The fission-track analysis: An alternative technique for provenance studies of prehistoric obsidian artefacts

Comparison of fission-track parameters - age and track densities - is an al ternative tool for correlating obsidian artefacts with their potential natu ral sources. This method was applied by different fission-track groups in v arious regions and results were compared with those obtained using the more popular provenance identification techniques based on chemical composition studies. Hundreds of analyses prove that fission-track dating is a complem entary technique which turns out to be very useful, specially when the chem ical composition does not fully discriminate different sources. Archaeologi cally significant results were obtained applying the fission-track analysis in various regions of earth.