ARCHAEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SALINE RANGE OBSIDIAN SOURCE

The Saline Range, located within Death Valley National Park, has recently been identified as the geologic source area for at least three geochemically distinct obsidian types, provisionally named Saline Varieties 1, 2, and 3. While Saline Variety 1, which is geochemically identical to a previously “unknown” glass type termed “Queen Imposter”, is the most significant of the three varieties, artifacts manufactured from all three types have been found in archaeological contexts in the southwestern Great Basin. Data from X-ray fluorescence analyses of obsidian artifacts recovered from archaeological sites in Death Valley National Park and the surrounding region are used to identify patterns in the acquisition and use of obsidians quarried in the Saline Range. These data also reveal that numerous other obsidian sources in the southwestern Great Basin were exploited by the prehistoric inhabitants of what is now Death Valley National Park, providing insight on general patterns of obsidian acquisition and use in the Death Valley Region.