THE DATING OF OBSIDIAN: A POSSIBLE APPLICATION FOR TRANSPORT PHENOMENA (A TUTORIAL)

Authors

  • Robert S. Brodkey Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
  • loannis Liritzis Laboratory of Archaeometry, Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean, Rhodes 85100, Greece

Keywords:

Obsidian, Hydration, Diffusion, Dating, Transport, Archaeological

Abstract

The obsidian hydration dating by diffusion has been advanced since the early work of Friedman and Smith (1960) with the application of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) profiling of H+ in archaeological obsidian tools. Here we present an analytical tutorial account of analogue transport phenomena of heat transfer, eddy transport and molecular transfer, and on the empirical, phenomenological and scientific approaches that may lead to obsidian diffusion dating. A preliminary elaboration on the total flux, through integration over the entire curve of SIMS H+ profile is suggested. The present alternative concepts follow the background of the novel SIMS-SS dating approach (Liritzis et al., 2002, 2004).

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Published

2023-07-21

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2004)

Section

Articles