IAOS Bulletin NO. 42, Winter 2010 Pg. 9 REPORT ON THE CHOGABON SITE, A NEW SOURCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS IN WEST-CENTRAL IRAN Farhang Khademi Nadooshan*, Mohd Ayvatwand*, H. Deghanifar**, Michael D. Glascock***, and S. Colby Phillips**** * Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran ** Institute of Archaeology, Tehran, Iran *** University of Missouri Research Reactor, Columbia, Missouri, USA **** University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA Abstract Obsidian tools, in addition to Chalcolithic pottery, were recovered during the recent survey of the Chogabon site in the Iranian province of Lorestan. Ten obsidian artifacts were selected for wavelength-dispersive XRF analysis, which indicated that these tools were not made from obsidian sources available in northwestern Iran, and may represent new and unidentified sources. Key words: Iran, obsidian, Chogabon, WD-XRF. Introduction Obsidian was utilized as a raw material for stone tool production from the end of the Mesolithic up to the Iron Age in Iran, and was transported and traded widely among tool- making centers in the greater Mesopotamia region (Rosen et al., 2005). At the newly discovered site of Chogabon in the Lorestan province of west-central Iran, obsidian artifacts including cores and flakes have been recovered, indicating that obsidian tools were produced at the site (Far 2006). Based on the presence of obsidian cores, the long distances between the Chogabon site and known obsidian sources in northwestern Iran, and a lack of evidence for trade and cultural interaction with more distant sites in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, it is proposed that these artifacts were made from obsidian sources located near the site. Study Area The Chogabon site is located 45 km west of the town of Kohdasht in the Lorestan province of west-central Iran (Figures 1 and 2). The site covers an area roughly 800 x 300 meters with mounds up to 10 meters tall, and it is possibly the largest currently known Neolithic site in the Lorestan province. The elevation of the site is 1006 meters ASL in a temperate climate that supports abundant agriculture, with water fed by the nearby Khosrow Abad River. Chogabon is situated at the intersection of three important valleys, providing access to trade and exchange relationships in three directions from the site. The site was surveyed in the winter of 2005. During the survey, a large number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic potsherds were recorded, indicating a settlement with significant time depth (Far 2006). Most of the recent excavations of other sites in this region have recovered obsidian stone tools, including cores and flakes representative of stone tool manufacturing processes and activities. Methods In order to test the hypothesis that obsidian tools from the Chogabon site were made from