Obsidian Hydration Rate Development

Abstract

ABSTRACTSince the seminal work of Friedman and Smith [1] obsidian hydration dating (OHD) has undergone several important stages of development and refinement. This paper will summarize the history of research and developments as to elucidate some areas for future research.Archaeologists have taken a pragmatic and empirical approach towards OHD and hydration rate determination. They would like OHD to become an absolute chronometric technique. Geochemists and material scientists have sought to understand the hydration process from an environmental, chemical and thermodynamic perspective. As suggested by the literature, obsidian hydration appears to be a diffusion, reaction and dissolution process dependent on the chemical and thermal history of the hydration environment. Although there appear to be certain central tendencies, however, there are discrepancies between empirical archaeologically-derived data and theoretical models.California offers a rich data base for synthesis and testing of hydration models. There are over 25 natural obsidian sources many of whose chemical and physical properties have been measured by Ericson [2]. Obsidians have been distributed aboriginally as artifacts into diverse environments. Intensive excavations, underwritten by extensive land development, have contributed to development of a number of source-specific hydration rates for single sources. Reanalysis of the California data warrants future examination to advance our understanding of obsidian hydration dating on a world wide basis.