Beyond Obsidian: Documenting the Conveyance of Fine-Grained Volcanics and Cherts in the North American Great Basin

Abstract

In this paper, I use the provenance analysis of fine-grained volcanic and chert artifacts from Paleoamerican sites in eastern Nevada to define patterns of toolstone conveyance that operated within and across the obsidian conveyance zones defined for the region. I suggest that patterns of obsidian, fine-grained volcanic, and chert conveyance may reflect different modes of resource acquisition (e.g., mobility and exchange) operating at different scales within a regional Paleoamerican socioeconomic system.