Journal
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 39, Issue 5, Pages 1317-1330Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2011.12.008
Keywords
Obsidian provenance; Palaeolithic; Bondi Cave; Ortvale Klde; Chikiani obsidians
Funding
- French Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Paris)
- Georgian National Museum
- Ilia State University
- French Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres
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Using PIXE four types of elemental compositions were found among obsidian artefacts from the Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde, Middle to Upper Palaeolithic sites in NW Georgia. One of those types corresponds to obsidians from the Chikiani source, whose compositions were determined with a very good agreement by PIXE and ICP-AES/MS. The composition of Chikiani obsidians is remarkably constant despite K-Ar and Ar-39/Ar-40 extrusion ages from ca 2.4 and 2.8 Ma. The compositions of two other groups of obsidian artefacts are similar to source materials from eastern Anatolia and Armenia, in particular Ikisdere, Sarikamis, Gutansar, and Hatis. Obsidian is only a minority component in the lithic assemblages at the Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde. Both Neanderthal and Modem Human populations used obsidian in particular from Chikiani. Considering that the shortest walking distance to this nearest source is at minimum of about 180 km, and to other potential sources of more than 350 km it is suggested that this material reached these two sites mostly, if not exclusively, by a series of 'down the line' exchanges. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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