Chemical characterisations of Anatolian obsidians by instrumental and epithermal neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Obsidian is a volcanic glass which is generally black, sometimes grey, brown, red or green in colour and characterised by a glassy appearance and conchoidal fractures. It is formed by the sudden cooling of the molten, generally acid magma with high water content. Obsidian was widely used for tool-making during prehistoric times. This work concerns the chemical characterisation of obsidian occurrences from Northern, Central and Eastern Anatolia by Instrumental and Epithermal Neutron Activation Analysis for obtaining an accurate "fingerprint" for discrimination of potential natural sources of raw material that would permit tracing the origin of archaeological obsidian artefacts.