Two-million-years of obsidian extraction, utilization, and exchange in eastern Africa

Abstract

Eastern Africa hosts the longest record of human evolutionary and cultural change on the planet. Archaeological sites across what are today Kenya and Tanzania preserve evidence for the emergence of bipedal hominins, our ancestors’ earliest experiments with stone tools, technological and social innovations, and expansions of diverse forms of food production. Here, we present a synthesis of recent advances in geochemical methodologies, source identifications, and applied sourcing studies that have enhanced our understanding of human-obsidian relationships across the volcanic landscapes of Kenya and Tanzania over the last two million year

Three South African silcrete sources can be identified regardless of heat treatment using solution ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS

“…Remarkably, a burin was recovered from Ksar Akil in Lebanon that was made on obsidian sourced from Turkey which is estimated to be ~ 700 km away by foot (Frahm and Tryon, 2019). While these variations in distance traveled may have to do with raw material selection and how it is distributed across a landscape, ethnographic evidence suggests that distances up to 100 km and beyond might be indicative of social connections (Goldstein et al 2022). These studies are essential for understanding resource procurement and transport strategies, however, each new region and raw material poses its own challenges.…”