Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 29.1 (2016) 3-36 ISSN (Print) 0952-7648 ISSN (Online) 1743-1700 Spherulites and Aspiring Elites: The Identification, Distribution, and Consump- tion of Giali Obsidian (Dodecanese, Greece) Tristan Carter1, Daniel A. Contreras2, Kathryn Campeau3 and Kyle Freund4 1 McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab / Department of Anthropology, CNH 524, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L9, Canada E-mail:
[email protected] 2 Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE) / Groupement de recherche en économie quantitative d’Aix-Marseille (GREQAM), Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France E-mail:
[email protected] 3 McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab / Department of Anthropology, CNH 524, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L9, Canada E-mail:
[email protected] 4 Department of Social Sciences, Indian River State College, 3209 Virginia Avenue, Ft. Pierce, FL 34981, USA E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract This paper details the results of a survey of the obsidian sources on the island of Giali in the Dodeca- nese, Greece, together with a review of these raw materials’ use from the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age (ninth to second millennium Cal BC). Elemental characterization of 76 geological samples from 11 sampling locations demonstrates the existence of two geochemically distinct sources, termed ‘Giali A’, and ‘Giali B’. The latter material, available in small cobble form on the island’s southwestern half, seems to have only been exploited by local residents during the Final Neolithic (fourth millennium Cal BC). In contrast, Giali A obsidian comprises a distinctive white-spotted raw material, available in large boulders on the northeastern half of Giali, whose use changed significantly over time.