Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep Lunati and the island of towers: Obsidian in Nuragic Sardinia Kyle P. Freund Department of Anthropology, Indian River State College, Rm. E115, 3209 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, FL 34981, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Obsidian Central Mediterranean Sardinia Bronze Age Nuragic X-ray fluorescence (XRF) Lithic analysis Kombewa technology ABSTRACT This paper discusses Bronze Age Nuragic obsidian exploitation by combining raw material sourcing with techno- typological analysis of a total of 363 obsidian artifacts from two sites in west-central Sardinia. The results are then combined with previously published data to make broader interpretations about obsidian reduction stra- tegies and island-wide exchange networks, making it one of the largest compilations of data on Nuragic obsidian procurement, production, and consumption to date. These new data add nuance to prior generalizations of Nuragic obsidian consumption as an expedient flake- based technology centered on the exploitation of one primary outcrop of obsidian, in turn highlighting the presence of bladelet production as well as regional differences in source exploitation that are distinct from earlier time periods. Despite such diversity, lunates of SC obsidian are ubiquitous and may have circulated as finished products. In this context, the exchange of obsidian likely acted as a means of regulating social relations across space, in turn structuring the flow of goods, information, and ideas that were key to the creation and main- tenances of Nuragic identity. 1. Introduction The Bronze Age Nuragic period of Sardinia is an era of cultural transformation characterized by architectural innovation, emergent social and political complexity, new and evolving connections with the outside world, and the appearance of a shared island-wide identity that is distinct from earlier times (Depalmas and Melis, 2010; Webster, 2015). While the archaeological manifestations of Nuragic culture are well studied, there has been comparably limited discussion concerning the social and cultural processes under which these changes were rea- lized and maintained. Since archaeologists often assume that people who share the same material culture also share similar cultural practices, kin relations, or ethnic identities (Schiffer, 2007), analyses of patterns of obsidian ex- ploitation can be used to infer the existence of distinct cultural groups and social boundaries (e.g. Freund, 2018; Lazzari et al., 2009; see Freund, 2013 for further discussion). Obsidian is nearly ubiquitous at Nuragic sites across the island, so understanding patterns in the dis- tribution of obsidian across the landscape can contribute to these de- bates and allow for the reconstruction of the social relationships that facilitated the flow of goods, information, and ideas across space. This study in particular combines raw material sourcing by means of energy- dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry with techno-ty- pological analysis of a total of 363 obsidian artifacts from two Bronze Age Nuragic sites in west-central Sardinia, including Bingia 'e Monti (n = 144) and Nuraghe Pidighi (n = 219; Fig. 1). These new data add nuance to prior generalizations of Nuragic obsidian consumption as an expedient flake-based technology centered on the exploitation of one primary outcrop of obsidian (e.g. Freund and Tykot, 2011), in turn highlighting the presence of bladelet production as well as regional differences in source exploitation that are distinct from earlier time periods. Despite such complexity, Nuragic sites are nevertheless unified by the widespread prevalence of backed lunates, lunati, whose modes of production and distribution operated separately and under distinct socio-economic conditions. Obsidian is a volcanic glass that was the main raw material for tool production on Sardinia from roughly the sixth to second millennia BCE (Table 1), and while there are four major sources of obsidian within the broader central Mediterranean region, only raw materials from sub- sources on the island itself were exploited by local peoples. Since the 1960s, over 5000 artifacts from almost 100 prehistoric Sardinian sites have been sourced to their geological origins, the majority of which date to the Neolithic (ca. 6th–4th millennia BCE). While it has long been recognized that obsidian was widely exploited during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages (e.g. Puxeddu, 1958), only a small percentage of these artifacts have been analyzed, many of which focus on raw material sourcing alone, without considering the specific forms in which the obsidian circulated, the techniques by which they were worked, and the form of the final tools. Following leads from elsewhere (cf. Carter et al., 2016; Lugliè et al., 2011; Orange et al., 2017), this paper advocates a form of artifact characterization that integrates all of these considerations in order to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.06.032 Received 12 February 2018; Received in revised form 6 May 2018; Accepted 24 June 2018 E-mail address: kfreund@irsc.edu. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 21 (2018) 1–9 2352-409X/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T