Chronological and chemical approaches to obsidians from Bakla Tepe and Liman Tepe, Western Anatolia

In this study, the provenance of 42 obsidians from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age levels of two settlements – Bakla Tepe and Liman Tepe – located on the Aegean coast of Anatolia were investigated with an interdisciplinary approach using fission-track (FT) dating, Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and Epithermal Neutron Activation Analysis (ENAA). Some artefacts showed FT ages of a few thousand years. Apparent FT ages of the remaining samples are distributed over a wide range, from 0.53 ± 0.03 to 1.43 ± 0.20 Ma. After application of the size-correction method, most artefacts were distributed in a homogeneous group characterized by FT ages varying from 1.48 ± 0.47 to 1.80 ± 0.20 Ma, with a mean value of 1.65 ± 0.05 Ma and low induced track density corresponding to low U content. The remaining 3 samples showed relatively high induced track densities. One of them has an apparent age of 0.53 ± 0.03 Ma and a sizecorrected age of 1.02 ± 0.07 Ma. The probable potential sources for the studied samples were identified as the island of Melos in the Aegean, and the central Anatolian sources – particularly the Göllüdağ complex – through comparison of the FT data. INAA and ENAA studies have been carried out on 34 artefacts at the TRIGA Mark II research reactor of the University of Pavia. The identification of the sources was attained through cluster analysis of the chemical data. These results agree fully with those obtained by FT dating: most artefacts originated from the Melos–Dhemenegaki flow, and only 3 samples from central Anatolia. The current study provides a contribution to a better understanding of the circulation of obsidians in Anatolia

Fission-track dating of obsidians and archaeology

International audienc

Provenance studies of obsidian artefacts in Anatolia using the fission-track dating method: an overview

International audienc

Provenance studies of obsidian artefacts in Anatolia: the contribution of the fission track analyses

International audienc

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar laser probe dating of the Central European tektite‐producing impact event

Abstract— A new 40Ar/39Ar data set is presented for tektites from the Central European strewn field (moldavites). This is the only strewn field that is entirely situated in a continental environment and still characterized by scattered ages (14–15.3 Myr). The main objectives of the study were to define more precisely the moldavite formation age and provide a good calibration for a glass standard proposed for fission‐track dating.The laser total fusion ages obtained on chips from 7 individual specimens from the Southern Bohemian and Moravian subfields are restricted to a narrow interval of time, with an average of 14.34 ± 0.08 Myr relative to the 27.95 ± 0.09 Myr of the Fish Canyon Tuff biotite. This result gives a more precise age not only for the tektite field but also for its producing impact. If the genetic link between the moldavites and the Nördlinger Ries impact crater is maintained, then this new age has to be considered a reliable estimate for the Ries crater also.This new value places the formation of Central European tektites within the Lower Serravallian period in the latest geologic timescales. Evidence of their impact products, such as glass spherules or shocked minerals, can, therefore, be sought in sedimentary marine formations in a more precisely defined age interval