Sourcing Obsidian

François-Xavier Le Bourdonnec (Ph.D. 2007, Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3) is an Associate Professor of Archaeological Sciences at Université Bordeaux Montaigne. He works on the provenance and circulation of lithic raw materials used in prehistoric times, particularly obsidian and flint, with over one hundred scientific publications on these topics. His research on obsidian has focused mainly on peri-Mediterranean regions. He teaches courses in Archaeology and Art History, and is strongly committed to student training. He is currently Deputy Vice-President for Student Life & Campus Experience at Université Bordeaux Montaigne. Since 2022, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the ArcheoSciences journal.M. Steven Shackley (Ph.D. 1990, Arizona State University) is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, where he taught archaeological geochemistry and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry jointly with the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, lithic technology, quantitative methods, and the prehistory of the North American Southwest for more than 23 years. Receiving US National Science Foundation continuing sponsorship for the Archaeological XRF Lab at Berkeley, he has processed over 100,000 artifacts, mainly obsidian, through that laboratory and the current facility. Publishing hundreds of peer reviewed papers, and numerous books and monographs on these subjects Professor Shackley continues to engage in geological and archaeological XRF analyses at the Geoarchaeological XRF Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.Marie Orange (Ph.D. 2017, Southern Cross University) specialises in the investigation of lithic assemblages for the reconstitution of comprehensive lithic economies and the socio-economic systems within which the raw materials were acquired, transformed, and circulated. Her expertise lies in obsidian studies, for which she uses an integrated provenance/technological approach to reconstitute the reduction sequences for each raw material identified. In the last ten years, her research has led her to work on projects investigating the exploitation of obsidian on Neolithic to Bronze Age sites in the Western Mediterranean, Near East, Caucasus, and North-western Iran. She is currently affiliated with the Archéorient (CNRS UMR 5133) laboratory.

• Preface.- Part I: Back to the field: geological exploration, databases, and library collections.- Chapter 1. Introduction – Understanding obsidian petrology and chemistry in the service of Archaeology (S. Shackley).- Chapter 2. Highland zone exploitation in South-eastern Europe: the case of Mount Chikiani obsidian in the Javakheti Plateau (Georgia) (P. Biagi, R. Nisbet, B. Gratuze).- Chapter 3. “In search of a lost source”: combining geochemistry, geology, and archaeology to pinpoint unknown primary obsidian locales in far eastern Russia (A. Grebennikov, Y. Kuzmin).- Chapter 4. The importance of the Monte Arci secondary outcrops for archaeological questions in the Western Mediterranean (C. Lugliè, F.-X. Le Bourdonnec).- Chapter 5. Using volcanic and morphologic settings for obsidian sourcing. Example of the Bingöl sources (Eastern Anatolia) (D. Mouralis, C. Kuzucuoğlu, E. Akköprü).- Chapter 6. Overview and prospect of obsidian provenance studies in Japan (Y. Suda, N. Ikeya, K. Shimada, A. Ono).- Part II: A snapshot of current practices.- Chapter 7. Introduction – A Brief History and Discussion of XRF in Archaeology in the Service of Obsidian Source Provenance Studies (S. Shackley).- Chapter 8. Analytical method(s) comparison for the characterization of five Caucasian obsidian sources (B. Gratuze, F.-X. Le Bourdonnec, M. Orange, E. Pernicka, D. Mouralis et al.).- Chapter 9. A review of portable XRF instruments (M. Golitko).- Chapter 10. Why still use a nuclear reactor to study obsidian? (M. D. Glascock).- Chapter 11. 40Ar/39Ar dating of obsidian: current practices and limits (S. Nomade).- Chapter 12. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for on-field obsidian sourcing (D. Syvilay, B. Bousquet, R. Chapoulie, M. Orange, F.-X. Le Bourdonnec.- Chapter 13. Hydration Rates for the Bodie Hills Obsidian Regional Source, Eastern California, Based on Infrared Spectroscopy and Optical Measurement (C. Stevenson, A. Rogers, G. Haverstock).- Chapter 14. Current Obsidian Hydration Dating Practice in the Western United States (A. Rogers, C. Stevenson).- Chapter 15. Practices and perspectives in magnetic sourcing of ancient obsidians (E. Olivetti, E. Tema, E. Zanella, C. Beatrice, E. Ferrara).- Chapter 16. Introduction – Beneath the surface: A brief reflection on the current challenges in obsidian sourcing studies (M. Orange).- Chapter 17. Complex networks of obsidian exchange in the Neolithic of SW Asia (J. J. Ibanez, D. Ortega, L. Khalidi, F. Pichon, L. Teira).- Chapter 18. Exploiting the sources: obsidian in the later prehistory of the northern Levant and northern Mesopotamia (S. Campbell, E. Healey, O. Maeda).- Chapter 19. Exploitation of the Zayukovo (Baksan) obsidian source in the Middle Paleolithic (E. Doronicheva, S. Shackley).- Chapter 20. Provenance of archaeological obsidian in far eastern Russia and Northeastern Siberia: the results of 30 years of investigations (Y. Kuzmin, A. Grebennikov).- Chapter 21. The Neolithic obsidian procurement and consumption in the Middle Kura Valley, South Caucasus (Y. Nishiaki).- Chapter 22. Obsidian use during the Palaeolithic in the Armenian Highlands (E. Frahm, D. Adler, B. Gasparyan).- Chapter 23. The use of obsidian in the South Caucasus (Armenia): history and results of provenance studies (R. Badalyan, O. Barge, C. Chataigner, B. Gratuze, K. Meliksetyan, E. Pernicka).- Chapter 24. Through the valley and over the hills. Investigating the obsidian exploitation strategies of mobile pastoralist groups in Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan, Southern Caucasus) (M. Orange, M. Moore, R. Berthon, F.-X. Le Bourdonnec, V. Bakhshaliyev, O. Barge, C. Marro).- Chapter 25. Obsidian use and interaction across Arabia and the Horn of Africa during the mid- to late Holocene (L. Khalidi, B. Gratuze, C. Oppenheimer, C. Ménard, E. Keall).- Chapter 26. Two-million-years of obsidian extraction, utilization, and exchange in eastern Africa (S. Goldstein, S. James, K. Ranhorn).- Chapter 27. The Circulation and Consumption of Aegean Obsidian: History of Research, Raw Material Uses, Major Debates, and Future Directions (T. Carter).-Chapter 28. Provenance and circulation of obsidian in Early and Late Aceramic Neolithic Cyprus (T. Moutsiou).- Chapter 29. Prehistoric Obsidian Source Selection at the Brochtorff Circle at Xaghra in Malta (R. Tykot, C. Malone, S. Stoddart).- Chapter 30. The archaeological obsidian study and the soci-oeconomic role of obsidian trade in the western Mediterranean Area (A. M. De Francesco, G. Radi).- Chapter 31. Obsidian provenance from archaeological sites of central and southern Italy: SEM-EDS and WD-XRF analyses to constrain data on Neolithic trades (P. Acquafredda, I. M. Muntoni).- Chapter 32. Database Construction for Obsidian Studies (K. Freund, L. Johnson).- Chapter 33. A timeline for the utilization of the Carpathian obsidian sources (K. Biró).- Chapter 34. Something about Kutau-Bao: Obsidian source selection in Papua New Guinea (R. Torrence).- Chapter 35. Tracing interaction through time: obsidian use in Indonesia in prehistoric times (C. Reepmeyer).- Chapter 36. Obsidian Characterization in the Philippine Islands: Archaeological Distribution, Geological Sources, and its Importance (L. Neri).- Chapter 37. New results and current developments in Mesoamerican obsidian studies (M. Golitko, G. Feinman, L. Nicholas).- Chapter 38. Provenance of obsidian in the northern Hualfín Valley (Catamarca, Argentina) (E. Bentivenga, J. Lynch, M. Giesso, M.D. Glascock).- Chapter 39. Retrospect and Prospect for Obsidian Sourcing Studies in the Central Andes (D. Contreras, N. Tripcevich).- Chapter 40. The State of Geochemical Analysis of Obsidian in Western Mexico: An Overview (D. Pierce).- Chapter 41. Obsidian Use and Exchange in North America: New Trends in Research (C. Dillian).- Chapter 42. Mule Creek Obsidian and Mimbres Society (S. Dolan, J. Sedig).