Search results for " Obsidian"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Petrographic and spectroscopic (FT-IR) study of Western Mediterranean obsidians geological sources and of a lithic collection from Ustica Island (Sic…
2019
I n this study we applied petrochemical methods (SEM-EDS; FT-IR) in order to characterize a group of obsidian flakes collected at Ustica island (Sicily). Despite the absence of obsidian geological outcrops, a lot of obsidian fragments still emerging from the lands of Ustica testify that the island was a major import center of obsidian during the prehistory. On this island, there are some prehistoric settlements, dated from the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (6000- 1200 BC), in which the use of obsidian continued until the beginning of metals age. Our study includes: i) Macroscopic and microscopic optical observations, which allowed selecting 18 obsidian flakes (starting from 50 obsidian…
New data on the exploitation of obsidian in the mediterranean basin: The harbour of pyrgi and the trade in neolithic age
2020
The contribution shows the first results of ongoing research on the origins and prehistoric assumptions of the well-known Etruscan and Roman harbour of Pyrgi, an ancient Ceretan harbour in southern Etruria. In the light of recent land and submarine investigations, traces of ancient frequentations and contacts dating back to the Neolithic era are emerging when the coastal morphology and environmental characteristics of the site were very different from the current ones. The Etruscan port of Pyrgi, which continues its historical history in Roman and Medieval times, appears as the heir of one or more landing points frequented perhaps already in the Middle Neolithic. As part of this contributio…
Early pastoral communities in the mountains of Sicily. Prehistoric evidence from Vallone Inferno (Scillato) in the palaeoenvironmental framework of t…
2021
Abstract This paper discusses the Middle Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age phases of the occupation of a rock shelter at Vallone Inferno (Scillato, Palermo) in Sicily. Vallone Inferno is a key site for studying the early establishment and development of pastoralism in the prehistoric mountainous environments of Sicily. Seasonal use of the site as a shelter is documented for the earliest pastoral communities that exploited the Madonie mountain range. The results of the analysis of pottery and lithic assemblages contribute to the definition of two chronocultural frameworks that were linked by the same economic subsistence base. The special role of obsidian emerges, while the mobility pattern…
Obsidian in the Upper Palaeolithic of Iberia
2021
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Chlorine as a Discriminant Element to Establish the Provenance of Central Mediterranean Obsidians
2020
Abstract Chlorine is a minor element present in obsidians in quantities greater than in average igneous rocks. The chlorine concentration in obsidians is generally low, of the order of tenths of wt %, but it exhibits an appreciable differentiation among geological sources. Despite these characteristics, chlorine has rarely been taken into consideration as a possible indicator of obsidian provenance and it does not appear in the chemical analytical tables accompanying the geochemical characterisation of obsidian samples. In this work, after an overview of chlorine geochemistry and cycle, we present thirty-one new electron microprobe (EPMA) analyses, including Cl, of geologic obsidians sample…
Experiments and results on obsidian tools: the case study of Le Rocche (Roccapalumba, Pa, Sicily) through microwear analysis.
2003
The results of the experimental activity related to the functional analysis of obsidian tools, coming from the Neolithic site of "Le Rocche" (Roccapalumba, Palermo), are discussed here.