Publication Date:
2021-01-25
Description:
At Ustica island (Palermo, Italy), in the area of Casa dei Francesi, 119 fragments of obsidian artifacts were
collected on the surface of an agricultural field at an altitude of 50 m asl. In the same area, until now, scientific
literature reports only the presence of late Roman pottery (4th–6th centuries AD), and no evidence has appeared that it
could be the site of a prehistoric settlement. The most important prehistoric settlement, the Faraglioni Village (Middle
Bronze Age) is located 700 m further north, overlooking the sea. Obsidian provenance analyses, performed on the
119 samples with absolutely non-destructive techniques WD-XRF and SEM-EDS, indicate two sources areas: Lipari
(93 samples, 78%) and Pantelleria (26 samples, 22%). Concerning the obsidians from the island of Pantelleria, it
was possible to also establish the sub-source of Salto la Vecchia. The typological and functional analyses of the 119
obsidian fragments point out that 115 are debitages, some of which show evidence of percussion bulbs, and only 4 are
tools with micro-retouching. This work focuses on the geochemical and typological characterization of the obsidian
assemblage collected, the characteristics of which suggest the existence of a prehistoric settlement in the area of the
Casa dei Francesi or nearby
Description:
Published
Description:
236-247
Description:
6A. Geochimica per l'ambiente e geologia medica
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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