Multiple origins of Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde (NW Georgia) obsidians and human mobility in Transcaucasia during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic |
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Authors: | Franç ois-Xavier Le Bourdonnec,Sé bastien Nomade,Gé rard Poupeau,Hervé Guillou,Nikolos Tushabramishvili,Marie-Hé lè ne Moncel,David Pleurdeau,Tamar Agapishvili,Pierre Voinchet,Ana Mgeladze,David Lordkipanidze |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux (IRAMAT), Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l''Archéologie (CRP2A), UMR 5060, CNRS-Université Bordeaux 3, Maison de l''Archéologie, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac, France;2. UMR 8212, CEA-CNRS-IPSL et Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin. LSCE Vallée, Bât. 12, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France;3. UMR 7194 CNRS et Département de Préhistoire du Muséum National d''Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France;4. Georgian National Museum, GE-380007 Tbilisi, Georgia;5. Ilia State University, Str. Cholokashvili 3/5, Tbilisi, Georgia |
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Abstract: | Using PIXE four types of elemental compositions were found among obsidian artefacts from the Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde, Middle to Upper Palaeolithic sites in NW Georgia. One of those types corresponds to obsidians from the Chikiani source, whose compositions were determined with a very good agreement by PIXE and ICP-AES/MS. The composition of Chikiani obsidians is remarkably constant despite K–Ar and 39Ar/40Ar extrusion ages from ca 2.4 and 2.8 Ma. The compositions of two other groups of obsidian artefacts are similar to source materials from eastern Anatolia and Armenia, in particular Ikisdere, Sarikamis, Gutansar, and Hatis. Obsidian is only a minority component in the lithic assemblages at the Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde. Both Neanderthal and Modern Human populations used obsidian in particular from Chikiani. Considering that the shortest walking distance to this nearest source is at minimum of about 180 km, and to other potential sources of more than 350 km it is suggested that this material reached these two sites mostly, if not exclusively, by a series of ‘down the line’ exchanges. |
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Keywords: | Obsidian provenance Palaeolithic Bondi Cave Ortvale Klde Chikiani obsidians |
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