Abstract
AbstractThe small island of Ustica was a regular part of the obsidian distribution network in the central Mediterranean, despite its location more than 50 km north of western Sicily. More than 1000 obsidian artifacts from several different sites, ranging in age from the Neolithic through Bronze Age, were analyzed using a non-destructive, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. Obsidian from Lipari-Gabellotto dominates the assemblages at all sites tested, yet Pantelleria obsidian from both Balata dei Turchi and Lago di Venere are of notable quantities. Obsidian was not likely a major part of the material transported across open waters to this seemingly remote location, while our data support the hypothesis that some direct travel occurred from the Aeolian Islands to Ustica.
Highlights
The small island of Ustica, just 8.6 km2 and 52 km north from Sicily, apparently was a regular part of the obsidian distribution network in the central Mediterranean that continued for several thousand years
Occupation began in the Neolithic period, as it did on many islands within the Tyrrhenian Sea, and obsidian from both Lipari and Pantelleria has been identified on Ustica (Figure 1)
Calibration software for each of these instruments was based on 40 obsidian standards analyzed by multiple methods (INAA, ICP-MS, XRF) at the Research Reactor Lab at the University of Missouri, while an extensive number of geological samples from all Mediterranean/European obsidian sources and sub-sources were analyzed with each Bruker pXRF model and used for direct comparison and source attribution of the obsidian artifacts tested
Summary
The small island of Ustica, just 8.6 km and 52 km north from Sicily, apparently was a regular part of the obsidian distribution network in the central Mediterranean that continued for several thousand years. Over the last four years, more than 1100 obsidian artifacts from seven archaeological site areas on Ustica were analyzed non-destructively using a portable, hand-held, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to determine the specific geological sources and sub-sources that were utilized. These sites represent at least four different cultural time periods, from the Neolithic through the Middle Bronze Age, allowing us to chronologically compare the usage of obsidian from different sources, as well as with other sites in Sicily. Advances in the Studies of Obsidian Sources and Artifacts of the Central Mediterranean Area’, edited by Franco Italiano, Franco Foresta Martin & Maria Clara Martinelli
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