Geochemical Sourcing Of Obsidian Fishtail Points: Studies For The Somuncura Plateau (Río Negro, Argentina)

MIOTTI, LAURA; TERRANOVA, ENRIQUE; BARBERENA, RANIRI; HERMO, DARÍO; GIESSO, MARTÍN; GLASCOCK, MICHEL

Current Research in the Pleistocene

TAMUS, Texas A&M University Press

Lugar: Texas; Año: 2011 vol. 28

8755-898X

Here we present an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemical analysis of six obsidian FTPPs in order to evaluate the diversity of chemical-types represented and to assess their geographic sources. The obsidian samples were analyzed in the Archaeology laboratory at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo with a Bruker III-V portable XRF spectrometer equipped with a rhodium anode operating at 40 kV and 17 mA.  Samples were counted for 180 seconds each to obtain data for eight elements (i.e., Fe, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr and Nb). Peak areas were converted to element concentrations using an instrument calibration defined by analyzing a series of obsidian source samples previously characterized by neutron activation analysis (NAA) and XRF in the Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Research Reactor.