Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics
Two provenances – Mount Baekdusan near Sino-Korean border and Kyushu of southwest Japan – are well known for Korean prehistoric obsidian artifacts. We examined the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the Baekdusan obsidians and the Kyushu obsidians. Though obsidians are of glassy materi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Open Archaeology |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2019-0008 |
| _version_ | 1818735307078500352 |
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| author | Jwa Yong-Joo Yi Seonbok Jin Mi-Eun Hwang Ga-Hyun |
| author_facet | Jwa Yong-Joo Yi Seonbok Jin Mi-Eun Hwang Ga-Hyun |
| author_sort | Jwa Yong-Joo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Two provenances – Mount Baekdusan near Sino-Korean border and Kyushu of southwest Japan – are well known for Korean prehistoric obsidian artifacts. We examined the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the Baekdusan obsidians and the Kyushu obsidians. Though obsidians are of glassy material, microlites are easily found in the host matrix. Fe-oxides are the most abundant microlite phase, with a lesser amount of clinopyroxene, feldspar, and biotite. It is notable that the texture and chemical composition of the microlites in the Baekdusan obsidians are quite different from those in the Kyushu obsidians. Clinopyroxene in the Baekdusan obsidians occurs as oikocryst enclosing smaller Fe-oxides, and has the composition of hedenbergite to augite. On the other hand, clinopyroxene in the Kyushu obsidians is compositionally of clinoferrosilite, and shows intergrowth and/or overgrowth textures with Fe-oxides. Feldspar microlites in the Baekdusan obsidians are generally of sanidine to anorthoclase, whereas those in the Kyushu obsidians of oligoclase. Biotite microlites are often found in the Kyushu obsidians, but absent in the Baekdusan obsidians. Also, there exist prominent geochemical contrasts between the Baekdusan obsidians and the Kyushu obsidians. At the similar SiO2 range of 74 to 78 wt.% the host glasses of the Baekdusan obsidians have higher contents of TiO2, total FeO, K2O, Nb, Hf, Zr, Ta, Y and rare earth elements (REEs) than those of the Kyushu obsidians. The overall mineralogical and geochemical contrasts for the Baekdusan and Kyushu obsidians seem to reflect different parental magma composition and crystallization environment. This distinction can be used to establish the provenance of the obsidian artifacts from the prehistoric sites in the Korean Peninsula as well as contiguous areas such as China, Japan, and Russia. |
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| id | doaj.art-ce36cdb8a90c4684bf41505f46b5b6e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2300-6560 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T00:19:10Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
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| series | Open Archaeology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce36cdb8a90c4684bf41505f46b5b6e92022-12-21T21:27:24ZengDe GruyterOpen Archaeology2300-65602019-04-015110612010.1515/opar-2019-0008opar-2019-0008Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical CharacteristicsJwa Yong-Joo0Yi Seonbok1Jin Mi-Eun2Hwang Ga-Hyun3Department of Geology and Research Institute of Natural Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju52828, KoreaDepartment of Archaeology, Seoul National University, Seoul08826, KoreaDepartment of Geology and Research Institute of Natural Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju52828, KoreaDepartment of Geology and Research Institute of Natural Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju52828, KoreaTwo provenances – Mount Baekdusan near Sino-Korean border and Kyushu of southwest Japan – are well known for Korean prehistoric obsidian artifacts. We examined the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the Baekdusan obsidians and the Kyushu obsidians. Though obsidians are of glassy material, microlites are easily found in the host matrix. Fe-oxides are the most abundant microlite phase, with a lesser amount of clinopyroxene, feldspar, and biotite. It is notable that the texture and chemical composition of the microlites in the Baekdusan obsidians are quite different from those in the Kyushu obsidians. Clinopyroxene in the Baekdusan obsidians occurs as oikocryst enclosing smaller Fe-oxides, and has the composition of hedenbergite to augite. On the other hand, clinopyroxene in the Kyushu obsidians is compositionally of clinoferrosilite, and shows intergrowth and/or overgrowth textures with Fe-oxides. Feldspar microlites in the Baekdusan obsidians are generally of sanidine to anorthoclase, whereas those in the Kyushu obsidians of oligoclase. Biotite microlites are often found in the Kyushu obsidians, but absent in the Baekdusan obsidians. Also, there exist prominent geochemical contrasts between the Baekdusan obsidians and the Kyushu obsidians. At the similar SiO2 range of 74 to 78 wt.% the host glasses of the Baekdusan obsidians have higher contents of TiO2, total FeO, K2O, Nb, Hf, Zr, Ta, Y and rare earth elements (REEs) than those of the Kyushu obsidians. The overall mineralogical and geochemical contrasts for the Baekdusan and Kyushu obsidians seem to reflect different parental magma composition and crystallization environment. This distinction can be used to establish the provenance of the obsidian artifacts from the prehistoric sites in the Korean Peninsula as well as contiguous areas such as China, Japan, and Russia.https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2019-0008provenancebaekdusankyushuobsidianmicrolitemorphologymatrixgeochemistry |
| spellingShingle | Jwa Yong-Joo Yi Seonbok Jin Mi-Eun Hwang Ga-Hyun Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics Open Archaeology provenance baekdusan kyushu obsidian microlite morphology matrix geochemistry |
| title | Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics |
| title_full | Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics |
| title_fullStr | Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics |
| title_short | Two Contrasting Provenances of Prehistoric Obsidian Artifacts in South Korea: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics |
| title_sort | two contrasting provenances of prehistoric obsidian artifacts in south korea mineralogical and geochemical characteristics |
| topic | provenance baekdusan kyushu obsidian microlite morphology matrix geochemistry |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2019-0008 |
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