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Title: Obsidian from Volcanic Sequences and Recent Alluvial Deposits, Erzurum District, North-Eastern Anatolia: Chemical Characterisation and Archaeological Implications
Author(s): BRENNAN, Peter V.
Journal: Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Volume: 37    Date: 2000   
Pages: 128-152
DOI: 10.2143/ANES.37.0.1083

Abstract :
Recent archaeometric research in the Erzurum district, north-eastern Anatolia, has concentrated on the characterisation of samples of obsidian collected from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, and from potential primary and secondary sources. Geochemical characterisation using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis indicates that obsidian present at the archaeological sites was obtained from several sources that are chemically distinct from the major obsidian sources already known from Central Anatolia and the Lake Van area. Multiple sources are represented in the samples collected from at least three of the sites, namely the sites of Sos Höyük, Pulur, and Askale Höyük. The primary source of some of the obsidian utilised at the site of Sos Höyük has been located in the volcanic sequence outcropping to the north-west of Pasinler. Field survey however has shown that the alluvial deposits along the major rivers and some of their tributaries were the main sources of obsidian utilised at archaeological sites near Erzurum. Trade or exchange of obsidian with sites outside the Erzurum area seems to have been limited, a feature that is consistent with the emerging view that this part of north-eastern Anatolia was an independent socio-economic unit during the Bronze Age.

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