Sourcing obsidian artefacts from Early Neolithic sites in South-Central Romania

Abstract

Portable X‐ ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF) was used to reveal the chemical signatures of 60 obsidian artefacts from two Early Neolithic sites in the Muntenia region of southern Romania – Uliești in Dâmbovița County and Măgura – Buduiasca in Teleorman County. The results show that the Starcevo‐ Criș communities at both sites used obsidian that originated from geological sources in the Carpathians. Obsidian from the C1 and C2 source areas occurs at Măgura, while only C1 obsidian has been documented in the much smaller assemblage from Uliești. We consider the implications of these results for obsidian procurement patterns documented among the earliest farmers of the northern Balkans.