Obsidian: Igneous Rock

Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. The first known archaeological evidence of usage was in Kariandusi (Kenya) and other sites of the Acheulian age (beginning 1.5 million years BP) dated 700,000 BC, although only very few objects have been found at these sites relative to the Neolithic.

Use of obsidian in pottery of the Neolithic in the area around Lipari was found to be significantly less at a distance representing two weeks journeying. Anatolian sources of obsidian are known to have been the material used in the Levant and the Armenian Highland from a time beginning sometime about 12,500 BC.

The first attested civilized use is dated to the late fifth millennium BC, known from excavations at Tell Brak (Nagar, Nawar), an ancient city in Northern Syria; its remains constitute a tell located in the Upper Khabur region, near the modern village of Tell Brak, 50 kilometers north-east of Al-Hasaka city, Al-Hasakah Governorate.

Starting as a small settlement in the seventh millennium BC, Tell Brak evolved during the fourth millennium BC into one of the biggest cities in Upper Mesopotamia, and interacted with the cultures of southern Mesopotamia.