[Special section on volcanic glass] PIXE PROVENANCING OF OBSIDIAN ARTEFACTS FROM PALEOLITHIC SITES IN KOREA

Abstract

The trace element composition (based on Fe, Rb, Sr, Zr) of 50 obsidian artefacts from the Hopyung, Samri and Shinbuk Paleolithic sites were measured by the external beam PIXE method using the 3 MV Tandetron Accelerator Facility at the Seoul National University AMS Laboratory. About 85% of these obsidians originated from the Paektusan volcano (Korea); obsidian of Japanese origin was found only at Shinbuk. INAA analyses on 6 obsidian samples from the Hahwageri and Junghnugri sites are in good agreement with our PIXE results and those of the previous report by Popov et al. (2005).