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Map of Anatolia and northern Syria situating Tell Hamoukar among contemporaneous sites and known obsidian source areas. Map prepared by J Ur (appears in Al-Quntar et al 2012)
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... Hamoukar is located approximately midway between the Tigris River and the Khabur Basin, and midway between the Turkish Taurus Mountains and Iraq's Jebel Sinjar (Figure 1). The site is strategically positioned in an area amenable to interregional trade in sought after resources such as obsidian. ...
Context 2
... or approximately 85%, of the obsidian samples characterized derive from the Nemrut Dağ source in the Lake Van area (Figures 3, 4; see Figure 1). Nemrut Dağ is represented in all of the excavation areas and during all levels of LC 1-2 occupation. ...
Context 3
... single sample came from the earliest level (III) of Trench ZM1. Finally, the geochemical analyses determined a fourth source, Sarikamiş North, which is located WSW of Kars (see Figure 1) in the Diyarbakir region of eastern Anatolia. One sample from the earliest level (III) in Trench ZD2 and one sample from LC 1-2 pit fill excavated in Sounding 10 correspond to the Sarikamiş North source. ...
Context 4
... cores recovered from the Southern Extension are single platform blade cores (Figures 11a; 12). A large number of blade cores excavated came from mixed or later Islamic contexts in Trench ZM1. ...
Context 5
... of blades were blank and regularly exhibited burin facets on their extremities (Figure 5c-d, f-h). 14% of blank blades showed signs of use (Figures 6c; 11b) and 37% of blades were retouched and/or heavily worn on their edges (Figures 5b-g; 6b, e-f). ...
Context 6
... recurrence of notches at the edges of breaks (see Figures 7i and 10a) attest to the presence of intentional breakage. The large number of snapped edges and/or notches also acted as striking platforms for the making of burin facets (Tixier et al 1980: 77). ...
Context 7
... by the size of some of the partially complete blades (Figure 10a) and preparation blades, the size of the blocks that arrived onsite exceeded 150 mm in length. Models of distance and exchange could be evoked, but the first determination of maximum block size, the sheer quantity of obsidian that has been excavated (>5000 obsidian products), and the recurrent presence of all elements of the blade manufacturing process do not conform to models of exchange commonly applied to Mesopotamia such as a "down the line exchange" mechanism (Renfrew 1977) and disregard distance as having been an obstacle in the search for obsidian in large quantities at this particular site and time. ...
Context 8
... three levels of late fifth millennium occupation at Tell Hamoukar demonstrate a continued preponderance of obsidian in the lithic material record, with cherts present in extremely small quantities (3%). Standardized narrow obsidian and slightly wider chert blades (~20 mm, Figure 10b) are produced throughout the LC 1-2 levels at Hamoukar. Level I at Hamoukar is chronologically followed by Level 21 2 (TW, Tell Brak), when there is an evident decrease in obsidian and a gradual preference for wider chert blades in tandem with the increase in chert as a primary tool material. ...
Context 9
... we would like to thank all of the excavators of Area Z for their work. Figure 10: Excavation ZM1 in Area 2 of the Southern Extension: a) reassembled retouched obsidian proximal blade that demonstrates how snapping occurred using the notching technique, from locus 347 (Level II), b) medium gray and tan chert proximal blade with burin facet along the right edge dorsal from locus 345 (Level II). Drawing by L Khalidi ...
Citations
A machine learning approach to Nemrut Dağ and Bingöl geological obsidians was performed to determine the provenance of source material of nine obsidian blades from the archaeological site of Tulūl al Baqarat (Iraq).
Obsidians tools have been chemically analysed with a non-invasive and non-destructive approach by a low vacuum SEM-EDS microprobe for determining major and minor elements and by a bench-to-top micro-XRF for trace elements.
To identify the supply volcanic complex which produced the blocks from which they were knapped, a geochemical identification of Turkish obsidian sources, from the volcano to the artefact samples, was carried out introducing the use of the machine learning approach as exhaustive discriminative approach with complementary well-known geochemical comparisons and Principal Component Analysis.
Obsidian tools show a rather homogeneous comendite and peraluminous rhyolite composition with an high Zr amount which excludes most obsidian outcrops in Turkish and Armenian volcanic sites as original obsidian sources. However, only using a machine learning approach to major, minor and trace elements, the obsidian tools have resulted geochemically comparable to Nemrut Dağ mild alkaline rhyolitic obsidians from pre-caldera eruptions, and now outcropping inside the caldera and in Sicaksu exposure.
This source provenance from Nemrut Dağ stratovolcano in South-eastern Turkey, located near the Turkish route of the Tigris River, supports the evidence of a network of trade and broad exchange since 4th Millennium from Turkey and the South Near East, presumably through the basins of the Tigris and Euphrates to the shores of the Persian Gulf.
Results of geochemical analyses of obsidian artefacts from the Neolithic site of Tell Labwe South, Lebanon
Obsidian artifacts are geochemically traceable to their geological sources of origin. The results of their analysis provide some of the most accurate testimonies of interaction, exchange and population movement. This article presents results of obsidian analyses of artifacts from twelve sites from the Middle Euphrates to the Arabian Gulf. We demonstrate that the Sıcaksu flow of Nemrut Dağ in eastern Turkey consistently supplied obsidian to the majority of sites across this region from the 7th to 4th millennia BCE. This outcrop predominated in analyzed assemblages and as a production material for the region, across all site positions, sizes and periods; this has been argued to be a result of the quality, quantity and accessibility of this flow (Robin et al., 2016). The analyses demonstrate the presence of mainly finished products from a variety of additional sources in eastern Anatolia and Armenia (average > 4 sources) on northern Mesopotamian sites during this time span. We argue that the Nemrut region was a major economic node and chief actor in the establishment and dynamics of networks in the greater region. The diachronic persistence or breaks in obsidian supply from more minor sources are an additional source of information on the inner workings and development of subtle interregional socio-political and economic relations. Obsidian analysis provides a detailed picture of the contributions of increasingly complex networks and channels of communication to intensified adoption of common practices and styles across regions, to intensification of processes leading to urbanization and state formation, and to accentuating periods of stress and conflict. These data nourish and update existing models on social networks during the crucial Ubaid to Late Chalcolithic periods and advance debates on the role and impact of these networks on early state formation.
