Obsidian provenance studies in the far eastern and northeastern regions of Russia and exchange networks in the prehistory of Northeast Asia

Abstract

This overview is based on the results of 25+ years of provenance studies to identify the sources of high-quality volcanic glass (obsidian) in prehistoric cultural complexes of the far eastern and northeastern regions of Russia (Maritime Province, the Amur River basin, Sakhalin Island, the Kurile Islands, Kamchatka Peninsula, Chukotka region, the Kolyma River basin, and the High Arctic), as well as in adjacent parts of Northeast Asia (Hokkaido Island, the Korean Peninsula, and Manchuria). The extended networks of obsidian exchange in antiquity are reconstructed for the southern Russian Far East and Northeastern Siberia. A possible mechanism of long-distance obsidian exchange/trade in Northeastern Siberia is suggested.