Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T15:42:01.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Obsidian Hydration Rate Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

Jonathon E. Ericson
Jonathon E. Ericson*
Affiliation:
Program in Social Ecology and Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92717.
Get access

Abstract

Since the seminal work of Friedman and Smith [1] obsidian hydration dating (OHD) has undergone several important stages of development and refinement. This paper will summarize the history of research and developments as to elucidate some areas for future research.

Archaeologists have taken a pragmatic and empirical approach towards OHD and hydration rate determination. They would like OHD to become an absolute chronometric technique. Geochemists and material scientists have sought to understand the hydration process from an environmental, chemical and thermodynamic perspective. As suggested by the literature, obsidian hydration appears to be a diffusion, reaction and dissolution process dependent on the chemical and thermal history of the hydration environment. Although there appear to be certain central tendencies, however, there are discrepancies between empirical archaeologically-derived data and theoretical models.

California offers a rich data base for synthesis and testing of hydration models. There are over 25 natural obsidian sources many of whose chemical and physical properties have been measured by Ericson [2]. Obsidians have been distributed aboriginally as artifacts into diverse environments. Intensive excavations, underwritten by extensive land development, have contributed to development of a number of source-specific hydration rates for single sources. Reanalysis of the California data warrants future examination to advance our understanding of obsidian hydration dating on a world wide basis.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 123: Symposium L – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology I , 1988 , 215
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Friedman, I. and Smith, R.L., Amer. Antiquity 25 (4), 476 (1960)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Ericson, J.E., Ph.D. Dissertation UCLA (1977). Prehistory BAR International Series 110 (1981) 240 p.Google Scholar
3. Meighan, C.W., Foote, L.J., and Aiello, P.V., Science 160 (3832), 1069–1075 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Meighan, C.W. and Haynes, C.V., Science 167, 1213 (1970).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Jackson, R.J., 1984 Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility 45, Berkeley 173–192.Google Scholar
6. Jackson, T.J., Late Prehistoric Obsidian Exchange in Central California, Ph.D. Thesis Standford University (1986).Google Scholar
7. Friedman, I., Smith, R.L., and Clark, D.L., in Science in Archaeology, edited by Brothwell, D. and Higgs, E. (Praeger, London, 1963), p. 47.Google Scholar
8. Michels, J.W., Dating Methods in Archaeology (Seminar Press, New York, 1973).Google Scholar
9. Scheetz, B.E. and Stevenson, C.M., American Antiquity, 53 (1), 110–117 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Lee, R.R., Leich, D.A., Tombrello, T.A., Ericson, J.E. and Friedman, I., Nature 250: 44–47 (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Lanford, W.A., Nucl. Instru. Meths. 149 (1), (1978).Google Scholar
12. Ericson, J.E. and Goldstein, R., Obsidian Hydration Measurements by Lazer Ellipsometry, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (unpublished).Google Scholar
13. Ericson, J.E., On the Archaeology, Chemistry and Physics of Obsidian, M.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, UCLA (1973).Google Scholar
14. Ericson, J.E., MacKenzie, J.D., and Berger, R., in Advances in Obsidian Glass Studies, edited by Taylor, R.E. (Noyes Press, New Jersey, 1976) pp. 25–45.Google Scholar
15. Ericson, J.E., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, Vol.3, edited by Moore, J.G. (Plenum Publishing, 1981) p. 283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16. Clark, D.L., The Application of the Obsidian Dating Method to the Archaeology of Central California, Ph. D. Dissertation, Stanford University, (1961a).Google Scholar
17. Clark, D.L., Current Anthropology 2, 111 (1961b).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Clark, D.L., UCLA Arch. Survey, Annual Report 1963–64 (1) 141–09 (1964).Google Scholar
19. Johnson, L. Jr., Science 165 (3900), 1354 (1969).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Marshall, R.R., Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 72 (10) (1961).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. Haller, W., Physics and Chemistry of Glasses 4 (6), 217 (1963).Google Scholar
22. Friedman, I., Smith, R.L. and Long, W.D., Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 77, 323 (1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23. Ericson, J.E., World Archaeology 7, 151 (1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Aiello, P.V., The chemical composition of rhyolitic obsidian and its effect on hydration rate: Some archaeological evidence. M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, UCLA. Google Scholar
25. Kimberlin, J., Obsidian Chemistry and the Hydration Dating Technique, M.A. Thesis, UCLA (1971).Google Scholar
26. Kimberlin, J., inAdvances in Obsidian Glass Studies, edited by Taylor, R.E. (Noyes Press, New Jersey, 1976) pp. 63–80.Google Scholar
27. Ericson, J.E., and Berger, R., in Advances in Obsidian Glass Studies, edited by Taylor, R.E. (Noyes, Park Ridge, NJ, 1976), pp. 46–62.Google Scholar
28. Friedman, I. and Long, W.D., Science 191, 347 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29. Ambrose, W., in Advances in Obsidian Glass Studies, edited Taylor, R.E., (Noyes Press, Park Ridge, N.J.) pp 81–105.Google Scholar
30. Chang, J., Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union 38 (5), 718 (1957).Google Scholar
31. Nasedkin, V.V., Geochem. International 2: 317–335 (1964).Google Scholar
32. MohLab Obsidian Hydration Dating, MohLab State College, PA (1984).Google Scholar
33. Michels, J.W., Tong, I.S.T. and Smith, G.A., Archaeometry 25 (2) 107–117 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34. Ericson, J.E., Contributions of the Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley (in press).Google Scholar
35. Ericson, J.E., Makishima, A., MacKenzie, J.D., and Berger, R., J. Noncrystalline Solids, 17, 129 (1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36. Jack, R.N., in Advances in Obsidian Glass Studies, edited by Taylor, R.E. (Noyes, Park Ridge, NJ, 1976), pp. 183–217.Google Scholar
37. Hughes, R.E., Exploring Diachronic Variability in Obsidian Procurement Patterns in Northeast California and South Central Oregon: Geochemical characterization of obsidian sources and projectile points by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence, Ph. D. Dissertation, University of California, Davis (1983).Google Scholar
38. Trembour, F. and Friedman, I., (1984) Contributions to Archaeological Research Facility 45, 79–90.Google Scholar
39. Lee, R., Jour. Applied Meteorology 8, 423 (1969).2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40. Koerper, H.C., Ericson, J.E., Drover, C.E., and Langenwalter, P.E. II, Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 22 (1), 33–69 (1986).Google Scholar
41. Gilreath, A.J., Basgall, M.E., and Hall, M.C., U.S. Army National Training Center, Fort Irvine, CA (Contract No. DACA09–86-D-0110) December, 1987.Google Scholar
42. Michels, J.W., Endeavor 10 (2), 97–100 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43. Meighan, C.W., A. Antiquity 48 (3) 600–609 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44. McGuire, K.R., Garfinkle, A.P. and Basgal, M.E. (CA-KER-250 and CA-KER-261, Report) U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Riverside, CA (1982).Google Scholar
45. McGuire, K.R. (Report on Kennedy Meadows/Rockhouse Basin) U.S. Forest Service, Sequoia National Forest Porterville.Google Scholar
46. Clark, D.E., Maure, C.A., Jurgenson, A.R. and Urwongse, L., in Scientific Basis for Radio Active Waste Management V., edited Butze, W. (1982), (Elsevior Pub., NY) pp. 1–13.Google Scholar
47. McVay, G.L. and Buckwalter, C.L., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 66 (3), 170–174 (1983).Google Scholar