M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)

Analysis - BIRÓ Katalin, POZSGAI Imre, VLADÁR András: Central European obsidian studies. State of affain in 1987

Williams and her colleagues applied neutron activation analysis for the identification of trace elements in obsidian, on the basis of which they could effectively separate Slovakian obsidian (termed by them: Carpathian 1) from Hungarian obsidian (Carpathian 2) and these groups from the majority of other sources of the Mediterranean region. Their results were subsequently corroborated by, and further refined using data on the main components as well. Traditional wet chemical analyses as well as electron energy dispersive microanalyses of the obsidians from Hungary, Slovakia, comparative geological material from most important European source regions as well as archaeological material from a number of localities from the Carpathian Basin were performed at the PetrologicalGeochemical Department of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, the Hungarian Geological Survey and the Institute of Technical Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The results were presented first at the Meeting on Industrial Archaeology and Archaeometry, Veszprém, Hungary; later published in the proceedings of this meeting [29], and with more extensive archaeological material, in Acta Archaeologica Hungarica [30]. The latter comprises all data till 1984. Unfortunately, the number of samples analysed since that time is not very great, even so, there are a number of most interesting items among the archaeological pieces (Transcarpathian parts of the USSR and Romania) as well as comparative material from geological sources (Central and Eastern Anatolia, Sardegna. Armenia and Georgia). The examination results for the most recent and so far unpublished material are summarized here in the same form as published previously [30], in the form of semiquantitative tables of the impulse ratio values. Examination series and the location of the samples As pointed out in [30], the semi-quantitative evaluation we have adopted for the interpretation of the results, though being very quick and rehab le within each measurement series, does not make it possible to present directly comparable data. Therefore the individual series of measurements will be presented separately here as well. After the preceding 6 measurement series published [30], measurement series 7 (date: 12/1983) comprised silex samples, mainly limnic quartzites. No obsidian specimens included. Measurement series 8 (date: 03/1984) Geological samples in this series originated from, apart from the the étalons from Tolcsva. Bodrogkeresztur and Szőllőske (ViniCky), three different sources from Sardinia already analysed by EDXRF [30]: from Roia Cannas, Pau and Monte Arci localities. For the samples we must thank Drs. P. Dellaporta and A. Palmieri. Armenian samples, which did not give unambigous results in series 5 were investigated as well. Archaeological samples from the neolithic sites of Csőszhalom and Bodrogzsadány, excavated by I. BOGNÁR -KUTZIÁN, were analysed, two of these pieces had already been analysed by FDXRF [30]. Sardinian obsidians conveniently fall into two groups, corresponding to varieties Sardinian B and Sardinian C in WILLIAMS et al. 1984 [25], and are fairly well separable from both Carpathian 1 and Carpathian 2 groups by EDS. Samples 70 and 103 seem to belong to one group (corresponding to Sardinian C), while sample 104 probably belongs to Sardinian B. Sardinian C can be differentiated from Carpathian 2 on the basis of its lower Ca and Fe content; from Carpathian 1, on the basis of its high K content. The other Sardinian variant differs from Sardinian B in its much higher K and Na content, its Ca and