Speakers
Dr
Seonbok Yi
(Seoul National University)Prof.
Yong-Joo Jwa
(Gyeongsang National University)
Description
Provenance study of prehistoric obsidian artifacts provides a clue to understanding various aspects of the ancient culture in consideration. So far, estimation of the source of the obsidians found in archaeological context has usually been made by analyzing their geochemical characteristics. Geochemical information has been acquired by such analytical methods as pXRF, PIXE, ICP, ICP-MS, etc. However, as far as obsidian sourcing is concerned, there occur two serious problems in geochemical interpretation of the data obtained by these methods (Yi and Jwa, 2016). One is from the quality of the data (i.e., accuracy and precision) for some analytical methods while the other has something to do with the multivariate analysis applied to the interpretation of the data. Also, we reported that in obsidian there exist lots of microlites which were produced from quenching of acidic magma under disequilibrium condition (Jwa and Yi, 2016). It seems likely to be a critical factor in the geochemical analysis for obsidian how many microlites are distributed and what kinds of them are occurred in obsidian. To avoid the side effect of microlites in geochemical consideration of obsidian source, it is necessary to get bulk data and use it for discussion.
The PGAA method is proved to be a successful geochemical bulk analysis for obsidian samples, based on the major and on some trace elements (Kasztovszky et al., 2008; Kasztovszky et al., 2016). We analyzed some obsidian samples from Mount Baekdusan, Korea-China border and Kyushu island, Japan using the PGAA method at the Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary. The obsidians from both areas have been known for the contrasting sources of the prehistoric obsidian artifacts in Korean Peninsula. The acquired data reveal that the two kinds of obsidians are discriminated on their provenance. We also compare the data from the PGAA method with those from the other geochemical methods such as WD-XRF, EPMA, and so on.
References:
Jwa, Y.-J. and Yi, S., 2016, Two contrasting provenances of prehistoric obsidian artifacts in South Korea: mineralogical and geochemical evidences. Program and Abstracts of the International Obsidian Conference, Lipari, Italy. p.40.
Kasztovszky, Zs., T. Biró, K., Markó, A., Dobosi, V., 2008, Cold neutron prompt gamma activation analysis – a non-destructive method for characterisation of high silica content chipped stone tools and raw materials, Archaeometry, 50, 1, 12-29.
Kasztovszky Zs, Maróti B, Harsányi I, Párkányi D, Szilágyi V, Markó A, T. Biró K, 2016, A comparative study of non-destructive PGAA and XRF used for provenancing archaeological obsidian. Program and Abstracts of the International Obsidian Conference, Lipari, Italy. p.41.
Yi, S. and Jwa, Y.-J., 2016, On the provenance of prehistoric obsidian artifacts in South Korea. Quaternary International, 392, 37-43.
Primary author
Prof.
Yong-Joo Jwa
(Gyeongsang National University)
Co-authors
Dr
Gwang-Min Sun
(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Dr
Ildikó HARSÁNYI
(Center for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Science)
Ms
Mi-Eyn Jin
(Gyeongsang National University)
Dr
Seonbok Yi
(Seoul National University)
Dr
Zsolt Kasztovszky
(MTA Centre for Energy Research)
