The obsidian trade
Volcanic glass from a handful of sources is carried a thousand kilometres across the Near East.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 4.7 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 500 years
- Era
- Neolithic, Holocene
Obsidian gives the sharpest edge available before metal, and it comes from only a few volcanic sources in Anatolia and the Aegean. Because each source has a distinctive trace-element signature, individual finds can be matched to their origin — which reveals exchange networks running hundreds and sometimes over a thousand kilometres, moving material between communities with no political connection. It is the earliest long-distance trade that can be mapped in detail.