The identification of archaeological obsidian sources on Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Far East) using geochemical and geological data: Current progress

• Published in: Quaternary International
• Main Authors: Grebennikov, Andrei V., Kuzmin, Yaroslav V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Камчатка; полуостров; обсидиан; Kamchatka Peninsula; Kamchatka; КАМЧАТК*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.03.020; https://openrepository.ru/article?id=294525

The current state-of-the-art of provenance studies for archaeological obsidian on Kamchatka Peninsula is presented. Prehistoric people widely used obsidian as a raw material for making tools, and acquired it from several primary sources. The exact position of seven sources allowed us to understand the general features of obsidian geochemistry and tectonic position of obsidian-bearing volcanic formations. This also made it possible to suggest the localization of seven still unknown sources for archaeological obsidian on Kamchatka. Verification of our preliminary conclusions can be made by fieldwork in selected areas.