Natural Science in Archaeology

88 4 Lithic Materials
focused on mapping obsidian flows, others on dating the flows, many on chemical
provenancing, and some on obsidian artifacts. It would take a large volume
to summarize these results. Some of the more important recent publications and
the area(s) covered are: Bigazzi et al. (1992), Ecuadorian Andes; Glascock et al.
(1998), Mesoamerica; Braswell et al. (1994), El Salvador; Brooks et al. (1997),
southwestern Peru; Bellelli et al. (2006), northwester Patagonia (Argentina);
Hughes (1993), Obsidian Cliffs, Oregon, USA; Althaus (1996), many parts of
the world; Clark (1995), northwest Alaska; Fladmark (1984), British Columbia,
Canada; Shackley (1995), American southwest; Davis et al. (1995), Obsidian Cliff,
Wyoming USA; Pollman (1993), northwest Mediterranean region; Kardulias (1992),
southern Greece; Oddone et al. (1997), Anatolia; Killikoglou et al. (1997), central
Europe and the Aegean; Yellin (1995), Anatolia; Tykot (1997, 1998), Sardinia;
Yellin et al. (1996), eastern Mediterranean/Anatolia; Bigazzi et al. (1994), eastern
Anatolia; Ammerman et al. (1990), Italy; Hughes (1994), California, USA; Cobean
et al. (1991), Mesoamerica; Randle et al. (1993), Italy and central Europe; Dahl et
al. (1990), Mexico; Hughes and Lees (1991), Kansas USA; Cook (1995), Alaska;
Ercan et al. (1990a, b), central Anatolia; Cauvin et al. (1992), Anatolia; Yegingil and
Lunel (1991), Anatolia; Moore (1983), New Zealand; Weisler and Clague (1998),
Oceanic islands of the southwest Pacific Ocean. Obsidian micro-blade tool use in
Japan goes back at least to 20,000 BP in eastern Hokkaido (Sone et al. 1991).
Although it is focused on geochemical sourcing and obsidian hydration dating,
there is a wealth of obsidian raw material information in the recent book edited by
Shackley (1998). This volume covers progress in obsidian studies worldwide, including
patterns of transport and exchange of lithic materials. The problems and methods
of characterizing the large number of sites are discussed by a number of scholars.
This author has never been convinced of the importance of obsidian hydration dating,
but this volume successfully brings the scientific basis of this method to the fore.
4.5 Other Minerals and Rocks
Variscite is a green hydrated aluminum phosphate that was used in southwest Europe in
the Neolithic and Aeneolithic for prestige objects such as collar beads up to 5 cm long.
Some of the variscite was an intense emerald green. It is usually found as nodules having
a hardness of 4. This material was included in what Pliny (NH 38) called “callute”.
In archaeological contexts variscite beads are found with many other green beads made
from steatite, jade, and serpentinite so caution is advised. (Dominguez-Bella 2004)
Picrolite, a hard, fibrous or columnar, and attractive variety of serpentine-blue
rock native to southwestern Cyprus, was used for a variety of ground stone objects
on Cyprus, including figurines. (Vagnetti 1991) Peltenberg (1991) suggests that
the picrolite was derived from pebbles found in the Karyotis and Kouris Rivers in
Cyprus. I have found picrolite pebbles in the Kouris River. (Rapp 2003) The use of
picrolite dates back at least to the fourth millennium BCE.
In eastern North America (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York), one prehistoric
group was designated the “Argillite culture” in the late 1800s, because the