COLORADO OBSIDIAN? PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A STATEWIDE DATABASE OF TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS By

Colm'adfJ archaeologists have noted the presence of obsidian tools and debitage in archaeological sites for decades, but have recently increased their use of trace element analysis to determine the provenance of the mate1'l·al. Due to the small assemblages at all but a handful of sites, these characterization data have not been synthesized into patterns of regional lithic proCU7'ement andlm' exchange. This pape7' discusses some preliminary analysis of a statewide database of provenance studies, and suggests some alternatives to some of the common misconceptions about obsidian use in the 7'egion. We also add7'ess the p7'obability of undiscovered sozt7'ces of obsidian 7vithin Colorado. The current database of sourcing studies included he7'e reveals a wide geographic range of sources from seven western states, and includes 19 chemically distinct sources.