referring to two samples —
Tsakhkahovit 3b and Kuchak 1 — in order to exemplify peculiar data some
artefacts may yield. Tsakhkahovit 3b, with an age of few thoudands of years,
suffered during its use an intense heating process which erased pre-existing
tracks. The tracks we counted are due to fissions occurred after this event, and
the determined age is an „archaeological” age — the age of the use of the
artefact instead of the formation age of the obsidian it originated from. Kuchak
1 represents a morę rare phenomenon. In this case the heating process was not
enough intense to totally reset the FT clock. This artefact showed a bimodal
spontaneous track-size distribution. Using the population of the larger tracks,
which formed after the thermal event, it was possible to determine the
archaeological age of Kuchak 1, and using the population of the smaller tracks,
it was possible to identify its source.
Summary and conclusions
Around 90 obsidians from Anatolian and Transcaucasian occurrences have
been characterized using INAA and FT dating. INAA and/or FT dating have
been applied to artefacts from 35 settlements from Anatolian and Armenian sites
in order to identify their source. The results of these studies performed in the
frame of international joint research projects are summarized in fig. 3.
Although many efforts have been madę in order to enhance knowledge of the
characteristics of the obsidian sources of these regions, the present stage of
knowledge of those from Anatolia can not be considered satisfactory yet.
Nevertheless, the combined use of two techniąues based upon different
parameters — Chemical characterisation by INAA and FT dating — allowed to
identify most volcanics the studied artefacts originated from. These results of this
study prove the potentiality of a multidisciplinary approach based on different
techniąues, that may turn very useful in case of dubious source identification.
However, due:
— the poor resolution of FT dating for discriminating events occurred in short
time spans compared to their age;