Prehistoric Obsidian Travel to and Through Central Italy

ABSTRACT Starting in the Early Neolithic, obsidian sources on three Italian islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea were visited and utilized regularly, with cores and/or artifacts distributed to central peninsular Italy and beyond. The geological history of each island source in the central Mediterranean is well established, while detailed survey and collection of source material has been done to address features including size, quality, quantity, and accessibility. Importantly, chemical analyses have been shown to distinguish subsources on Sardinia, Lipari, and Palmarola, so that attributions are specific and informative about raw obsidian collection. Conducting non‐destructive analysis of obsidian artifacts within museums and archaeological storage facilities has enabled sourcing of thousands of artifacts from Neolithic through Bronze Age sites in and around central and northern Italy and the use of these data to address important hypotheses about maritime technology, the combination of sea‐ and land‐based travel and distribution networks of obsidian and other materials, the usage and significance of obsidian at great distances, and changes over time from early agriculturalists to the development of complex societies.