Obsidian provenance for prehistoric complexes in the Amur River basin (Russian Far East)

The sources of high quality volcanic glass (obsidian) forarchaeologicalcomplexes in the Amur River basin of the Russian Far East have been established, based on geochemical analyses by neutron activation and X-ray fluorescenceofboth‘geological’(primarysources)and‘archaeological’(artifactsfromtheNeolithicandEarly Iron Age cultural complexes) specimens. A majorobsidian source identified as the Obluchie Plateau, located in the middle course of the Amur River, was found to be responsible for supplying the entire middle and lowerpartsoftheAmurRiverbasinduringprehistory.Thesourcehasbeencarefullystudiedandsampledfor the first time. Minor use of three other sources was established for the lower part of the Amur River basin. Obsidian from the Basaltic Plateau source, located in the neighboring Primorye (Maritime) Province, was found at two sites of the Initial Neolithic (dated to ca.11,000e12,500 BP). At two other sites from the same timeperiod, obsidian fromastillunknown sourcecalled“Samarga”wasestablished.At theSuchuIslandsite oftheEarlyNeolithic(datedtoca.7200e8600BP),obsidianfromthe‘remote’sourceofShirataki(Shirataki-A sub-source) on Hokkaido Island (Japan) was identified. The range of obsidian transport in the Amur River basinwas from 50 to 750 kmwithin the basin, and from 550 to 850 km in relation to the ‘remote’ sources at the Basaltic Plateau and Shirataki-A located outside the Amur River valley. The long-distance transport/ exchange of obsidian in the Amur River basin in prehistory has now been securely established.