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Obsidian Hydration Dating and Temperature Controls in the Punta Negra Region of Northern Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas F. Lynch  and
Christopher M. Stevenson
Thomas F. Lynch
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Christopher M. Stevenson
Affiliation:
Diffusion Laboratories, Archaeological Services Consultants, Box 02095, Columbus, Ohio 42302
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Abstract

Effective hydration temperature (EHT) is essential for the computation of obsidian hydration dates. In the Atacama Desert, the scarcity of air-temperature records combines with extremes of elevation and local temperature to encourage, or even require, the use of buried thermal cells to record on-site mean annual temperatures. Compositional analysis (sourcing) and hydration rate development in the laboratory are also necessary, especially where other dating methods are unavailable to confirm the hydration rate. Paleoindian or Early Archaic through modern obsidian dates support a human settlement pattern history derived from archaeological/geomorphological studies of climatological and hydrological change.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 117 - 124
Copyright
University of Washington

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