Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands

Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Rutter, Matilda; Frahm, Ellery; Jachvliani, Dimitri; Albert, Paul; Smith, Victoria C.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103988

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Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands

Nathaniel L. Erb-Satullo, Matilda Rutter, Ellery Frahm, Dimitri Jachvliani, Paul Albert

, Victoria C. Smith

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume: 49, Start page: 103988

Swansea University Author: Paul Albert

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103988

Abstract

Obsidian sourcing studies have a long history in the Near East, but relatively few have focused on obsidian exchange after the Early Bronze Age. Here, we present a multi-technique analysis of an assemblage of 111 obsidian artifacts from excavated Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (LBA-EIA; c. 15th-6th...

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Published in:	Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
ISSN:	2352-409X
Published:	Elsevier BV 2023
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URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63463
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spelling	v2 63463 2023-05-16 Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands 7f8db9327402511d4d92849cb79af644 0000-0002-6757-1452 Paul Albert Paul Albert true false 2023-05-16 SGE Obsidian sourcing studies have a long history in the Near East, but relatively few have focused on obsidian exchange after the Early Bronze Age. Here, we present a multi-technique analysis of an assemblage of 111 obsidian artifacts from excavated Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (LBA-EIA; c. 15th-6th c BCE) contexts at Mtsvane Gora, southern Georgia. Because the site is situated in the lowland Kura Valley and the nearest obsidian sources are in the highlands to the south and west, obsidian provenance can serve as a proxy for mapping highland-lowland interactions. Chemical compositions analyzed via portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), and laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), were compared with existing geological datasets of chemical analyses to identify the source of all but one of the artifacts analyzed. The results show that Chikiani, a source in the highlands of southern Georgia, was the geological origin of >90% of the objects analyzed. While acknowledging that obsidian exchange is just one aspect of highland-lowland interaction, this finding implies that Mtsvane Gora’s connections with the adjacent highlands were skewed towards greater engagement with some highland areas relative to others. More generally, the research suggests that geographic adjacency of highlands and lowlands does not necessarily mean that they were highly interconnected. Journal Article Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 49 103988 Elsevier BV 2352-409X 1 6 2023 2023-06-01 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103988 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103988 COLLEGE NANME Geography COLLEGE CODE SGE Swansea University Fieldwork at Mtsvane Gora was funded by the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus, the Rust Family Foundation, a Spatial Archaeometry Research Collaborations (SPARC) Grant, the Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and the Harvard Department of Anthropology. Paul Albert is supported by a UKRI FLF (MR/S035478). The authors would like to thank Project ARKK team members for their support during fieldwork. 2023-05-30T14:40:33.9495596 2023-05-16T10:23:54.7104141 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography Nathaniel L. Erb-Satullo 1 Matilda Rutter 2 Ellery Frahm 3 Dimitri Jachvliani 4 Paul Albert 0000-0002-6757-1452 5 Victoria C. Smith 6 63463__27481__7727337b356844989e49869ebd64aab3.pdf 63463.pdf 2023-05-16T10:31:49.1331324 Output 17672392 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands
spellingShingle	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands Paul Albert
title_short	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands
title_full	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands
title_fullStr	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands
title_full_unstemmed	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands
title_sort	Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands
author_id_str_mv	7f8db9327402511d4d92849cb79af644
author_id_fullname_str_mv	7f8db9327402511d4d92849cb79af644_***_Paul Albert
author	Paul Albert
author2	Nathaniel L. Erb-Satullo Matilda Rutter Ellery Frahm Dimitri Jachvliani Paul Albert Victoria C. Smith
format	Journal article
container_title	Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
container_volume	49
container_start_page	103988
publishDate	2023
institution	Swansea University
issn	2352-409X
doi_str_mv	10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103988
publisher	Elsevier BV
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
url	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103988
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description	Obsidian sourcing studies have a long history in the Near East, but relatively few have focused on obsidian exchange after the Early Bronze Age. Here, we present a multi-technique analysis of an assemblage of 111 obsidian artifacts from excavated Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (LBA-EIA; c. 15th-6th c BCE) contexts at Mtsvane Gora, southern Georgia. Because the site is situated in the lowland Kura Valley and the nearest obsidian sources are in the highlands to the south and west, obsidian provenance can serve as a proxy for mapping highland-lowland interactions. Chemical compositions analyzed via portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), and laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), were compared with existing geological datasets of chemical analyses to identify the source of all but one of the artifacts analyzed. The results show that Chikiani, a source in the highlands of southern Georgia, was the geological origin of >90% of the objects analyzed. While acknowledging that obsidian exchange is just one aspect of highland-lowland interaction, this finding implies that Mtsvane Gora’s connections with the adjacent highlands were skewed towards greater engagement with some highland areas relative to others. More generally, the research suggests that geographic adjacency of highlands and lowlands does not necessarily mean that they were highly interconnected.
published_date	2023-06-01T14:40:32Z
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Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands

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