OBSIDIAN SOURCING IN PHILIPPINE ARCHAEOLOGY

This paper discusses the results from analysis of 561 artifacts from eight archaeological sites on three major regions in the Philippines along with samples from one known obsidian source and other possible sources in the Pacific. We have used non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) to analyze the chemical composition of the source samples and artifacts and used both XRF and neutron activation analysis (NAA) to characterize the source samples. The northern island of Luzon includes only one site and all artifacts match the signature of the only known source in the Philippines. The southern island of Mindanao includes five archaeological sites and all of the artifacts from the island match a single unknown source. Two archaeological sites on different islands in the central region have obsidian from two additional unknown sources. The lack of overlap in source use suggests little if any long-distance trade of obsidian between the three major islands in the Philippines, contrary to exchange patterns observed for other cultural materials. Future work is needed to locate geologic sources of obsidian throughout the Philippines.