2016
DOI: 10.1558/jmea.v29i1.31011
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

Spherulites and Aspiring Elites: The Identification, Distribution, and Consumption of Giali Obsidian (Dodecanese, Greece)

Abstract: International audienceThis paper details the results of a survey of the obsidian sources on the island of Giali in the Dodecanese, Greece, together with a review of these raw materials' use from the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age (ninth to second millennium Cal bc). Elemental characterization of 76 geological samples from 11 sampling locations demonstrates the existence of two geochemically distinct sources, termed `Giali A', and `Giali B'. The latter material, available in small cobble form on the island's… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
1
1
1
1

Citation Types

0
10
0

Year Published

2016
2016
2023
2023

Publication Types

Select...
7

Relationship

3
4

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 26 publications
(10 citation statements)
references
References 16 publications
0
10
0
Order By: Relevance
“…On Crete, small quantities of Giali obsidian are attested from Early Neolithic Knossos (Evans 1994, 5), but thereafter the raw material was largely ignored until the Bronze Age, at which point it was employed for the manufacture of prestige groundstone items (Carter et al . 2016). While the obsidian from the Soros Hill source on Antiparos has an excellent knapping quality, it is only available in pebbles and small cobbles, thus restricting its tool-making utility; it seems to have only ever been used by local communities from the Late Neolithic and has never been documented on Crete (Carter and Contreras 2012).…”
Section: Elemental Characterisation Of the Livari Obsidian By Edxrfmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…On Crete, small quantities of Giali obsidian are attested from Early Neolithic Knossos (Evans 1994, 5), but thereafter the raw material was largely ignored until the Bronze Age, at which point it was employed for the manufacture of prestige groundstone items (Carter et al . 2016). While the obsidian from the Soros Hill source on Antiparos has an excellent knapping quality, it is only available in pebbles and small cobbles, thus restricting its tool-making utility; it seems to have only ever been used by local communities from the Late Neolithic and has never been documented on Crete (Carter and Contreras 2012).…”
Section: Elemental Characterisation Of the Livari Obsidian By Edxrfmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Ultimately it may be necessary to examine further the potential of source discrimination by non-destructive elemental techniques. To that end, the second stage of this larger characterization study has introduced the use of XRF analyses, initially involving desktop EDXRF instrumentation in a lab well-established with regard to Aegean obsidian studies (Carter, 2016;Carter and Contreras, 2012;Carter et al, 2016b). This work involves not only the aforementioned analysis of new source materials from Paros and Mykonos, but also a new suite of 177 samples from 22 geo-referenced locations on Stélida itself.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…While there is a long history of obsidian characterisation and sourcing studies in the Aegean (e.g. Carter and Contreras, 2012;Carter et al, 2016b;Milic, 2014;Renfrew et al, 1965), there are far fewer analyses focusing on other siliceous raw materials. The reason for this is twofold.…”
Section: Chert Characterisation and Sourcing Studies In The Aegeanmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Giali A source in the Dodecanese is the next most significant archaeologically ( Fig 1 ). While this distinctive spherulitic obsidian is a poor tool-making resource, it was favoured by Cretan MBA–LBA elites (including those at Malia) for the manufacture of prestige goods such as vessels and sealstones [ 34 ]. While the recovery of non-Aegean obsidian in the region is rare [ 16 ], tiny amounts of central Anatolian products from Göllü Dağ and Nenezi Dağ ( Fig 1 ) have been found on Crete, at Malia in particular [ 35 , 36 ].…”
Section: Background To the Projectmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Most of the obsidian is grey black, relatively opaque and has a matte surface, visual characteristics long associated with the source products of Sta Nychia and Dhemenegaki on Melos [ 47 ], 160 km linear distance north-west of Malia (Figs 1 and 2 ). There were also a handful of lustrous black pieces of obsidian with white spherulites, typical of the Giali A source in the Dodecanese, 210 km north-east of Malia [ 34 ]. Finally, there were a few artifacts–mainly blades–whose translucency, colour, banding, and texture led them to be tentatively assigned a non-Aegean, likely central Anatolian source [ 16 ].…”
Section: The Quartier Nu Obsidian Assemblagementioning
confidence: 99%