{"title":"Archaeological obsidian sourcing: Looking from the first 60 years to the next","authors":"Ellery Frahm","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106200","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Obsidian sourcing (or provenancing) is the process by which obsidian artifacts are matched to the geological sources from which the raw material originated. Given that obsidian is a substance that has been used from the emergence of our genus to the 21st century, reconstructing the movement of obsidian artifacts has great relevance to a wide variety of research questions. Matching obsidian artifacts to their origins has been called “one of the success stories of archaeological science” as well as “one of the most productive and successful research programs of archaeological science” (Williams-Thorpe, 1995). Furthermore, it has been labeled as “a microcosm of the development of archaeological science” (Henderson, 2001), reflecting wider trends within archaeology. Identifying an artifact's source is only a proximate goal: the ultimate aim is to elucidate human behavior in the past. Since its inception during the 1960s, a variety of technological and methodological advances have been incorporated into obsidian sourcing research around the world. The focus here is not an overview of global obsidian sourcing articles. Instead, this paper is organized according to a set of familiar questions: What? When? Who? Where? How? Why? What next? The goal here is to address how obsidian sourcing has been, is now, and can be used to better understand our past, eventually moving from generating data to developing archaeological models and theories.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 106200"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Archaeological Science","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440325000494","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Obsidian sourcing (or provenancing) is the process by which obsidian artifacts are matched to the geological sources from which the raw material originated. Given that obsidian is a substance that has been used from the emergence of our genus to the 21st century, reconstructing the movement of obsidian artifacts has great relevance to a wide variety of research questions. Matching obsidian artifacts to their origins has been called “one of the success stories of archaeological science” as well as “one of the most productive and successful research programs of archaeological science” (Williams-Thorpe, 1995). Furthermore, it has been labeled as “a microcosm of the development of archaeological science” (Henderson, 2001), reflecting wider trends within archaeology. Identifying an artifact's source is only a proximate goal: the ultimate aim is to elucidate human behavior in the past. Since its inception during the 1960s, a variety of technological and methodological advances have been incorporated into obsidian sourcing research around the world. The focus here is not an overview of global obsidian sourcing articles. Instead, this paper is organized according to a set of familiar questions: What? When? Who? Where? How? Why? What next? The goal here is to address how obsidian sourcing has been, is now, and can be used to better understand our past, eventually moving from generating data to developing archaeological models and theories.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Archaeological Science is aimed at archaeologists and scientists with particular interests in advancing the development and application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. This established monthly journal publishes focus articles, original research papers and major review articles, of wide archaeological significance. The journal provides an international forum for archaeologists and scientists from widely different scientific backgrounds who share a common interest in developing and applying scientific methods to inform major debates through improving the quality and reliability of scientific information derived from archaeological research.