Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

Geochemical Techniques in Discriminating Chert Materials / 65
3. This may well be explained by the different environments of genesis for both
rock materials. In the case of obsidian, sources corresponding to remains of the same
volcanic outburst event have very similar element concentration. While sources corresponding
to remains of different events generally vary significantly in chemical characteristics,
even if the remains stem from a single volcano. Furthermore, obsidian contains
higher concentrations of trace and rare- earth elements as compared to chert,
which increases the possibility of finding discriminating variables.
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