Keller, J., Djerbashian, R., Pernicka, E., Karapetian, S.G., Nasedkin, V. 1996:
Armenian and Caucasian obsidian occurrences as sources for the neolithic trade: Volcanological
setting and chemical characteristics. In: Ş. Demirci, A. M. Özer and G.D. Summers (eds.):
Archaeometry 94. Proc. of the 29th Int. Symp. on Archaeometry, 9-14 May 1994, Ankara, pp.
, . ", · I",, ·r''''~''1 I 'N.J.A nlin...
69-86.
0 -
ARMENIAN AND CAUCASIAN OBS IDIAN OCCURRENCES AS SOURCES FOR
THE NEOLITIIIC TRADE: VOLCANOLOG ICAL SETTING
AND CHEMICAL CHARACTER ISTICS
J. KELLER
~ fi"",.,,/ogi .<ch.Pdrogrof'hiu
llt' J Imlilul ,kr (J" i w n ittJI Frt!ib wrg, (i/1""lQ/ly .
R. DJERBASHI AN. S.G. KAAAPEnAN
/ i"" {ogicn/ t",,' ilu'" OJ Iht' A t1IWllilll ' Acm lemr o(SCi,,' ICl'S,
r.."wm."'""..",a
E. PERNICKA
\ /" Y·Pl" " cA /" m,,,, Ii'r /o."·"'I,lIr .,A.U" i.klh(''1(, (1" ""1("111\-
V. NASEDK IN
1/ ;1'~\I " / rl", Ac", lt'nR " ( Scie,,, ..~ ,,{ R" H I<' . ,\(o"co" . Hilum ,
( )h,\'/Jicm 11(/,\- heen 1l',,/('~\ ' used ill i 'rehistortc civilizations ojthe Med iterr anean and the S ear
Host . , I lurge number ol natura! occurrences are known f rom A natolia. and chemical
charactcnzauon is well advanced. t.ess well explored and characterized are ohs idia n source." in
the Ca uca sus WId Transcaucasus. l!'\1h!cial('I! in Armenia, and 'heir role in 'he Neolithic trade,
though clearl y important, sullIocks satisfacto ry constra ints.
A oYun 'ey ofobsidtan occurrences In Arme/llD and su rroundmg areas us possible sources
for prehistortc use has been carried out II 'e describe the geotogicot context of 13 volcanic
complexes wtth obsidian .flail'.\'. Including Artem , A li,~, Gutansar, Spitaksar, Gegha sar,
CllOra" hor, Bazenk. Satanakar ami Sevkar in the Armeman Republic, Hoban in the northern
COfI"Q.'i/JS. Porovon ("'''~/un Dog) In Georgia and Kechel Do{: In Azerbaydzan.
The chemi cal charactcrizauan of 13 source area.. define s ar least I - chemically di.ctinct
groups or s ubgroups. Some volcanic comptexes, f or example Arteni and A ti..... nave erupted
several chemicalt · diffe rent (llmaiall flows Distinction of indivtd val obsidum source." L.. hosed
on chemical anal -sis of motor and minor elements by .\ R F 'which are complemented by a
detai led trace- element study by neutron activation anotyns (1l'.:.1A). It i... ,\hown that unambigunu.\·
chen ncat correlanons are JH~ ..-sihle and a ,..c heme f or the chemical distinction of obsidians I."
!wl!.\·el11ed. I \\"Ing our data hank pw..lnatolian obsidian...f or comparl.w ll. the .·jrmenian examples
are 0 /....0 discnm ma ted /II the overa ll context o( Near Honem obsidian occurrences. Available
unU~l '.\·e,<;
artifac ts po int to the 1H'l!hl,\'/(J"'c I/.\'I! ami wide areal dismbuuon nf Armenwn-
or
taucassan oh.\·ldio/l.\·.
f..:EJln IRj),,: t l B.\;IDIAN I' RtI VENA NC[,. A RMENLA..A NA f(IUA. CAlICA.'m s. NU. ILmnc.
VOLCANO SO I IRCE A RFA<;.CHEM ICAl.. coeoosrno», XRF. INNA
INTRODU CTION
In th e pioneerin g studies of the Neolithic use of Near Eastern obsidians by Renfrew and coworkers duri ng the
Sixties (Renfrew et 01. 1966. 1968) the major emphasis was on central and eastern Anatolian occurrences.
However. it is recogni zed that the Caucasus a rea. in part icular Armenia. was the site of extensive rhyolitic
volcanism duri ng the Cenozoic (Ka rapetia n 1969. 19 72~ Djerbashian et 01. 1981; Gorshkov 197L Mrktchian
1971). The occurrences of obsidian in the "Caucasus" and "Transcaucasus" areas had already received early
attention in the classical times of petrography te.g . Abich 1882), Petrology of rhyolitic volcanic products and
the characteristics and possible use of volcanic glass and perlite were stud ied in great detail . mostly in Russianlanguage publicat ions (v ehuni 1958: Nasedki n 1969. 1973: Karapetian 1963. 1969: Alibegas bvili and
Rikhladze 1981).
In the earli er. now classical archaeological obsidian studies (Renfrew ot of. 1966. 1968) very little
Armenian material was available. Renfrew er (II. ( 1966) anal yzed one sample "Erevan" , bUI could later state
(Renfrew er 01. 1968)lhat ther e is not "yet a ny suggestion thai further sources exist outside of the tv.o prin cipal
source a reas of centra l and eastern Anatolia". Knowledge of the eastern Anatolian sources has steadily
increased during th e last year s ( Cauvin et at. 1986. 1 991 ~ Francaviglia 1991: Keller and Seifried 1990: Ercan
et 01. 1990: Bigazzi ct at. 1994), For the Armenian sector. Keller and Seifried ( 1990) reported chemical
1. Keller. R.
70
l~ie,.ha\·hian .
I: Nasedkin
.\ '.li. Korapenon. E. Permcka.
information for the sources Arteru, Alis. Gutansar . Spitaksar. Bazenk and Sevkar . but have also shown that
systematic data are lacking for more than 15 subgroups of Ann enian obsidians . Thi s paper alms at fillin g the
ga p in describin g the major occurrences and in providing major-element data and trace-element cha racteristics
by neutron acti vation analysis for their characterization. Th ese data are also compared with OUT INAA and XRF
data for now about 30 different Anatolian obsidian source groups (Pernicka et al. 1 99~ ; Keller and Pernicka
unpublished )
'"-
,
_
~_
~
. .
....\
,
'),
- -".
<)(l '
"'...........c,_
I
,
•
')
,..""I..<ninolw>
. -'
••
~D
lure
II
,
1
')-L..!.
• 1'-'"
Aneni volcanic -
t-==- com plex
"~
~tID~
~
lu re ...
l, _
----..!!"il!Ure 5
<1\..,
~.i.
tii
_- -- ~~'" ~ 0<...,.,
'phorI
• ~ora
• S>nd..cl>b=
Spitaksar
....
...
,
.....
~
' -'
\
,I
g
western volcanic lone
[IT]
eastern volcanic lone
-
"~~
I
,,
I
,/
_ .......~~,
r~ til'
,,•
I
I.. ~~ ~
~~
-\
'I", NAKHI CHEWAN '(
\
'
IRAN
lOOkm
Jj[[]j
Buonl<
, u,e
\,.00-\
1"--"',
,
Kechelda g
-. Satanakar
• Sevlcar
l ure
.....\
TURKEY
AZERBAYDZHAN
A, «<
""'"
I
\
\, ........
' -'
.-,,
_"-'.i/
M. Watphal
I
Kechut volcanic Zone
IV
Vardenis volcanic Zone
II
Aragats volcanic Zone
V
Sjunik volcanic Zon e
III
Gegham volcan ic Zone
VI
Kaphan volcanic Zone
Fig. 1.
A rmen ia and adjacent areas ....-uh: Cenozoic volcanic districts and
oh.n Ji an-bc anfJ1l. votcomcfie ld s.
."
:!rmenl an and Caucasian (Jll.\"ld ian
BRIEF GEOLOGIC..6J. OUJ1. INE OF RHYOLITIC -
71
OBSIDI AN VOLCANOES
IN ARMENIA AND ADJACENT AREAS
ACid volca nism of Pliocene-Quaternary age is exte nsively deve loped in the Caucasian segment of the Alpin e
crogemc belt. It has reached a gr andiose scale on the volcanic highland of Armen ia with many paralle ls 10 the
volca nic evolution and volca nic featu res In eas tern Anatotia Rhyolit es sere erupted in explosive. effusive and
evtrusive facies in differ ent periods with a maximum of ac id volca nism from Pliocen e to the Quaternary.
Obs idia ns are particularly associated wnh the prominent rhyolitic dom e-shaped volcanoes of Plioce ne a nd
Quaternary age. 1 _5 Ma to Recent (Djerbas hl3n 1964. Karapenan 1964, 1912). There is an excepncnal venery
of obsrdian types (Nasedk in 1%9) Th e mam fea tures of obsidian-bearing volcaruc complexes are sumrna n zed
below
I rlc",
Arteni is a large volcanic dom e comple x of complicated structure locat ed in th e southeas ter n pan of
Aragats votcamc massif of western .Armenia (Fig . 2 ), The approximate geographical coord inates are ~~ o~ I 'E.
·WQ 20'N . Two major eruption centers - Meu (B ig) An eni (2047 m) and Pok r (Small) Arten i (I753 m) repr esent
a multiphase volca nic field formed by repeated expl osive. effusive and extrusive eruptions of rhyolitic magmas
(Ka rape ua n 1964. 19 72: Nasedkm 1%9; Siurima n and Ka rapeti an 1( 71) , Both cent ers have erupted perlite
and obs idia n flows in several eruptive episodes. Th e prom inent exa mple is the 7-8 km long Aragats n ow of Mers
Artem (Fig 2) wh ich is dominantly per litic with parts of the flow solidified as obs id ian Obsi d ia n blocks occur
al so In the pumice deposits of the ea rliest phases of Meni vctcems m. such as at Brusok (Fig . 2 ). Th e age of the
volcanic acti vity is Quaternary. Fission-t rack dating of obsidia ns by Ko marov et a'. ( 1972) and by Wagner et
01 ( 1( 76 ) gave almost i dennca! result s of 1.25 Ma an d 1_36 M a
Figure 3 shO\Oos the Gutansar group of volcanoes \\ohich is crossed by Ihe hig h way from Yerevan to
Lake Sevan in the area around DJraber t ~O~ 1 E. ~0"2 2 · N I . These occurrences are a lso na med MDjrabe r
exuusrves" 10 the literature {Nasedk lO .:1 at 111831. Obsrdian under the prove nance "Erevan " com es otn.'1ously
mostly from Ihis field in the cen tra l pa n of Armenia. Th is sou rce \ '03S known an d collected a lmost one hundred
years ago Examples from the tredi uc n-nch Rosen busc h- and Osann col lections al Frejburg, an d Sirasbourg
labeled "Caucasus" and "'Transcaucasia" relate clearly 10 Gutansar.
Gutansar is a la rg e dome-shaped massi f (2229ml of complicated structu re formed by rhyolite-perlites
lavas. pum ice and brecc ias. A major rhyolit ic flow of brecciat ed perlite extends up to 6-7k m from the ce nter to
Djraber and Gr umush (Fig . 3). Th e perlite now covers a n a rea of J2k m!, Obsidian occurs In the form of dik elike ramp structures in the perlite flows a nd , in deeper parts of the flows. obsi dian also forms massive bodies It
IS commonly observed that obs idian passes g radually 1A10 the pertnic main facies of the flow (Sbin man and
Ka rapenan 1971 : Karapetian 1909. 1972 ). Fission-t rack dating of thi s cosrdian by K omarov et at. ( 1972) and
Wagner '-'I 011. ( 1976) gave identica l result s of 0.31 Ma.
( ; U'",1.\I"
.,I ffs Mr. Atis is situated 20km northeast of Yerevan and approximately 6km south east of Gut ansa r with 'wh ich
It forms the rhyoliti c province of th e Geg ham volcanic high land in centra l Armenia at 44°,n 'E. ~ 002 8 · N (Fig s
I a nd 3) Atis volca no is a dom e-shaped structure wtth an elevation of 2529m , The volcamc massif is composed
of dacnic and rhyolitic extrusives that are cut an d covered by younge r basalts and andes ites , Thi s sequence.
basaltic a nd basalt-an desine eruptions of very young age following the rhyolit es. is a freq uent feature in
Armenian volca nic field Examples are also G uta nse r. and the Va rden is and Sjun ik volcanoes, Seve ral phases
of ecid volca nism are recognized and obsidia ns OCC'\lr mainly as basal parts or rnterm tttent ledges in rhyoliteperlit e f10~ [Kara penan and Kar apeti an 1971: S.G. Karapetia n 1972: K Karapeuan 1973 ), Karapenan and
Ka rapetian ( 1(71 ) attribute a Plio- P leistocene age to Ans . Available radiometric information tKc rnarcv et (I/.
1972) ran ge from 065 Ma (by K-Ar ) 10 0 .33 Ma (by fission-track ).
..../ lIlahl.lr and ( ;t"1{h a ..ar Spuaksar (J560m) a nd Geghasar (3 44601) are large volcanic do mes that are loca ted
in the scethem part of Gegbam volcanic hig hland at 45°01 'E. ~OC' 06 · N and a re about of 5km apart (Figs I
and 4 )
In volcan ic st ruct ure. eruptive mechanism s, products and age, both volcanoes show far-reachi ng
simrlan ue s (5 G. Karapeuan 1972: K. Ka rapenan 1( 73). Obsi d ian occu rs mainly as a basal faci es of the dom erelated f1 0>M; (Fig . ~ ). As will be shown below, the chemical co mposition of obsidia ns from Spneksar and
Gegh asar is ide ntical A Qu at ernary age of 0.5 1 Ma Y.3S obtained by fiss ion-track fo r a Spnaksar obs idian
(K omarov et (1 / 1972).
72
J. }.:el/,·r. R. l?i,·/'hllShian. ,"U ;. Karapenan. 1:'. l 'em icka.
r: Na sedkm
Choraphor. also known by Its older name Karnyjanch, is located in the a rea south of the Lake
Sevan on the north ern slopes of the Vardenis range ( 4 s o J7 'E. 40"'4J 'N). It is a dome-shaped vo lcano with an
elevation of 2906 m and a relative height of 300m (Fig.. 5 ) Obsidians and perlites occur in form of Individual
lenses and brecciated pans of the major rhyolitic flow unit of Choraphor (Djerbashian I~ ; Kazarian et o f
1%1) A. K-Ar dat e of I. 75 Ma mdrca tes an Early Quaternary age .
A sister volcano of Chora phor in the Varde nis group (Fig . I) is Sanduchkasar (45°J 6"E. -weOO'Nl
Sanduchkasar has erupted a vanew of acid volcanics. mainly du ring the Quaternary (Djerbashian et 01. 1981:
Kazarian et at. J96 7). Althou gh obsidian has been mentioned from Sanduchkasar. the only sample available
was a dense glass-rich rhyo lite. flOC a real obsidian. and was nee Included in this study.
('ImrapilOr
The '~/ ""ik g r o llp: Hazenk. S ('I'kat,. Sat anakar
Bazenk (3228m ). Sevkar, Mers Satanakar ( 3 17~ m l and Pokr
Satanakar term the Sju nik gr oup of rhyolite volcanoe s in eastern Armenia. close to the ArmenianAzerbaydzban border lf lg . h ). Sara naka r \WS formerl y also called Dawages. TIle centers fonn a line WIth
approxrmatety north-by -n orth west d irection in the Sju nik volca nic highland. The geographical coordi nates are
~ 5 °4 9 ·49 ° 31 · E. 39°49 ·N. The rhyolitic Sjunik centers are large dome-shaped volcanoes composed of
pyroclastics. extrusive domes and dome-related flows . Obsidian facies occurs as bodies within rhyolitic and
perti nc Flews, In part ic ular at thei r base. K -Ar and fission-t rack ages fall between 0.30-0 .90 Ma (Karapeti an
196 3; Ko rnaro v et 01 19 72). Younger than th e rhyolitic domes are recent cinder cones a nd basaltic-an desine
1:)'Ia fields which surroun d. and in pan cover the rhyo litic centers (vebum 1958; Karapetian 1963).
}.,".:dIt'ILJaf:
Kechel Dag IS located in the western part of Azerbaydzan at ~ 5 ° 5 I" E . 39°5~ 'N , thus in the
VICinity to the Sjunik chain (f Ig, I ) 11 is the only known obsidia n occurrence in Azerbaydzan and is described
as a cone-shaped vctcamc mass if wtuc h cons ists of altem an ng flows of rhyohtes. obsidi ans an d perhtes which
commo nly have a brecciated texture (Nasedk tn 1% 9 ). The age IS Quat ernary as Indicated by a K-Ar danng of
0 70 Ma
Cbsldian occurrences nave al so been mennoned from Amasia located at ~ 3 ° ~ 5 ' E . ~l o05" N . nonh of
Leninakan in the northwestern co rner of Armen ia (Kc marcv et 01. 19 72; Kharazian 1973 ) We refer to this
locality for comp leteness bul no chemical data are available so far (a sampl e dispatched from Yerevan did not
amve 31 our laboratones). Obsidians occur in a fragme ntary term. as blocks in vclcamcfasuc deposit s, and the
possible volcanic cen ters a re nOI ~11 defined The K ·Ar and fission-track ages range from 2 ,b Ma to 1.70 Ma
{Kc marov el 01. 1912 : Kbaraaan 19 73), It is worth potnnn g out, lhat Amasra is relat ively close to the eastern
Anatolian Kars-Arpacey sources and it v.i11 be interesting for the future to compare their compositions.
A ma.n a
Paravan ( }.,"lJj IlIl lJag,)
Koju u Oat, also called Pa rava n or Taparavani. is a Tra nscaucasian obsidia n
occu rrence located in the Akhalkalak volcanic hig hland of southwestern Georgia (Alibegas hVl Ii a nd Rikhladze
1981 I, Kojun Dag is a dome-shaped volcanic edifice, 2~ 17m high , at the northeastern shore of Lake Paravan.
Flows and breccias of rhyoli tes. obsidians and perli tes characterize thi s volcano, K omarov &:1 01 ( 1972) report a
fission-track ag e of 2.24 Ma
Bohall
The only obsidian s in the Caucasus Range have been reported from its north ern slopes south of
Pyatigo rsk-Mineral'n ye Vody. TIle localities are found at the eastern slopes of the Elbru s massif in the river
valleys of Baksan and Chegem {Nasedk m and Fcrmoscv 1965) wtnch are both lributaries of Terek river.
Obsidians are confi ned 10 the thick suite of rhyolitic tuffs. pumices. perlites and ignimbnte5 of the
Nizhnechegamsky volcanic reg ion (Korcnovsky 1971: Mrtancvsky and Korcn ovsky 1973). Obsidians are
found as blocks and boulders in pyroclastics and river deposits and it seems that the eruption centers are nOl yet
exactly established Kcmarov o!l 0 1. ( 19 72) obtained a fission-t rack age of 1.1 Ma for Baksan. Obsidian occurs
near the villages of Sajukowo (Z3yukovo) in the Baksan valley and Chegem (Tschege mj in Chege m valley.
BOIh valleys are parallel and ar e geographical ly very close to each other. Nasedk in and fonnosov (1965 )
detennined an identical refract ive mc!e1l for obsidian from both areas which suggests that Baksan a nd Cbegem
are from the identical source, Our characterization is based on one sample from Baksan collected by Peter
Lipman
·,
. lrm" lIItJ/l and Caucasian (}h.udian
73
Arteni Volanic
Field
Mets Arteni
~~
~ ! : :oi{:1Y-:::::-CJG::».=/5- • •
~
Mets .Arteni
c
I ,
~B1~
,' • ••••• ". ," , .. . -.
. .. ?
~
,..,... ... . .. J\ ,t ...... + .. .. ~~, .~
ffi
•• +
t Alluvium
2 Volcanic formations outside Anen i volcanic field
) Cinder cones
4 Rhyolites and perlnes
S Perline and obsidianic ruffs and
6 Obsidians
tu~ccias
7 RhyoliteS iU1d perlitic rtIyoli[ts of Khtzan dome and Mets and Poia' Aneni flows
8 Perlitic-obsidianic lavas and lava breccias of Ar:lg3lS flow (Mets Aneni)
and of Poia' Aneni
9 Pyroclastic pcrliles. pumice tephra with obsidians
10 Uppermyolitic lavas of Mets Aneni
Fig. 1.
( ;l!n!r'1{lca l map ofthe A rteni volcani c com plex
(fro", Sh ir ini on and Korapeuan / 9'7/ . 1'f!dr C1\I7fJ.
.,
74
Fig _J.
( ;eoIrIXIC:ul mUJI o[ the Gutansar IJjrah"r and Ati,,' \·fJlcani(· 1l.rnll/~\·
(from Karapen an and Korapeuon 19 ; I , r edrawn)
75
..lrltll!nJon and CO/ICa.\'/U1l {Jb ,\'I IJ/UII
o
~
~
rst-n
~
"'--
F:':'1 Pert,.. bt'oenu ond
"""
•EI
!"''''- PY""'....lig,
Obudl&lll Old pcrlil>c
loyu W>d1
buaI ob..:h... foQa
' -_ _..J ca, I km
c
E"
Gegbasa r
.. t
!'..
~
Fig. ~ .
The .'ipllabar.{;egha...ar RNJUP ofvolcan ic domes
(aper Karapetum / 969. / 9 72'.
.76
J Keller. R. lNerha.\hian. S. C;. Karopetion, E. Pem icka.
r: .\'o\'edkin
ca. 1 km
~
~
1 Alluvium
~
2 Cinder cones
~
3 Quaternary basalt-andesite
lavas from Sarigagar volcano
~
4 Andesite - dacite lava flows
from Sanduchkasar VOIC3110
~
5 Rhyolitic lava of
III
6 Obsidian and perlitic faci es
in Ryholites
I:;::::::J
Fig. 5.
Mr. Choraphor
(Jco/OK/cal map ofthe rhnraphnr volcano In I'ardenis volcanic J{rtJup
{Kazarian et 01- 1 96~)_
..
-
A rmelf/m, ami t 'aucasum {Jh.wdtan
77
Pok r Sat anaka r
D
t
to
Kedlt~'ld3V
I Allu vium
2 Bas3.h andandesite: lavas
of the Qu:tlc:mary Sjunik
"ok a no
vok cnces
&'ZI
3 Cinder cones
r:-:->
4 Perlilic and pum ice
~
pyrocl~ ics
5 Obsidians
7 Rhyolites, perlltic in pans
8 Older andesite-dac ite lavas
(mostly j'Iojeogene)
ca. 3 km
Saranakar
M . Sevkar
Bazenk
A
Fig. 6.
The Bazenk:.....i.n'kar-SiJtanakar~/ine of rhy olihc Jom e.t in the Sj um/': volcanic field
tatter Korapet ian /969. 1972).
.,
78
J Keller. H. 1~! erh a\>hlUn , S ,G I....ampeuon. R, Permcka. I ~ v asedk m
CHEMICAL CHARACTER ISTICS OF ARMENIAN OBSIDIANS
Basic chemical data for some of the Armenian obsid ian occurrences were published by Keller and Seifried
( 1990) in a paper ai med at showing that major g roups of Nea r Eastern obsid ian s are well defined by thei r majo r
element chemistry, This pape r extends the earlier study in two directions {3 I enla rging the sampling of volcanic
source areas and (b) providing detailed INAA trace-element data for each distinct source g roup or subg roup
defined previously by major element chemistry. Thi s type of information is now also ava ilable for an extended
number of Anatolia n sources (see also Pernicka et at IQQ-l. and Keller et 01 19(4). Tables ' to 5 list majorelement and trace-eternem data for all analyzed Armenian and Caucasia n sources. TIle trace elements Rb. Sr.
Ba, Zr, Y. Nb were an alyzed by XRF III Freiburg (see Keller and Seifried for an alyt ical details} and INAA
analysts of further trace elements includ ing REE were done at the Max-Planck Institute in Heidelberg tsee
Pernicka 1985 for a nalytical deta ils Analytical precision is 2% or bette r for elements determ ined with INA.A.
From freq uent compansons with internationa l reference materials it ca n be estimated tha t the accuracy is better
than 5% for all elements except Zn. Nd a nd Lu where it is better tha n \ 0% ),
The enlarged data base for Anatolia n sources is used in Figur es 1-9 for comparison with ArmenianCaucasian obsidian s. Keller a nd Seifried (191)0) used major elements for a bas ic gro uping of Anatolian and
Armenian obsidi an s a nd showed that these major-element systemaucs that ca n be a nalyzed by eit her XRF
ana lysis or electron microprobe can effectively d iscrimina te between the major g roups of Anatolian obsidian
occurrences. Keller and Seifn ed ( \ l)901 proposed the CaQ-Fe20, relations hips as the bas ic discri mina nt for
their first g rouping (Fig.
Add itional data. in particular for Na, K. Ba. Zr, Sr a nd Rb enabled Keller and
Seifried ( 1990 ) to char acterize all major sources the n known.
Figure 1 shows the enlarged and updated CaQ- Fe20 J relationships for all ana lyzed Near Eastern source
obsidians in our data bank . In this diag ram. Kelle r and Seifried ( 1990) have disting uished calc-alkaline and
peralkaline sources. Peral kaline compos itions cha racterize a ll subgroups of Nemrut DdS. (Blackman 1 9 8~ .
Fornase ri et al. 1917: Keller an d Seifried 1990; Fran caviglia 19( 0 ) Bingol is anothe r peralkahne source, but
Cauvin et al ( 1986; 199 11 have shown that pera lkaline compositions are restricted to a source Bingel A.
whereas. the source grou p Bingo l B (or Bingol 2) comprises calc-alkaline compositions. for insta nce from the
locality of Catak approximately ~Ok lll NE of Bingel . Obsidia ns of the peralkaline trend a re readily recogni zed
by their high total-iron contents. low AI ~Dlo high Hf, Ta, REE etc. (Keller and Seifried 1990: Francavigh a
1991 1. Sources from Armenia and the wider Caucasus regions that form the subject of the pr esent study have
not yielded any obsidian with pera lkaline composinon. There fore. the diagram s that a re used are restricted to
the calc-alkaline sector for reaso ns of scale (cf. Fig. 1).
TIle CaQ-Fe20., diag ram shows Armenian sources ~ 11 separated from other occur rences One group
that includes Arteru, Spuaksar. Geg hasar , Choraphcr . the Sjunik-volcanoes Bazenk. Sevka r, Satanak ar and
also Kechel Oag from Azerbaydza n is lower in CaD an d Fe~D3 than all other sources with the exception of
some overlap with the Akbaba Dag sa mple of the Ka rs area Further subdivision of tlus low Callow Fe group is
possible with additional trace-element data , Atis, Guta nsar. Baksa n and Par avan samples form distinct
individual fields in the CaD- FeJOJ diagram.
TIle CaQ-F e]O\ relationships of Figur e 7 shews that a simple two-element discrimination diag ram can
successfully distingui sh most Near Easte rn obsidian sources. Additional distinction IS provided by the detailed
trace-element and REE da ta a nalyzed WIth neutron activation analysis (l NAA1. since most ana lyses of
archaeological obsidian findin gs have been accom phshed by INAA Figures 8 and q show that the Hf-Ta and
Th- La diagrams are pa rticularly effective to express these che mical differences. The final step of correlation or
d iscrim ination is weighted element-by-element comparison in which knowledge of geochemical behavior,
possible seconda ry alteralion and element-specific reliability of chemical analysis have to be used for data
interpretation. Therefore. th is direct use of the unfiltered ana lytical data is preferred to changing the chemical
information into more compli cated ranos. factors. functions, dendrog rams etc.
n
A rlen; Table 1 lists exa mples for Arteni obsidian composit ions . We have distinguished 3 subgroups: ARKA
IA (ARKA for Armen ien-K auk asus) represents samples from flows on the eastern flank of Pok r Arteni: IBare
obsidian blocks in the perlitic pyroclastics at Brusok: and IC comprises samples from the volumi nous Araga ts
flow thai extends 8km to the west of Mets Arteni a nd is complemented by large art ifacts from Ml. Irind 10km
east of Arteni volcan o Th e two sources Arteni A and B are chemically very similar, and the small differences
in Hf and Ta should not be overemphas ized due to the limited numbe r of analyzed sa mples. Arteni C shows
systematic differences to both oth er Arteni samples in several of the major elements (Ti, Fe, Mn j. but is clear ly
differentiated by its tenfold Ba concentrations. Othe r noteworthy differences are found in Ta. U a nd in the ligh t
rare-earth elements (La. Ce. Nd). As a w hole. the Arteni samples overlap in the Cao-Fe20'1 d iagram with a
number of other Armen ian sources. but are ~11 sepa rated in the La-Th plot. According to their Th contents, the
Arme nian and Caucasian (Jh.,·idian
79
Arme nian obsidians ca n be further subd ivided in a western group with Th < 20 pp m incl udi ng Arteni , Guta nsar
a nd Atis, and the more easterly occurrences with Spuakser-Gegh aser. Choraphor. and the SJunik volcanoes
Bazen k. Sevkar and Satanaka r shosang Th :> 25 ppm
t iutansar
Obsidian-perlite lava flows of Gutansar volcano run also under -Djrabe r extrusrves" in the literature
and include out crops near Fontan and Alaphar Mts . We have analyzed by XRF 14 samples of this complex
which show a n extraordina ry constancy in thei r composition Table 2 lists major-el emen t data of 8 examples of
v.tuch t~ have a lso been a na lyzed by INAA . Gutansar obsid ian is ~ II defined in the CaO-F ~ diagram
IFlg . 1), where it ptces o nly near the central Anatchan Nenezi nag an d 10 the north western Analolian Yaglar
group (Keller and Sei fried 1990) However. it is v.ell distinguished from bach by Th, La. Ta, etc . ( Figs 8 and 9).
. Itt... Obsi d ians from Ali s are reponed in Table 2. Sam ples T0139.1 and Kau z are rep resentative s of the majo r
sou rce ARKA 3A which IS cbarectenzed in the C~F~O\ diagram (Fig. 1) by high Ca at relatively low Fe. In
comparison to the ne~ Gutan sar source. 3A is furthe r fi ngerpnnted by lower Y. Nb. Zr , U. Hf and Ta In the
overall contex t. the 10"': thonum content is d rsuncnve and is a feature 10 common with the Gutansar and Kojun
DaglParavan exam ples (Fig . 9 )
A seco nd co mpos ition. Alis B. is rep resen ted by two sam ples in our files (fable 2. OA 405. MA7. nOl:
represented in Fig . 7) lower SiO~ . and higher Fe. Ca. Ti, Mg suggest thi s is a less evolved magma
composition Th e trace-element systemat ics. in particular rare-earth elements an d lOY.' th orium cont ents also
suggest a co-magm atic relationship of 36 With 3A
!!'i ,jtuks ar and r,~ha...ur
Th ese two obsidian volca noes (Fig. 4 ) are similar in their Ca- Fe-relationship 10
severa l et her Armenia n sources of the low Callow Fe-gr oup , in parti cular Aneni and Choraphor. Keller and
Seifried ( 199 1· 14 ) drsnngursbed Spllaksar from these sou rces by vi rtue of I()Y,' Sa. Zr, Sr and high Rh. The
most distinctive smgte-etemer u discnnunanc n is provided by Nb. The Spn aksar-Gegnaser group shows the
high est /'lOb concentrat ions of all the analyzed calc -alkattne obsidians from Anato ha and Armenia
Since Ta IS geochermcally cou pled 10 Nb, the Ta-Hf plot of FiS _8 also separates the Sp itaksar-Geghasar
obsidians from all the remaining ones, The group is a lso v.ell separated in the Th- La diagram (F ig. 9). On the
baSIS of o nly oJ sa mples wnh INAA trace-element data available a t the moment ~ have nOl: at tempted 10
provide a ch em ica l discn mination between the two closel y related centers Spitaksar a nd Geghasar <Table J) .
CllOrU,Jh m '
According to ItS Ca-Fe retancnsm p. Cbc raphor (Kam yja rich) lies clos est to Artem. Ihe Sj unik
g roup a nd Sprtaksa r-Gechasar . Thi s means also that it is separated by a threshold for Fe20'. of high er or lower
than 07""".% fro m all Anatolian sou rces (Fig. 1). II becomes also evident from Figure 9 thai th is source
belongs to the small num ber of Anatolian-A rme nian obsidians with Th :> 32 ppm , Overlap wi th Baze nk and
Satanak ar of the Sj unik g roup ca n be resolved by an element-by-e lement compariso n III which higher As. Sb,
Cs. Th , and high er Y With Ihe geoc henuc a lly related heavy rar e-earth element s are of particular Significance
(Table J).
.' "1.' Si ,mik Krill/I' Baze nk. Sevker, Sata nakar forming the Sjunik g roup in Ihe eastern pa n of Arme nia (F igs I
and 5) are also pan of th e low Call ow Fe-group in Figure 1. Th ey a re separated from Aneni. Spitak sarGeghasar, Choraphor and Kechel nag by the ir REE systematics. Hf-Ta . and in pa rticular by their hi gh-Th
contents as shown III Figure 9. Th e individ ual centers of the Sj unik line exhibit different degrees of LREE
enrich ment and can Ihus be disti ngu ished by their La or Ce conten ts (Table 4).
}..-echel I~
Thi s sou rce lies geographica lly nea r Satanakar-Sevkar-Bazenk and is in man y respects
geoc hemically similar to these. (T ables 4 and 5. Figs 7 and 8). Among all analyzed Armenian -Caucasian
obsidian occurrences. Kechel nag is best fingerprin ted in the La-Th diagram of Figu re 9. in particular by its
high La (and high light rare-earth elements in general). In Fig ure 9 Kechet Dag plOl:s close 10 the central
Anatolian sou rces Nenezi 03& and GOllli Dag-KaYlTh . However, the re is no difficulty in identifying this source
as is a lready obviou s in the Ca-Fe diagram.
Thi s local ity in Georgia is also called Kojun nag. Tabl e 5 lists we esse nnal ty identical analyses of
two sam ples which ~ obtai ned from different collections. We infer from thi s that th is is the representative
composition of the Pa ravan source. In the CaO-F~~ diagram (Fig.. 1). this composition shOM overlap only
with the far western Anatolian sou rces Hasan Dag and Sakaeli. and with Baksan from Ihe no nhern Ca ucasus .
From all these sou rces Paravan is clearly distinguished by using the Ta-Hf-diagram (Fig. 8), the La-Th
diagram (Fig. 9). or the Sr-Rb- an d Be-zr-retancnshrps as proposed an d used in Keller and Seifried (1990),
l'aravan
..J. Keller. R. INerha.<;hian,
80
s.a. Karapetian. E. Pemicka. I : vasedkin
The most salient characteristic of this source is the high Sa content. high er than any other source of our
Anarolian-Armeman-Caucasren reference material. Next highest Ba contents after Paravan samples are the
Hasan Oag in central Anatolia (Keller and Seifried 1990). the Ga lata-X source (Keller et al. 1994) and the
Aegean source of YaH (unpublis hed dat a ),
Samples MAl and M.l\2 (Table 5) were obtained from the Garaev collection. Moscow. These samples
differ from Kau I and Kau 10 respectively by lower and higher Fe contents. In the Ca-Fe correlation. the 4
samples form a linear trend (only Kau I and Kau 10 are represented in Fig. 1). and all 4 samples form a
geochemical ly coherent group. the trace-ele ment relat ionships. for example BalZr. RbiSr etc.• also show
geoche mical co-variation. Thrs means that the 4 sample s available under the designati on "Parava n-Kojun Dag"
represent magmat ic compositions of the same volcano at different stages of evolution. In this respect. Kojun
DaglParavan is similar to Ans and to the central Anatolian Golludag sources and the Hctanu s Caldera
sequence of Nev sehir where differently evolved compositions have followed in time while most other obsidian
sources show only one distin ct obsidian composition.
Baksa n
The only sample from the northern Caucasian source area available at the time of this study is
reported in Table 5 under Bahan , The relative position in the reference grids is shown in Figures 7-9 , and the
Saksan sample is distingu ished Most prominent chemical discriminators are Rb. Cs and As. which are the
highest in our file of calc-alkaline obsidians. Easy distinction from pera lkaline sources is given for instance by
the low Hi and Ta contents, Low Nb distinguishes both Baksan and Paravan from the Armenia n sources for
which high Nb is a gen eral cnaracrensncs.
Annenian and Analolian ObsiJ'~l1 SVlI 'CC5
1.0
<i'
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o
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Fig. 7,
(,aO· Fe~(}J
•
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2JYNlE Tl lo1l\· ,,,,N '-'A
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IllfolGOl
81 N("oI'JI . ~
IJ
~., . II ' '' ft .
2 ,lI
FclOJ %
rekntonships for Armenian/Caucasian obsidian occurrences
compared wuh calc-alkaline Anatolian sources.
Dtl/a for A,.",.,nian/( 'a llcmim , sources fro m K"lI..r am i & ifnt'11(19901 ami from Tabfe~ 1-05 of lhis "' ud)'. Allalolian da/a
from Kfi ler amJ ~",icM (II" pll/oli.•h<!dI, K..lier a nd Seifried (/ 9'JOJ and P..rnicAne, al. (1 9 'N J,
..
Armeman lind Ca ucas ian Oh,\'iditm
81
IIf _ T..
7
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'."" .Ior A."""Ii" " ..uf,'-nlJ..I"k'
lor '""'''/kln.''''' lru m 1.",11.... ",.eI/'O>ll<A., ""'l'u/>/",h.-JI m,d P......jeL, .., ..I. , I Y'N,
,'''''''''!>
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an
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su
1.0-111 rcJalum\'hlfr.l'fiJrArmeman Caucasian oh vidum occurrences.
l Jul" lo r ..( _ oIia" Qlf<--nl AalilM'" ... ,....s ftor CtJ"'parooll fro", /0,:,.".."",.1 Punicin (1",,,.MisMJI ",wi P r,.lida" al, (/99./1.
.,
PJ crha~hia".
J. Ke ller. R.
82
S l ;, Korapettan. 1-:, l'enucka.
t: Xa {cJ k m
Table I.
Chemica / compo.n tw" nfoh,-i Jum _~ampJe.fi ImmArfl?n; volcanic fi eld in w('."" ·m Armr!nlO.
SH '~-" for , %/,I,,_ iotI of' ""'IY ~R"-~ U . 1/1 ti M Ie. Major "~_"'" a M Rh. Sr, lID. f • .vb. Z, bl'.\1lfell f ·....".. 'X. ttf"",, ,~ .. rl.._",
/."0'''4 allfri,*/It..ry:.• .1'o,.., rl.._",1 ,.. ,,' " "'...... " "......" i" pJ''''' f o st Jlfllt : ..ro» (Ot'
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( 'hl.'ml Cal cn mp o fil tlOn '"~ Oh " ,(1IOl1 .'ia mp l c:s f r om ( i Ufu/J.\"ar and A I I.f volcanoes
.4./Uh 1/Cr'/ dri"iI. <I,'" TaM.. I .
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Table 3.
( 'h"nll("lll com//(l'iili(Jn ofoluidicm ,\"o"'I" e.'".I;-on! ,\ jlilak wlr-( iecnasor volcanoes In {hi' ( i~ ham
\'o,,"«I1Ic hlJ<:hland. and Chara/ thor ( "k:ary n./orich .,} .nlm h ofl,Qk~' S ("1'0 11, Arml!ni o
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84
J. Ke ffer, R. Djerbashian. S G. Karapetian. E. Pcmicko. V Nasedki n
Table 5.
Chem ical composition of obs idian samplesjrom Kecheldog (A:erba.lId:h an),
Baksan {northern Caucasus), and Kojun Dag/Poravan (Georgia).
A flQ/yfic af ,k falu as in Tobie I .
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CO MP ARISONS ANDDlSCRlMINA1l0 N FROM ANATOLIAN SO URCES
In addition to a chemical characterization of obsidian occurrences in Armenia and adjacent Caucasian areas
which is the main focus of this paper. Figu res 7-9 can be used for comparison with Anatolian sources. These
figures are based mostly on unpublished rNAA data on the samples of Keller and Seifried. but significantly
enlarged by new sampling and sample donation s. Eastern Anatolian sources. in part icular the Kars area with
source designations of Pasmler, Kars-Akbaba nag, Digor and Arpacey. are now far better represented by r
suite of samples obtained through T. Ercan . Publication of all data from Anatolia is in preparation and has been
presented in a preliminary form in Pernicka et al. (1994).
The general comparison of Armenian with Anatolian sources with a special emphasis on geographical ly
related volcan ic occurrences has shown that Armenia has no peralkaline obsidians. which have proved so
important in the Near East by virtue of the extensive prehistoric use of Nemrut Dag and Binge l peralkalme
obsidians (B lackman 1984; Cauvin et al. 1986; 1991: Fornaseri et al. 1 977 ~ Francaviglia 1990; Keller and
Seifried 1990). Our data demonstrate that calc-alkaline sources of Anatolia and Armenia ar e satisfactorily
fingerprinted by their chemical characteristics. An important calc-alkaline compositional group in eastern
Anatolia is defined by samples from ZiyaretlMeydan Da£., Dogubayezit and Bingol 2 which togethe r fonn a
chemically very similar group. It is inferred from Blackman', (1984) data that the Zernakr Tepe source. for
which the exact localization in the Lake Van area is not given. also belongs to this group. It is seen from
Figures 7-9 that ZiyaretIMeydan Dag. Dogubayezit and Binge l 2 are not separated because at this stage we
have not attempted to discriminate chemically between the three indi cated source a reas. In part icular. the new
samples obtained from Dogubayen t (Keller and Pernicka unpublished: Pemi cka et 01. 1994) are so similar on
the basis of an element-by-element comparison with the ~II defined Ziyaretl'Meydan nag source volcano that a
broader sampling of Dogubayent seems necessary before any conclusion can be drawn. A result of this paper is.
hccever. thai no Armenian sources exist that can be chemically confused with this eastern Anatolian group.
This becomes already obvious from our basic grids as shown in Figures 7-9. In parti cular the high Fellow Ca
contents a nd the unusuall y high Hf concentr ations provide efficient discrimination. General ly speaking, for the
set of about 30 Anatolian and 17 Armenian/Caucas ian calc-alkaline source groups known to date . an
unambiguous distinction is possible with the data presented.
. l r ml!tfi all and Cau casran () h.,·,diall
85
AS SESSMENTOF PREHISTORIC USE OF THE DESCRIBED SOURCES
The emphasis of th is paper is on source descnpuon and character ization. At thi s point. we have not analyzed in
greater deta il materi al from archaeological sites in Transcaucasia . However. avai lable observations show that
Neolithic use of th e Arm eman-Caucasian sou rces was of considerable im portance tn the prehistory of Near and
Middl e East. In an ea rly atte mpt. Pet run (1960) has pointed to the prehi stori c use of Ca ucas ian -Armenian
obsidians in the Caucasian a reas Nasedkin an d Forrnoscv ( 19651 used measurements of refractive index to
compare obs idian artifacts found In p rehistori c sites north of the Greater Caucasus ra nge with known volcanic
occurrences. fo r exam ple Baksan, C hegern, Paravan and Lake Seva n sources
For naseri et 01. (1971) compared the obs idian artifacts from the cbalccln fuc site of Arslantepe near
Mal atya 'WIth ce ntral and eastern Anal olian sou rces. includi ng an "Erevan " sou rce. Th e latter is situat ed 40km
from Ereva n on the lake Seven road and thus identical to our Gutansar source Fomaseri 1.'1 al. (1971 ) used
on ly relative XRF intensities for the elements Zr. Rb and Y an d cou ld nOC differ entiat e between the Ziyaret
(Meyda n ) source north of lake Van an d the "Erevan " obsidian occurrence as poss ible sources for thei r arnfact
group B An Important step IS the ccntnbcncn of Blac kman ( 1984) who shcced convi nci ng.ly that Arm enian
obs l/:han reached Sites in the high lan d of southern Iran. In particular Tal -e MaJyan abou t I )OOk m SE of Erevan
Blackman has defined a major sou rce as Lake Sevan I wh ich is identical to our Gutansar sou rce (a lthough the
locati on g iven as "betwee n Raman and the northwestern IIp of Lake Seven" IS outSIde the area of the Guta nsar
volca no ), Several a rtifacts from Ihe lram an highland a re convmcm gjy cor related 'WIth thIS source, In addi tIOn.
Blackman has ide ntified several artifact grou ps of unknown provenance . or these . group B cou ld possi bty be
related to an Armen ian sou rce according 10 our data. and fits best with Sevkar of the eastern Armenian Sjunik
volcanic field (FIgs I and 6). Th is is. 10 ou r knowledge, the first indica non for prehistori c use of the eastern
Armenian sources. Th e Tal -e Malyan objects of inferred Armenian prove nance belong to the Kafte ri period
about 2100- 1800 BC (Blac k man (19841 Our 0" 1'1 referen ce collect ion includes undated obs idian blades and
chips from the area a f Mt . Innd. about IOkm east of Art eni . These are samples OA 10) ,1f of Tab le 1 which are
ide ntica l to sample OA lOS representing the Aragats-flow of Mets Anen t We have a lso analyzed S arnfects
obtained from M.e. Cauvm from the site of Ararcchen. near Ech miadrin. weSI of Erevan, which dat es from the
4th mrllenmum Be. Of these five arufacts. fou r can be correlated wit h the Arme man sources Gutansar and
An eOl
ACK NOW LE DG MEJ'(('S
The Anatolian-Armeman obs idian collection and data ba nk at the Mineralogi sc h-Petrcgraph isches lnst itut.
University of Freibu rg has been established wit h the help of a lar ge number of colleagues from the fie lds of
volcanology and arc haeo logy . Thi s help is g ratefu lly acknowledged. Armenian obsidi ans of ou r own sampling
has bee n complem ented by s..amptes from Ihe Ga ree v collection, Moscow Peter Lipman. USGS, provided the
important sa mple from Baksa n, north ern Caucas us and Jos e Hon nore:z. do nated obsid ia n specimen fr om the
Strasbourg collecnon Sa mple Kau 2. labeled "Kaukas ien" from an old collecti on of tile Mineralogical Institut e
at Aach en. was obtai ned from H, Forster. J.K . We also tha nk L. Trautmann for his help with the literature
wntten in Russian and Matthias Westphal for "mac" drawing the geological loca lity maps. Samples were
carefully p repared for anal ysis by Hildegard Schlegel and Norbert Kindler. E.P. would like to ac knowledge the
skillful technicaJ assistance ofO. Kaet her, Max-Planck-lnstitut fur Ke m physik. Heidelberg .
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