Michael D Glascock
Biographic Data
| ID | 72599 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael D Glascock |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael D |
| FAMILY NAME | Glascock |
| SIGNATURE | GLASCOCK M D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0686-7556 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 249 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2213 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 248 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 25 |
Those Igbo-Ukwu Glass Beads
Obsidian circulation and caravan exchanges during the Late Holocene in Barrancas and Santa Ana de la Puna (Cochinoca, Jujuy province, Argentina)
New insights into the Mesolithic and Neolithic layers of the Darkveti rock shelter in the Imereti Region, Western Georgia
The Darkveti multi-layered site in the Imereti region of Georgia offers valuable insights into prehistoric human activity. Despite extensive research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s by Lamara Nebieridze, certain aspects of the site's chronology and inhabitants' mobility remained unclear. This study aims to address these gaps through collaborative, interdisciplinary research involving Georgian and foreign scientists. The primary objective is to p…
Technological and geochemical analysis of lithic artifacts from the Parque Diana Cave, forest, and lakes of the Neuquén Province (Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina)
Procurement and exchange of obsidian in the Middle Palaeolithic of western Azerbaijan (South Caucasus)
Spatiotemporal patterns of obsidian exploitation in the later prehistory of eastern Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Far East)
Characterizing ceramic production at Sardis
Reconstructing Neolithic obsidian procurement in Western Georgia through an obsidian characterization study
Lydian pottery in the Roman tradition
The emergence of Sardis as an urban centre in the early Iron Age coincided with local production of fine painted pottery in a distinctive regional idiom. Examples of Lydian-style pottery found across western Anatolia from the eighth century BC attest the city’s growing cultural and economic contacts as well as consistent materials and craft methods. Archaeo- metric study using neutron activation analysis (NAA) at the University of Missouri Resear…
Petrographic and geochemical analyses of pottery from Wadi Tanuf, Oman
This study describes the petrographic and geochemical characteristics of pottery collected from Mugharat al‐Kahf and WTN02 in Wadi Tanuf, north‐central Oman, to clarify interregional similarities and differences in pottery production techniques and examine the existence of interregional trade in pottery with respect to changes in mobile communities. Potsherds from these sites were characterised using thin‐section petrography and instrumental neut…
La conexión entre ambientes de tierras bajas y altas en el límite Cuyo Patagonia (Argentina)
Este trabajo busca conocer las estrategias tecnológicas, los rangos de acción y la conectividad en las estrategias humanas de ambientes marginales. Se discute, para el caso del sur de Mendoza, el modelo clásico de trashumancia cazadora recolectora entre tierras bajas y altas. El estudio se centra específicamente en El Payén y en el uso de la obsidiana andina Laguna del Maule. En El Payén, esta obsidiana ocupa el primer lugar entre las variedades …
Obsidian on the Island
We present the first geochemical data of archaeological obsidian for Isla Victoria, Nahuel Huapi National Park in Patagonia. XRF analyses were performed on 15 samples of obsidian-like rocks from the Puerto Tranquilo 1 site. Only five of the artifacts-all of which come from upper levels of the site-correspond to obsidian as a raw material. The provenance analysis indicates the use of obsidian sources located in the Andean Forest area of southern N…
Diagenesis in freshwater mussel shell and its implications for provenance determination – Evidence from the Kinlock Site, 22SU526 (Yazoo Basin, Mississippi, U.S.A.)
Trayectorias Ocupacionales Y Espacios Locales Durante Los Periodos Alfareros en Los Valles De Puangue Y Angostura, Chile Central
Las sociedades prehispanas de los periodos alfareros en Chile central han sido descritas en la arqueologa como sociedades de baja escala. Aqu planteamos que la localidad o microrregin son escalas espaciales de anlisis relevantes para abordar la vida econmica, social y poltica de estos grupos a partir del anlisis comparativo de dos reas: Angostura y Puangue-Pomaire. Si bien ambas reas comparten una secuencia general, producto de un proceso histric…
Using Neutron Activation Analysis to evaluate social connections during a period of transformative social change in the American Southeast
Compositional characterization of pottery and clays from Guam by NAA
The Purísima Concepción Archaeological Project (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) – An Interdisciplinary Approach
In January 1765, the Spanish merchant frigate Purísima Concepción went aground on the Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego while sailing along the Cape Horn route from Cádiz to Lima. The shipwreck survivors remained in the island for nearly three months, time devoted to the construction of another vessel while interacting peacefully with the native population. In view of the historical significance of this event, an archaeological project was condu…
Provenance and long-term circulation of archaeological obsidian in the Puna de Copiapó (25-27°S), South-Central Andes
Biografía, función y análisis iconográfico de dos cilindros efigie procedentes de cuevas mayas de Laguna Pethá, Chiapas
En este trabajo se analiza la iconografía de dos cilindros efigie duplicados mayas hallados en cuevas y abrigos rocosos de Laguna Pethá, municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas. A través de un análisis comparativo nosotros tentativamente identificamos un nuevo estilo regional maya asociado a la presencia de aletas en cilindros de cerámica vinculados a Toniná en el valle de Ocosingo. Sus características iconográficas sitúan a estas piezas próximas al perio…
Picking up the pieces
This study compares chemical data of 224 sherds from Early Intermediate Period Huarpa and Middle Horizon Wari pottery to investigate settlement dynamics. All sherds were first identified stylistically and chronologically. Data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) were combined and generated 11 chemically similar compositional groups (CGs). CGs are cultural artifacts of artisan ag…
Sourcing Mississippian pottery among the complex maritime cultures of Florida’s peninsular Gulf coast
In eastern North America after ca. AD 1050, the spread of Mississippian cultures sparked widespread transformations to economy, material culture, political structure, and ideology. “Mississippianization” influenced the politically complex maritime polities of Florida’s peninsular Gulf coast, but the lack of maize agriculture indicates changes played out differently than among many inland polities. Mississippian-style pottery sherds deposited wide…
Sourcing ritual specialists in ancient Tampa Bay (AD 650-1550)
A landmark for local communities. Compositional analysis of the early Iron Age sanctuary at Polizzello Mountain (Sicily, Italy)
Sources of Late Chalcolithic obsidian artefacts from Tepe Gheshlagh, Kurdistan province, western Iran
Primeros datos sobre la procedencia de obsidiana de un sitio formativo de Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes, Puna de Salta, Argentina
Los estudios de procedencia de materias primas permiten de algún modo orientar las investigaciones sobre interacciones sociales. Las obsidianas constituyen una materia prima ideal ya que, desde el punto de vista de su composición química, cada fuente es altamente homogénea internamente, pero significativamente distintas entre ellas; y aunque los artefactos confeccionados en obsidianas tengan una amplia dispersión, las fuentes están acotadas geog…
Comparison of XRF and PXRF for analysis of archaeological obsidian from southern Perú
Southern African glass beads
High-Precision Trace-Element Characterization of Major Mesoamerican Obsidian Sources and Further Analyses of Artifacts from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Mexico
High-precision trace-element analyses for 208 geological samples representing 25 mesoamerican obsidian sources were obtained using instrumental neutron-activation analysis to measure a total of 28 elements per sample. These are the first detailed chemical studies ever published for many of the source areas. Especially intensive analyses were made for six sources in the states of Veracruz and Puebla in Mexico from the region of Pico de Orizaba vol…
Determining the Geological Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from the Maya Region
During the last four decades, mesoamerican archaeologists regularly have employed various chemical assay techniques to determine the geological sources of obsidian artifacts. In recent years, the reliability of these analytical procedures has increased and their costs have declined, encouraging the assay of ever larger samples. Nonetheless, several constraints make it unlikely that compositional data will be used routinely to attribute entire col…
Locating the Quispisisa Obsidian Source in the Department of Ayacucho, Peru
In 1999, the Quispisisa source of obsidian was located in the Province of Huanca Sancos in central Ayacucho near the village of Sacsamarca. This discovery has been confirmed at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) by comparing the neautron activation analyses of source samples with artifacts. The Quispisisa source of volcanic glass provided the raw material for most of the obsidian artifacts utilized in central and northern Peru thr…
Reduction Strategies and Geochemical Characterization of Lithic Assemblages
Based on a simple model of lithic procurement, reduction, and use, we generate predictions for patterns in source diversity and average distance-to-source measurements for flaked stone assemblages left behind by small-scale and residentially mobile populations. We apply this model to geochemical data from obsidian artifacts from three regions in western North America. As predicted, results show markedly different patterns in the geochemical compo…
Obsidian in the south-central Andes
Methodological Issues in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics
A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to "overturn" the…
The Effect of Firing Temperature on the Elemental Characterization of Pottery
Source Determination of White River Group Silicates from Two Archaeological Sites in the Great Plains
High-quality cryptocrystalline silicates from the Oligocene-age White River Group of the central Great Plains (referred to here as White River Group Silicates [WRGS]) were widely used prehistorically for chipped-stone tools. There are three known source areas for WRGS: Flattop Butte in northeastern Colorado, Table Mountain in east central Wyoming, and the White River Badlands of South Dakota. Specimens from these sources are often visually indist…
Obsidian-Artifact Source Analysis for the Mixtequilla Region, South-Central Veracruz, Mexico
Neutron activation and statistical analyses establish source ascriptions for 201 obsidian artifacts representing Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic period contexts in the Gulf Coast region of Mexico. Zaragoza-Oyameles, Puebla, and Pico de Orizaba, Veracruz, are the most common sources, but procurement patterns and technology shifted during the archaeological sequence. Comparative information is discussed for all periods, but especially the dist…
Testing the accuracy of portable X-ray fluorescence to study Aztec and Colonial obsidian supply at Xaltocan, Mexico
Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics
We are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data demonstrate multidirectional movement of Early Formative pottery. Beyond this, however, they offer nothing that might enhance understanding of Early Formative ceramic circulation or inspire new insights into Early Formative cultural evolution in Mesoamerica. Instead, their response contains fresh distortions, replications of mistakes made in their PNA…
Estudio de fuentes de aprovisionamiento y redes de distribución de obsidiana durante el Holoceno Tardío en el sur de Mendoza (Argentina)
A travs del anlisis de elementos traza sobre obsidiana se discuten aspectos de la utilizacin de los recursos lticos y de la movilidad de las poblaciones prehispnicas del sur de Mendoza (Argentina) y Chile central durante el Holoceno Tardo. Como resultado de estos estudios y de prospecciones sistemticas en la regin se localizaron y caracterizaron cuatro nuevas fuentes de esta materia prima. Un total de 70 muestras correspondientes a 20 sitios arqu…
Early Olmec obsidian trade and economic organization at San Lorenzo
High-altitude adaptation and late Pleistocene foraging in the Bolivian Andes
Mid-Holocene Social Interaction in Melanesia
The widespread distribution in Papua New Guinea of obsidian stemmed tools dated to the mid-Holocene has led scholars to postulate the existence of large interaction spheres. A newly reported artifact from Biak Island, West Papua provides the stimulus for reconsidering the role of this tool type in regional social interaction. The tool was hammer-dressed, a technique unknown for obsidian flaked tools elsewhere in the world and only rarely applied …
Exchange Implications of Obsidian Source Analysis from the Lower Rio Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico
This article considers the results of instrumental neutron-activation analyses of 61 obsidian artifacts recovered from excavations at four archaeological sites in the lower Río Verde valley on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Determinations of source locations of these artifacts permit the examination of changes in obsidian exchange patterns spanning the late Middle Formative to the Classic period. The results show that through most of this p…
Sentinel Butte
Description and Method of Exploitation of the Alca Obsidian Source, Peru
Despite three decades of obsidian studies in the Andes, the extraction zones for this raw material remain poorly understood. The extent and geology of the sources, their intra-source chemical compositional variation, and the means by which the sources were exploited prehistorically, have largely escaped study. This report describes the results of a geoarchaeological survey of the Alca obsidian source in the Cotahuasi Valley, Peru. The survey docu…
Hematite sources and archaeological ochres from Hohokam and O’odham sites in central Arizona
Deconstructing a complex obsidian “source‐scape”
Northwestern Patagonia is located in a tectonically active part of the southern Andes (Argentina), which has facilitated the formation of obsidian, including pyroclastic deposits that have been affected by geomorphic processes, resulting in a complex obsidian landscape. To date, the geomorphic relocation of obsidian in the landscape has not been a focus of systematic research, and this hampers our understanding of prehistoric human mobility. We p…
Elemental analysis and characterization of ochre sources from Southern Arizona
In the Aftermath of Teotihuacan
Despite the political fragmentation of Central Mexico following the breakup of the Teotihuacan state, the Epiclassic Coy otlatelco ceramic style was widespread in the Basin of Mexico and adjoining areas. Instrumental neutron activation analy sis (INAA) was used to determine sources of Coyotlatleco pottery from Teotihuacan in collections made by the Teotihuacan Mapping Project and from rural sites in the Teotihuacan Valley. A sample of Mazap?n, Ea…
Quest for ancient routes
Analysis of Copper‐based Metallic Artifacts by Prompt Gamma‐ray Neutron Activation Analysis
Non‐destructive analysis of the major elements in copper‐alloyed artifacts by prompt gamma neutron activation analysis is reported. Copper, zinc, tin and lead were measured in several ancient Roman, Greek and Iranian objects. Good agreement was found in comparison with analysis of similar objects by destructive methods
The Inah Salvage Archaeology Excavations at Azcapotzalco, Mexico
Analysis of a collection of lithic artifacts from recent INAH salvage excavations in Azcapotzalco, Mexico, contributes to our understanding of lithic procurement and manufacturing processes, other economic activities, intersite relations, and the decline of Classic civilization in the Basin of Mexico. The results of NAA conducted at the Missouri University Research Reactor on a small sample of obsidian artifacts from the site support the conclusi…
High-Precision Trace-Element Characterization of Major Mesoamerican Obsidian Sources and Further Analyses of Artifacts from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Mexico
High-precision trace-element analyses for 208 geological samples representing 25 mesoamerican obsidian sources were obtained using instrumental neutron-activation analysis to measure a total of 28 elements per sample. These are the first detailed chemical studies ever published for many of the source areas. Especially intensive analyses were made for six sources in the states of Veracruz and Puebla in Mexico from the region of Pico de Orizaba vol…
Neutron activation analysis of stone from the Chadron Formation and a Clovis Site on the Great Plains
A New Obsidian Source in the Highlands of Guatemala
A new obsidian source has recently been discovered in the highlands of Guatemala, near the city of Sansare, El Progreso. Ten samples have been subjected to neutron activation analysis, and the results are presented. While ceramic affinities tie the Sansare area with Formative and Classic period Highland Maya sites, linguistic evidence suggests that Postclassic inhabitants of this region were Xinca speakers
Obsidian-Artifact Source Analysis for the Mixtequilla Region, South-Central Veracruz, Mexico
Neutron activation and statistical analyses establish source ascriptions for 201 obsidian artifacts representing Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic period contexts in the Gulf Coast region of Mexico. Zaragoza-Oyameles, Puebla, and Pico de Orizaba, Veracruz, are the most common sources, but procurement patterns and technology shifted during the archaeological sequence. Comparative information is discussed for all periods, but especially the dist…
Expanding the Role of Trace-Element Studies
The results of trace-element analysis of 200 prismatic blades from Colha, Belize, are reported. Questions concerning possible elite control and restriction of obsidian distribution, and the relative decline and increase of the El Chayal and Ixtepeque sources in varying functional contexts within lower- and upper-status areas are the primary focus of the study. Contrary to expectations, a high percentage (51%) of obsidian was assigned to the Ixtep…
Chemical Characteristics of Obsidian from Archaeological Sites in Western Mexico and the Tequila Source Area
A total of 51 obsidian samples from archaeological sites in western Mexico (La Quemada, Totoate, Las Ventanas, Laguna San Marcos) and from the Tequila source area were analyzed chemically by direct-current plasma atomic emission spectrometry (DCP) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) in an effort to identify the sources of the archaeological obsidian by step-wise discriminant analysis of the data. Surprisingly, only 3 of the 39 arc…
Source Determination of White River Group Silicates from Two Archaeological Sites in the Great Plains
High-quality cryptocrystalline silicates from the Oligocene-age White River Group of the central Great Plains (referred to here as White River Group Silicates [WRGS]) were widely used prehistorically for chipped-stone tools. There are three known source areas for WRGS: Flattop Butte in northeastern Colorado, Table Mountain in east central Wyoming, and the White River Badlands of South Dakota. Specimens from these sources are often visually indist…
Compositional Analysis of Eastern Sigillata A and Related Wares from Tel Anafa (Israel)
The Obsidian Artifacts of Quelepa, El Salvador
Nearly 600 obsidian artifacts dating from about 200b.c.toa.d.950 at Quelepa, El Salvador, are assigned to geological source areas using visual criteria and an abbreviated neutron activation analysis (NAA) technique. This combined methodology affords highly accurate results, is inexpensive, and allows large collections to be sourced. Results of lithic analyses describe the evolution of procurement and production strategies at the site. Despite the…
Additional comments on neutron activation analysis of stonefrom the great plains
Neutron Activation Analysis of Obsidian From Kalavasos- Tenta
The small quantity of obsidian used by the Aceramic Neolithic occupants of Cyprus was imported, there being no source on the island.The chemical composition, determined by neutron activation analysis, of six samples of obsidian from Kalavasos-Tenta indicates that they were derived from the central Anatolian, Göllü Dağ (çiftlik: Group 2b) source. On the basis of chemical composition, obsidian from five Cypriot Aceramnic Neolithic sites has the sam…
The Origin of Puuc Slate Ware
This paper reports results of the first neutron-activation analysis (NAA) of ancient pottery wares and clays from the Puuc region of Yucatan. Based on ceramics from Sayil, this investigation seeks to expand exploration into the nature of commercialization during the Terminal Classic period (A.D. 800–1000). This research sought to: (a) establish the chemical composition of major Puuc wares, (b) begin to define potential raw materials and productio…
Exchange Implications of Obsidian Source Analysis from the Lower Rio Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico
This article considers the results of instrumental neutron-activation analyses of 61 obsidian artifacts recovered from excavations at four archaeological sites in the lower Río Verde valley on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Determinations of source locations of these artifacts permit the examination of changes in obsidian exchange patterns spanning the late Middle Formative to the Classic period. The results show that through most of this p…
Clay Acquisition and Vessel Distribution Patterns
In southern New England, typological distinctions between Niantic, Hackney Pond, and Shantok ceramics have been used to describe changing settlement patterns for the Late Woodland (500- 350 Years B.P.) and contact (post-A.D. 1600) periods. Based on the initial typologies developed by Rouse (1947) the Shantok ceramic tradition was also considered an ethnic marker of the Mohegan and Pequot tribes based on material recovered from Fort Shantok. Reexa…
The Effect of Firing Temperature on the Elemental Characterization of Pottery
An Assessment of the Acid-Extraction Approach to Compositional Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics
We criticize the acid-extraction approach to chemical characterization of ceramics previously advocated in this journal by Burton and Simon (1993). The instrumental technique used by Burton and Simon (inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy [ICP]) is a highly precise chemical characterization technique, but noise introduced by characterizing acid extracts from sherds nullifies the usefulness of the resulting elemental concentration data …
Speleothem breakage, movement, removal, and caching
Recent investigations have documented extensive human breakage, movement, resetting, removal, and caching of speleothems which reflects an unreported aspect of ancient Maya cave utilization. The movement, resetting, and caching of speleothems make it clear that much of the breakage was purposeful. Speleothems appear in excavation contexts at surface sites, and the Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project demonstrates that reported examples repr…
An Evaluation of the Archaeological Relevance of Weak-Acid Extraction ICP
The Evolution of Anasazi Ceramic Production and Distribution
We start from the premise that ceramic evolution created the paste-compositional and formal diversity of archaeological ceramic assemblages. After discussing alternative models of formal and compositional diversity in ceramic assemblages, we examine an assemblage from an Anasazi site in southern Utah from which 206 sherds were characterized by neutron activation analysis. The assemblage is remarkably diverse compositionally, which indicates that …
Production of San Juan Red Ware in the Northern Southwest
San Juan Red ware pottery was distributed across the northern Southwest from the eighth through tenth centuries A.D., though made only in the northern San Juan region. This paper investigates the concentration (Costin 1991) of San Juan Red ware production through neutron activation analysis of the pottery and raw materials. Production was concentrated in the area of southeast Utah, and within that area it appears to have been produced at only a l…
A Systematic Approach to Obsidian Source Characterization
Geological–Geochemical approach to “sourcing” of prehistoric chert artifacts, northwestern Alaska
A new type of approach to prehistoric chert sourcing using both geology and geochemistry is introduced and illustrated by a study conducted in northwestern Alaska. Correlation of each chert artifact with its geological source is based on the idea that both the artifact and its source have identical geologic history characterized by unique petrological and geochemical signatures. A regional database of the petrological and geochemical signatures f…
Geological–Geochemical approach to “sourcing” of prehistoric chert artifacts, northwestern Alaska
A new type of approach to prehistoric chert sourcing using both geology and geochemistry is introduced and illustrated by a study conducted in northwestern Alaska. Correlation of each chert artifact with its geological source is based on the idea that both the artifact and its source have identical geologic history characterized by unique petrological and geochemical signatures. A regional database of the petrological and geochemical signatures f…
Archaeology (229 works) · Geography (220 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (211 works) · Geology (176 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (85 works) · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis (78 works) · Pottery (73 works) · Geochemistry (64 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (63 works) · Provenance (62 works)