Lipari (Aeolian Islands) Obsidian in the Late Neolithic. Artifacts, Supply and Function

This study focuses on the Neolithic, particularly on the emergence and development of the Diana Culture in the Aeolian Islands. Since the 1950s, the archaeological excavations unearthed parts of a settlement in a plain near the sea, contrada Diana in Lipari. We discuss the technological and typometric study of obsidian from trenches XVII, XXI, and XXXVI. A series of pXRF analyses on obsidian were carried out to identify their sources. A selection of retouched and non-retouched artifacts was examined, showing the higher variability in forms than at importing sites. This significance of this workshop area on prehistoric trade is assessed.

Prehistoric trade between Ecuador and West Mexico: a computer simulation of coastal voyages

The author studies prehistoric sea travel along the coast between West Mexico and Ecuador using a computer simulation incorporating the performance characteristics of sailing rafts. The model predicts that while northward voyages may have taken as little as two months, southward voyages would have entailed at least five months and may have required a strategy that took the rafts offshore for as long as a month.

Prehistoric Trade Networks and the Ethnographic Record in Central California

During ethnographic times, the Penutian-speaking Yokuts Indians of California's San Joaquin Valley functioned as middle men in the exchange of finished artifacts, raw materials, and foodstuffs between coastal and interior aboriginal groups. Within most Yokuts tribelets there apparently existed one or more professional traders who were critical components of trans-Sierran trade networks. It is argued that the ethnographically documented pattern of interregional trade in central California is a partially distorted postcontact product of a more complex and widespread precontact exchange system in which Yokuts traders played a major role. Archaeological data are reviewed to determine the general time depth of trans-Sierran trade, and ethnographic data are examined in an attempt to assess the validity of central California native trade relations and activities as portrayed by the ethnographic record.