Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Studies of toolstone procurement and conveyance in the Great Basin have generated an extensive database of obsidian and fine-grained volcanic (FGV; e.g., andesite, dacite) geochemistry and provenance over the last few decades. By comparison, our current knowledge of chert provenance remains poor. Here, I present compositional data obtained using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for chert geological specimens and artifacts from Mooney Basin Quarry (MBQ) and Mahoney Canyon (MC) in eastern Nevada. Analysis of these data indicates that MBQ cherts are compositionally distinct from MC cherts, facilitating the sourcing of chert artifacts from nearby archaeological sites. I conclude that sourcing studies of chert artifacts, when pursued as a complement to sourcing studies of obsidian and FGV artifacts, promise to enrich our understanding of prehistoric socioeconomic and lithic technological organization in the region.