A new programme of obsidian characterization at Çatalhöyük, Turkey

This paper details the chemical sourcing of 135 obsidian artefacts from Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic site in central Anatolia, the trace-elemental analyses being undertaken in two laboratories using ICP-MS, ICP-AES and LA-ICP-MS. The material is assigned to three sources in Cappadocia: Göllü Dağ-east, Nenezi Dağ and Acıgöl West. The various interrelationships of technology, raw material and date are considered, the data suggesting an increased reliance upon the Nenezi Dağ source in the latter part of the Early Neolithic, a shift that coincides with, and is related to, the introduction of new blade technologies.