Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OBSTRADE (Obsidian Trade at the Onset of the Neolithic in the Near East. Assessing Obsidian Tool Use and Modelling Exchange Networks.)
Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31
OBSTRADE was developed to understand the emergence of the first Neolithic exchange networks: obsidian trade at the onset of farming in the Near East. The transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers is one of the most significant turning points in human history. From 12,000 to 6,500 cal BC, plants and animals were intensively exploited and then domesticated while mobile hunter-gatherers evolved into sedentary farming communities in the Fertile Crescent. Long-distance exchanges between Neolithic villages increased considerably, showing the existence of complex social networks, of which obsidian trade was a major component. Obsidian presence on the sites is documented already from the Epipalaeolithic, if not earlier. However, systematic exchange, involving specialized obsidian workshops, took place in the Neolithic with the emergence of sedentary life and social complexity. This volcanic rock was a valued commodity, distributed over very long distances from its original sources in Anatolia and Caucasia, up to the extreme eastern and western fringes of the Fertile Crescent. OBSTRADE aimed at understanding why was obsidian traded if other equally suitable raw materials were available? Were obsidian tools used for different tasks? What was the role of the obsidian complex network in the diffusion and spread of new ideas, techniques, and innovations, in other words, the Neolithic way of life, across the Fertile Crescent?
The project employed an original, innovative, and interdisciplinary approach, by exploring the function of obsidian tools in the daily life of the Neolithic communities, and its geographical distribution. Obsidian tools discovered in major Near Eastern archaeological sites are analyzed for the first time through a microwear quantitative approach, based on high-precision surface texture analysis using Confocal Scanning Microscopy (CSM) and surface metrology. Resulting data, crossed with obsidian acquisition and distribution information, are analyzed through mathematical modelling in the frame of the Complex System Theory for characterizing and assessing the mechanisms of diffusion of obsidian artefacts between Neolithic societies across the Near East.
The first objective of the project was to provide an exhaustive database (OBSTRADE database) comprising the geochemical information about obsidian objects found in Neolithic context in the Near East. Understanding why obsidian was seen as a commodity requires defining the use value of obsidian artefacts, which represented the following step of the project. This goal has been achieved through the study of use-wear traces and residues observed on both experimental and archaeological obsidian tools combining quantitative and qualitative cutting-edge techniques. Thus, the project was dedicated to creating a robust experimental framework for CSM, for the analysis of obsidian material, carrying out new specific experiments. Then, obsidian assemblages from major Neolithic sites in the Near East have been studied, leading to new data about the function of obsidian tools, and chipped stone toolkits in general. The final objective aimed to understand the mechanisms of diffusion of obsidian artefacts across the Near East and was pursued using information on obsidian sources, distribution, manufacture and function recorded on the OBSTRADE database. Mathematical modelling, currently ongoing, will help to further explore the mechanisms beyond the spread and exchanges of obsidian tools within the Neolithic sphere, and its role in the diffusion of the Neolithic package in the whole Near East, and beyond.
The project employed an original, innovative, and interdisciplinary approach, by exploring the function of obsidian tools in the daily life of the Neolithic communities, and its geographical distribution. Obsidian tools discovered in major Near Eastern archaeological sites are analyzed for the first time through a microwear quantitative approach, based on high-precision surface texture analysis using Confocal Scanning Microscopy (CSM) and surface metrology. Resulting data, crossed with obsidian acquisition and distribution information, are analyzed through mathematical modelling in the frame of the Complex System Theory for characterizing and assessing the mechanisms of diffusion of obsidian artefacts between Neolithic societies across the Near East.
The first objective of the project was to provide an exhaustive database (OBSTRADE database) comprising the geochemical information about obsidian objects found in Neolithic context in the Near East. Understanding why obsidian was seen as a commodity requires defining the use value of obsidian artefacts, which represented the following step of the project. This goal has been achieved through the study of use-wear traces and residues observed on both experimental and archaeological obsidian tools combining quantitative and qualitative cutting-edge techniques. Thus, the project was dedicated to creating a robust experimental framework for CSM, for the analysis of obsidian material, carrying out new specific experiments. Then, obsidian assemblages from major Neolithic sites in the Near East have been studied, leading to new data about the function of obsidian tools, and chipped stone toolkits in general. The final objective aimed to understand the mechanisms of diffusion of obsidian artefacts across the Near East and was pursued using information on obsidian sources, distribution, manufacture and function recorded on the OBSTRADE database. Mathematical modelling, currently ongoing, will help to further explore the mechanisms beyond the spread and exchanges of obsidian tools within the Neolithic sphere, and its role in the diffusion of the Neolithic package in the whole Near East, and beyond.
Relying on the available scientific literature, the OBSTRADE database has been built and populated with geochemical information about obsidian artefacts found in Neolithic contexts across the Near East. Experimental activities with obsidian tools have been successfully designed and carried out. Near Eastern obsidian raw materials from known sources have been used for working different materials. The outcome is a catalogue with experimental data (e.g. films, photos, detailed use-wear description). Obsidian tools’ function has been approached through quantitative use-wear analysis using Confocal Scanning Microscopy and metrology software. An analytical protocol for CSM has been created, in collaboration with the Supervisor, Dr. J.J. Ibáñez. Archaeological tools have been started to be analyzed through confocal microscopy to be compared with experimental tools through canonical discriminant analysis, based on an existing protocol that has been further developed and refined during OBSTRADE for its application on obsidian tools. The predictive algorithms built from CSM measurements on the experimental tools will be used to discriminate the use-wear patterns on the archaeological tools. The data collected in the OBSTRADE database are currently used for modelling the rhythms of diffusion of obsidian artefacts. By cross-comparing radiocarbon and archaeological data on the obsidian tools, it will be possible to define obsidian network evolution during the Neolithic, and its impact on the adoption and diffusion of new technologies within and between Neolithic societies.
OBSTRADE obtained significant results and succeeded in conducting essential part of the work. The project provided for the first time a new protocol of analysis with CSM to obtain a more reliable identification of microscopic traces on obsidian. A specific experimental collection has been created to replicate key activities carried out by the Neolithic groups using obsidian tools. This referential allowed to identify the function of obsidian tools from several archaeological contexts across the Near East. Complementarily, an Open Access database of obsidian presence, geological origins, distribution and use in Near Eastern sites has been developed (OBSTRADE database). Resulting data are currently being processed through mathematical modelling in the frame of the Complex System Theory for characterising and assessing obsidian trade between Neolithic societies.
The project results were disseminated during international conferences and published in peer-reviewed papers. OBSTRADE project had its own webpage (https://obstrade.wordpress.com(opens in new window)) and on social media through which a large audience could be updated with the latest results and outcomes. One of the main outcomes of the OBSTRADE is the realization of a graphic novel about the research activity carried out in the framework of the project.
OBSTRADE obtained significant results and succeeded in conducting essential part of the work. The project provided for the first time a new protocol of analysis with CSM to obtain a more reliable identification of microscopic traces on obsidian. A specific experimental collection has been created to replicate key activities carried out by the Neolithic groups using obsidian tools. This referential allowed to identify the function of obsidian tools from several archaeological contexts across the Near East. Complementarily, an Open Access database of obsidian presence, geological origins, distribution and use in Near Eastern sites has been developed (OBSTRADE database). Resulting data are currently being processed through mathematical modelling in the frame of the Complex System Theory for characterising and assessing obsidian trade between Neolithic societies.
The project results were disseminated during international conferences and published in peer-reviewed papers. OBSTRADE project had its own webpage (https://obstrade.wordpress.com(opens in new window)) and on social media through which a large audience could be updated with the latest results and outcomes. One of the main outcomes of the OBSTRADE is the realization of a graphic novel about the research activity carried out in the framework of the project.
The comparison of results obtained from previous studies carried out on the function of flint tools in the Near Eastern Neolithic and the data collected as part of the OBSTRADE project have enabled to reconstruct on-site food and craft activities, and to address some large-scale issues of technological innovations and changes in resource management during the Neolithic transition. The novel methodology developed using CSM and metrology software, allowing to obtain a more reliable identification of microscopic traces on obsidian raw material, advance the current knowledge and represents a major starting point for use wear analysis on this raw material which is known to be very challenging. Finally, the recent methodological developments of Complex System Theory, together with the availability of new large datasets of obsidian provenance in the Near East Neolithic, allowed opening new perspectives for the study of Prehistoric networks.