Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Page 45

Geochemical Identification of Obsidian Artifacts
Site Date No. pieces Reference
Bær Early medieval 3+ BFE
Bergþórshvoll Medieval? 1 Eldjárn & Gestsson 1952: 46
Bessastaðir Multi-period? 1+ GÓ
Granastaðir Viking 25 Einarsson 1995: 172
Háls Multi-period? ;4 KS
Hofstaðir Multi-period 4 GML
Hólar Post-medieval í :... RT
Hrísheimar Viking i GAG
Hvítárholt Viking 4 Magnússon 1973: 66, 70, 73
Langholt sites
Meðalheimur Medieval 6 DB
Stóra-Seyla Viking/Medieval 6 DB
Torfagarður Medieval |+ DB
Reyðarfell Early Post-Medieval 3 National Museum Database
Reykholt Multi-period? 10 GS
Skálholt Post-Medieval (12 GML
Stóraborg Medieval 1 MS
Þjórsárdalur sites
Sámsstaðir Early Medieval 2 Rafnsson 1977: 112
Sandártunga Post-Medieval ■1 GAG
Skeljastaðir Early Medieval |í GAG
Stöng Early Medieval 9 GAG
Table 1. Preliminary survey of major settlement excavations where obsidian is cited (key to ini-
tials in references: GAG Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir, GS Guðrún Sveinbjarnardóttir, KSKevin Smith,
GML Gavin M. Lucas, GÓ Guðmundur Ólafsson, RT Ragnheiður Traustadóttir, MS Mjöll
Snœsdóttir, DB Doug Bolender, BFE Bjarni F. Einarsson)
adjacent magma of different composi-
tion) is remarkably uniform chemically,
and this homogeneity is expressed in
trace element composition. Early chemi-
cal analyses of obsidians showed that
each obsidian “source” (a distinctive
geochemical entity, or chemical type
sensu Hughes 1998: 103-104) possessed
unique concentrations of trace and rare
earth elements, sometimes referred to as
a “fíngerprint”, which could be used in
combination to identify and distinguish
among parent geologic eruptive sources.
Interdisciplinary collaborations forged
between archaeology, geology and geo-
chemistry in the late 1960’s set the stage
for what have come to be called “obsidi-
an sourcing studies” employing trace
element contrasts to identify the eruptive
source for obsidian artifacts. Armed with
independently derived knowledge about
the age of the obsidian artifacts, over the
past forty years archaeologists in many
parts of the world (e.g. in Europe
[Williams-Thorpe 1984a, b;], the
Mediterranean [Dixon 1976; Hallam et
al. 1976], Mesoamerica [Cobean et al.
1971; Stross et al. 1976] and North
America [Jack 1976; Hughes 1986;
Shackley 2005]) have used geochemical
distinctions to track the source-specifíc
distribution of artifacts in time and space
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