THE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTEFACTS FROM THE WĀDĪ ATH‐THAYYILAH 3 NEOLITHIC SITE (EASTERN YEMEN PLATEAU) BY LA–ICP–MS

The geological sources of obsidian in the Red Sea region provide the raw material used for the production of obsidian artefacts found in prehistoric sites on both sides of the Red Sea, as far afield as Egypt, the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia. This paper presents the chemical characterization of five obsidian geological samples and 20 prehistoric artefacts from a systematically excavated Neolithic settlement in highland Yemen. The major element concentrations were determined by SEM–EDS analysis and the trace element concentrations were analysed by the LA–ICP–MS method, an almost non‐destructive technique capable of chemically characterizing the volcanic glass. A comparison of archaeological and geological determinations allows the provenance of the obsidian used for the Neolithic artefacts to be traced to definite sources in the volcanic district of the central Yemen Plateau.     

OPTICAL DATING RESULTS FOR BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEDIMENTS

In this paper optical dating results for a range of British archaeological sediments are presented to illustrate the potential this method offers for archaeologists. The optical dating is shown to offer an absolute method for directly dating the deposition of sediments for an age range of approximately 1–300ka. Problems have been found with recuperation of the optically stimulated luminescence signal and insufficient bleaching at deposition of the sediment. A suitable correction method for the recuperation has been found and a method of identifying insufficient bleaching is suggested.