Provenance of prehistoric obsidian artefacts from Kul Tepe, northwestern Iran using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis Farhang Khademi Nadooshan a , Akbar Abedi b, * , Michael D. Glascock c , Nasir Eskandari d , Mostafa Khazaee a a Department of Archaeology, University of Tarbiat Modares, Pol-e Gisha, Tehran, Iran b Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Enghlab Square, Tehran, Iran c Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA d Department of Archaeology, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran article info Article history: Received 12 January 2012 Received in revised form 9 December 2012 Accepted 13 December 2012 This article is dedicated to Professor Khademi. 1 Keywords: Kul Tepe Obsidian XRF Provenance Prehistoric trade abstract Analysis by X-ray fluorescence of 53 obsidian artifacts the main source of obsidian for the workshops in Kul Tepe was Syunik but obsidian sources as far as west as the Lake Van region (Nemrut Da g and Meydan Da g) and as far north as Gutansar were also utilized. These new results indicate a broad network of trade and exchange. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Obsidian has a special significance in archaeological studies. The predictable fracturing properties assist tool manufacture. Since the outcrops each have a unique geochemical signature, obsidian is an ideal raw material for studying trade and exchange. In the mid- 1960s, Renfrew et al. (1966, 1968) used geochemical methods to study obsidian from the Near East. Renfrew’s research on obsidian sources in Anatolia and the Near East focused on sources located in central and eastern Turkey, and Armenia. Later, Blackman (1984) demonstrated that long distance trade existed between ancient sites in southern Iran and the obsidian sources located in central Anatolia. More recent research (Ghorabi et al., 2010; Niknami et al., 2009) showed that some obsidian tools might have come from an unknown source located in Iran (perhaps Sahand and Sabalan Mountain). The aim of this research is to determine the origins of obsidian tools from Kul Tepe to establish a better understanding of trade and exchange between the prehistoric cultures in this region. 2. Kul Tepe and archaeological samples The site of Kul Tepe (E 45  39 0 43 00 e N 38  50 0 19 00 , 967 m asl), shown in Figs. 1e3, is located near the city of Jolfa (Hadishahr). Kul Tepe is a tell about 6 ha in extent and rises 19 m above the sur- rounding land. The site was originally discovered by an expedition to the East Azerbaijan province in 1968 under the supervision of Kambakhshfard, and was later reported by Omrani (1994). New excavations, by two of us, retrieved materials from the Late Chal- colithic, Bronze Age, Iron III, Urartian and Achaemenid periods, including fragments of bone as well as lithic specimens made of obsidian and chert/flint. A greater understanding of the site has resulted from removal of 24 m of archaeological deposits that covered trenches I, II and III (Fig. 2)(Abedi et al., 2009; Khatib Shahidi and Abedi, 2011; Omrani et al., 2012). The first season of excavation at Kul Tepe was carried out from June to August 2010. The excavation yielded materials from several * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Akbarabede@gmail.com, akbar.abedi@ut.ac.ir (A. Abedi). 1 We have lost one of our longest-serving, hard-working, beloved colleague, friend, teacher and extraordinary researcher Iranian archaeologist. Professor Khademi left us forever, and far too soon, on Friday October 12, 2012. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas 0305-4403/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.12.032 Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (2013) 1956e1965