Accuracy of obsidian hydration dating based on obsidian–radiocarbon association and optical microscopy

Rogers, Alexander K.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.07.023

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…We believe this is largely due to the narrow temporal window of quarrying and the general precision associated with OHD (see also Liritzis and Laskarisa, 2011). Errors associated with OHD are generally in the range of 5e25% of the absolute date (Rogers, 2010;Rogers and Duke, 2011), which is probably greater than the span of time represented at the quarrying pit.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obsidian hydration at high elevation: Archaic quarrying at the Chivay source, southern Peru

Tripcevich

Eerkens

Carpenter

2012

Journal of Archaeological Science

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a b s t r a c tWe examine obsidian hydration as a means to date archaeological sites at high elevation in the central Andes, and in particular quarry sites that are difficult to date by radiocarbon means. The Chivay obsidian source lies in a volcanic depression above the Colca Valley in Arequipa, Peru (71.5355 S, 15.6423 E) at 4950 masl. We compare obsidian hydration readings from one quarry and two workshop locations. Ninetyone flakes from the quarry pit, and 61 and 33 flakes from the workshops were analyzed for hydration bands. Of these, 68 from the quarry, and 54 and 33, respectively from the workshops produced at least one culturally meaningful hydration band. As expected, obsidian appears to hydrate slowly at this high elevation. Yet, variation in hydration readings is low within stratigraphic contexts, suggesting relatively narrow windows of knapping activities in each excavation level. A small number of radiocarbon dates allow us to develop a preliminary hydration rate for Chivay obsidian in this high elevation location. Hydration data indicate that intensive quarrying began by 3800 cal. BC and stopped ca. 2300 cal. BC. By contrast, the two workshops appear to have been deposited 2900 and 1200 cal. BC, and 2700 and 2400 cal. BC. The data are consistent with an uptick in obsidian use by at least the Terminal Archaic period.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obsidian hydration at high elevation: Archaic quarrying at the Chivay source, southern Peru

Tripcevich

Eerkens

Carpenter

2012

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…This procedure will be beneficial before dated obsidian specimens are sorted according to the different geochemical groups to standardize the potential variation in intrinsic water content (Rogers, 2010a). Negation of the reliability in OHD to give site dates (e.g., Ridings, 1996) will be revisited through a series of steps that assess context of specimens, sampling strategy, accuracy and precision of measurements, intra and inter variation in rim measurements, and comparisons with other chronometric dates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As potential errors were carefully assessed, the status of OHD changed from relative dating method to the more rigorous chronometric dating method 6 (Anovitz et al, 1999;Michaels et al, 1983b;Rogers, 2010a). In his recent article, Rogers (2010a) listed rim measurement, radiocarbon measurement, temperature history, hydration rate, intrinsic water content, and site formation processes (especially, tool reuse, old wood problem, and post-depositional displacement of artifacts) for the major sources of errors that need to be carefully assessed to increase the accuracy and precision of OHD.…”

Section: Valid Specimens For Obsidian Hydration Dating Toward Assessimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the implication of the presence of hydration in obsidian (Ross and Smith, 1955) and the new dating method in using observed hydration rinds introduced into archaeology in 1960 (Friedman and Smith, 1960), over the last five decades, OHD has been popularized to furnish the dates for prehistoric sites and assemblages. Obsidian artifacts both in buried and surface contexts have been used in regions where obsidian artifacts are ubiquitously found, notably in southern Pacific coast of North America (e.g., Bettinger, 1980;Hull, 2001;Meighan, 1983;Origer, 1989;Rogers and Yohe, 2011), Great Basin (Jones and Beck, 1990;Jones et al, 2003), American Southwest (Findlow et al, 1975;Ridings, 1996), East Africa (Ambrose, 2012;Michels et al, 1983), Mesoamerica (Braswell, 1992;Freter, 1993;Riciputi et al, 2002;Webster and Freter, 1990), coastal Peru (Eerkens et al, 2008), central Andes (Tripcevich et al, 2012), Oceania (Ambrose, 1994;Clark et al, 1997), interior Alaska (Clark, 1984), and Japan Kondo, 1965, 1976;Suzuki, 1971). The major reasons why OHD is accepted by archaeologists are: (1) relative easiness in the procedure of observations, measures, and calculations of dates, (2) specimens can be coupled with temporally sensitive techno-typological units such as projectile points (e.g., Jones and Beck, 1990), (3) while analysts can accommodate a large number of specimens for dates, the cost to obtain dates is not expensive (lower than the radiometric dates such as radiocarbon dating), and (4) depending on the effective hydration temperature, the applicable range of dating is deep enough to cover from the Middle Pleistocene (780,000 BP) to historic period (Friedman and Smith, 1960;Michels and Tsong, 1980;Origer, 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The significance of obsidian hydration dating in assessing the integrity of Holocene midden, Hokkaido, northern Japan

Nakazawa

2016

Quaternary International

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Since its novel invention in 1960, obsidian hydration dating is now recognized as the chronometric method to give dates of archaeological sites, based on measurements of hydration rim thickness. Contrary to the increased awareness of various factors that affect hydration rates and reliability in measurements, the question whether and the extent to which the validity in the rim thickness measurements corresponds to the interested event has been less discussed. Here, validity of obsidian hydration dates that designate event of human site occupations is discussed in terms of site integrity of the Early Jomon midden in the Holocene site of Ocharasenai (OCH), Hokkaido, northern Japan. Expected integrity of the midden evidently left by prehistoric hunter-gatherers is tested through a comparison of microscopically-measured average rim thicknesses between the primarily extracted specimens and those chosen after assessing the validity.No statistical difference in estimated hydration dates between these two groups supports high integrity of the midden. The estimated date for the Early Jomon occupation at the OCH is 4388-4942 BP, fallen into the end of Middle Holocene. Results of the present examination indicate that obsidian hydration dating will aid to understand site formation processes.

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“…Anovitz et al 1999;Rogers 2006). Empirical rates, on the other hand, generally take longer to establish and may be more subject to error, but provide reasonable predictive accuracy within the range of rim readings and radiocarbon ages used to generate the equations (Rogers 2007(Rogers , 2008(Rogers , 2010b. Friedman and Long (1976) proposed that obsidian hydration proceeds as the square root of time and that the time elapsed since an obsidian surface was last exposed could be estimated by the hydration equation…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological Age Estimation Based on Obsidian Hydration Data for Two Southern Andean Sources

et al. 2016

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Obsidian is abundant in archaeological sites throughout Mendoza Province, Argentina but no obsidian hydration rates exist to date these assemblages. Direct dating of obsidian artifacts is particularly important in west-central Argentina because the surface record is extensive but well-defined time marker artifacts are lacking. The costs of non-optical hydration dating techniques currently preclude their regular use in the region, however. We present and evaluate 12 models for age estimation based on optical hydration rim measurements for the two most commonly used obsidian types in the region (Las Cargas and Laguna del Maule). Age estimation equations are derived for each source using observed hydration rim-radiocarbon date pairs, and parameterized by variables known to influence obsidian hydration in experimental settings. The equations advanced here are currently best at predicting the known ages of artifacts independently dated by radiocarbon, and can be cautiously used to estimate the ages of obsidian artifacts.Key words: Obsidian hydration, age estimation, Argentina. Las obsidianas son abundantes en los sitios arqueológicos de la provincia de Mendoza (Argentina

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Accuracy of obsidian hydration dating based on obsidian–radiocarbon association and optical microscopy

Cited by 18 publications

References 28 publications

Obsidian hydration at high elevation: Archaic quarrying at the Chivay source, southern Peru

Obsidian hydration at high elevation: Archaic quarrying at the Chivay source, southern Peru

The significance of obsidian hydration dating in assessing the integrity of Holocene midden, Hokkaido, northern Japan

Archaeological Age Estimation Based on Obsidian Hydration Data for Two Southern Andean Sources

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