Water worn pebbles were dedicated at many later Bronze Age peak sanctuaries of Minoan Crete and the Minoanized Aegean, including Stelida on Naxos (Cyclades). While most of this assemblage (n = 10,713) is comprised of locally available quartzites and granodiorites, it also included a few obsidian pebbles, a raw material foreign to Naxos. This study used portable XRF spectrometry [pXRF] to elementally characterize and source six of these artifacts, part of a larger study using the pebbles to reconstruct Stelida’s socio-religious sphere of influence, a novel approach in peak sanctuary studies. The analysis shows that the pebbles all derive from Cycladic sources, with five from Melos, and one from Antiparos. That most of the obsidian is Melian was unsurprising given that this was the region’s main Bronze Age source, while the island’s major community (Phylakopi) was also closely connected to Minoan Crete; moreover, the Stelida pottery likely includes Melian imports. The presence of Antiparos obsidian was unexpected, the Stelida example comprising the latest documented use of this material, and the farthest travelled. When the data are contextualized, it can be suggested that these pebbles relate to the significance of seafaring and seafarers to Naxian LBA society, and the rituals conducted at the peak sanctuary. While most Stelida pebbles are formed of locally available raw materials, this obsidian study suggests that the assemblage composition might be more complex, given that many of these lithologies are documented elsewhere in the Cyclades.
