Identifying the Ethiopian origin of the obsidian found in Upper Egypt (Naqada period) and the most likely exchange routes

Abstract

The absence of obsidian sources in Egypt implies that obsidian excavated in f ourth millennium BC Upper Egyptian sites arrived to Egypt from long distances. This work develops an obsidian provenance study , based on the obsidian chemical composition that permit s to determine that obsidian s found in Egypt proceed ed from neither Anatolia no r the Arabian Peninsula . On the contrary, Egyptian obsidians have similar compositions to obsidians from the Porc Epic cave Ethiopian site . Considering the evolution of East African Paleolithic and Neolithic source - site distances, the most likely sources w ere at less than 250 km from Porc Epic cave , in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The results of the study permit to propose that terrestrial and/or Nilotic exchange routes were more likely than maritime routes involving the Red Sea and the coasts of Eritrea and the Arabi an Peninsula. The “down the line” exchange model w ould incorporate the Gash Delta and the Nubian A - Group