The transport of Mopir obsidian to late Pleistocene New Ireland

Abstract

Abstract Obsidian from the site of Matenbek, New Ireland, in contexts dated to c.20,000‐18,000 B.P. was subjected to sourcing analyses using PIXE‐PIGME. We report here on the site of Matenbek, the distribution of obsidian in the site and the results of the sourcing analyses. We also report briefly on a revision of the Matenkupkum sourcing allocations which arose out of their inconsistency with the Matenbek allocations. The results demonstrate the dominance of obsidian from Mopir, West New Britain, in New Ireland during the late Pleistocene and mid‐Holocene.