Archaeological Applications of ICP Mass Spectrometry: An Obsidian Case Study

The development and increasing commercial availability of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) systems provides archaeologists with an alternative to the standard methods of neutron activation, atomic absorption, and x-ray fluorescence analysis. Major, minor and trace elements may be determined with a high degree of precision, and detection limits below 1 part per billion. Finally, a laser ablation device permits the analysis of solid samples in a virtually non-destructive manner. The provenience of western Mediterranean obsidian artifacts will be examined as a case study of this new technique.