Stone raw material sources and use

The geological study of the kinds of rocks selected for use as tools, using petrographic, geochemical, or other methods can be used to understand ancient patterns of mobility and exchange.  I have applied these techniques to a number of Holocene assemblages from the northeastern US and eastern Africa.

Frahm, E.; Tryon, C.A. (2018) Later Stone Age toolstone acquisition in the Central Rift Valley of Kenya: Portable XRF of Eburran obsidian artifacts from Leakey’s excavations at Gamble’s Cave II. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 18:475-486 .pdf

Frahm, E.; Goldstein, S.T.; Tryon, C.A. (2017) Forager-fisher and pastoralist interactions along the Lake Victoria shores, Kenya: Perspectives from portable XRF of obsidian artifacts from Kansyore rock shelters. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 11: 717-742. .pdf

Tryon, C.A. & Philpotts, A.R. (1997) Possible sources of mylonite and hornfels debitage from the Cooper Site, Lyme, Connecticut. Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut 60:3-12. .pdf