ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBSIDIAN HYDRATION DATING WITH SECONDARY ION MASS SPECTROMETRY: CURRENT STATUS

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: Jul 28, 2023
Keywords:
The dating of obsidian stone tools from the last time were in use by prehistoric man has been approached in 1960, by Friedman and Smith who observed that a freshly exposed surface of obsidian takes on ambient water at a knowable rate that can be used to calculate the time elapsed since exposure and, therefore, the date of an obsidian artifact’s production. Subsequently the hydration procedure has been studied further and distinct versions of the so-called obsidian hydration dating (OHD) method has been developed proposing both empirical rate and intrinsic rate approaches. In the last 20 years, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) has been employed to accurately define the hydration profile (water concentration versus depth) in a phenomenological manner. By modelling the hydration profile, the age determination is reached via models describing the diffusion process.

Main Article Content

Ιoannis Liritzis
Henan University, Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development & Collaborative Center on Yellow River Civilization, Laboratory of Yellow River Cultural Heritage, Kaifeng 475001, Henan, China
Nikolaos Laskaris
Department of Industrial Design and Production, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece

Abstract

The dating of obsidian stone tools from the last time were in use by prehistoric man has been approached in 1960, by Friedman and Smith who observed that a freshly exposed surface of obsidian takes on ambient water at a knowable rate that can be used to calculate the time elapsed since exposure and, therefore, the date of an obsidian artifact’s production. Subsequently the hydration procedure has been studied further and distinct versions of the so-called obsidian hydration dating (OHD) method has been developed proposing both empirical rate and intrinsic rate approaches. In the last 20 years, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) has been employed to accurately define the hydration profile (water concentration versus depth) in a phenomenological manner. By modelling the hydration profile, the age determination is reached via models describing the diffusion process.

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 21 No. 3 (2021)
Section
Articles