Obsidian consumption at Qdeir 1, a Final Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Syria: An integrated characterisation study

摘要

This paper details an integrated characterisation study of a substantial assemblage of obsidian artefacts (n= 519) from the Syrian Neolithic site of Qdeir 1 (El Kowm oasis). The results of the chemical characterisation (using ED-XRF and SEM-EDS) have been coupled with the typo-technological data. Such an approach has allowed us (i) to identify four raw materials in the assemblage, namely Bingol A and Bingol B from eastern Anatolia, plus Goal Dag and Nenezi Dag from central Anatolia, (ii) to specifically source the distinctive green peralkaline obsidian to Bingol A (rather than Bingol A and/or Nemrut Dag'), (iii) to observe that these four raw materials were consumed in a nigh-identical manner, probably worked locally by specialist craftspeople to produce fine pressure flaked blades, and (iv) to hypothesise that the people of Qdeir 1 may have played a key redistributive role in the circulation of obsidian tools, likely supplying the neighbouring village of El Kowm. (C) 2018 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.