Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:55:30.096Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Identification of the Sources of Hopewellian Obsidian in the Middle West

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James B. Griffin
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
A. A. Gordus
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
G. A. Wright
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Abstract

One hundred and twenty years ago, the first obsidian implements were reported from Hopewellian mounds by Squier and Davis (1848). Since that time, a number of regions have been suggested as the source area: Alaska, the Pacific Coast, Yellowstone National Park, New Mexico, and central Mexico. Neutron activation analysis of the elemental composition of Hopewellian obsidian indicates two separate element groups. One of these, the 150 Group, has its source at Obsidian Cliff in Yellowstone. The second, the 90 Group, is also located in Yellowstone, but the exact flow has not yet been discovered.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1969

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

Cann, J. R. and Renfrew, C. 1964 The Characterization of Obsidian and its Application to the Mediterranean Region. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Vol. 30, pp. 11133. London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frison, G. and Others 1968 Neutron Activation Analysis of Obsidian: An Example of Its Relevance to Northwestern Plains Archaeology. The Plains Anthropologist. Lincoln. (in press)Google Scholar
Gordus, A. A. and Others 1968 Identification of the Geologic Origins of Archaeological Artifacts: An Automated Method of Na and Mn Neutron Activation Analysis. Archaeometry, Vol. 10. London, (in press)Google Scholar
Gordus, A. A., Wright, G. A., and Griffin, J. B. 1968 Characterization of Obsidian Sources by Neutron Activation Analysis. Science, Vol. 161, pp. 38284. Washington.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, R. C, Brooks, R. R., and Reeves, R. D. 1967 Characterization of New Zealand Obsidians by Emission Spectroscopy. New Zealand Journal of Science, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 67582. Wellington.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1943 The Fort Ancient Aspect: Its Cultural and Chronological Position in Mississippi Valley Archaeology. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1965 Hopewell and the Dark Black Glass. In “Papers in Honor of Emerson F. Greenman.” The Michigan Archaeologist, Vol. 11, Nos. 3–4, pp. 11555. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. G. 1884 Aboriginal Remains Near Naples, Illinois. Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882, pp. 686721. Washington.Google Scholar
Mckern, W. C. 1931 A Wisconsin Variant of the Hopewell Culture. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 185328. Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Mills, W. C. 1922 Exploration of the Mound City Group. In Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 245406. Columbus.Google Scholar
Moorehead, W. K. 1922 The Hopewell Mound Group of Ohio. Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 211, Anthropological Series, Vol. 6, No. 5. Chicago.Google Scholar
Parks, G. A. and Tieh, T. T. 1966 Identifying the Geographical Source of Artifact Obsidian. Nature, Vol. 211, No. 5046, pp. 28990. London.Google Scholar
Renfrew, G, Cann, J. R., and Dixon, J. E. 1965 Obsidian in the Aegean. Annual of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, Vol. 60, p. 225. London.Google Scholar
Renfrew, G, Cann, J. R., and Dixon, J. E. 1966 Obsidian and Early Culture Contact in the Near East. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Vol. 32, pp. 3072. London.Google Scholar
Shetrone, H. C. 1926 Explorations of the Hopewell Group of Prehistoric Earthworks. In Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio, Vol. 4, pp. 79305. Columbus.Google Scholar
Shetrone, H. C. and Greenman, E. F. 1931 Explorations of the Seip Group of Prehistoric Earthworks. Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 343509. Columbus.Google Scholar
Smith, A. G. 1961 Obsidian in Northern Ohio. Ohio Archaeologist, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 17. Columbus.Google Scholar
Spence, M. and Parsons, J. 1967 Prehispanic Obsidian Mines in Southern Hidalgo. American Antiquity, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 542–3. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Squier, E. G. and Davis, E. H. 1848 Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. 1. Washington.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. 1894 Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1890–1891, pp. 3730. Washington.Google Scholar
Wright, G. A. and Gordus, A. A. 1968 Source Areas for Obsidian Recovered at Munhata, Beisamourn, Hazorea, and El Khiam. Israel Exploration Journal. Jerusalem, (in press)Google Scholar
Wright, G. A., Gordus, A. A., and Benedict, P. 1968 Location and Chemical Identification of Some Obsidian Sources in the Aksaray-Nevsehir-Niğde Region, Central Turkey. Türk Tarih Kurumu, Belleten. Istanbul, (in press)Google Scholar
Wright, G. A., Griffin, J. B., and Gordus, A. A. 1968 Preliminary Report on Obsidian Samples from Veratic Rockshelter, Idaho. Occasional Papers of the Idaho State Museum. Pocatello. (in press)Google Scholar