Obsidian Sources and Calibration Sets

The Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR has a Thermo-QuantX ARL benchtop and Bruker Tracer 5g XRF instruments. We can analyze obsidian samples submitted to the laboratory using XRF for provenance research, including comparison against our database of obsidian source samples. In addition, we have resources available to support researchers with access to their own XRF instruments, including our obsidian source collection and our obsidian calibration set.


Obsidian Source Loan Program

The Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Research Reactor has one of the largest collections of obsidian source samples from around the world. These include sources from North, Meso-, and South America, the Caucasus, Asia, and Africa. A full list of sources we have is available here: MURR Obsidian Sources.pdf


This material is available to be tested at MURR or borrowed following the Archaeometry Laboratory’s loan policies: Object Loan Policy.pdf


If you would like to visit MURR to test any obsidian source samples, or if you would like to borrow any specific obsidian source samples, please contact us.

MURR Archaeometry Lab XRF Obsidian Calibration Sets

When analyzing obsidian by X-Ray Fluorescence, the Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR uses a calibration that was developed using 40 very well-characterized obsidian source samples using data acquired by neutron activation analysis (NAA), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and XRF. More information about these sources is available here: "A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO GEOCHEMICAL SOURCING OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS"


We have several duplicate sets of these calibration sources. These sources are available to be tested at MURR or borrowed following the Archaeometry Laboratory’s loan policies: Object Loan Policy.pdf


If you would like to visit MURR to test the calibration set, or if you would like to borrow an obsidian calibration set, please contact us.