I have done extensive geological survey and chemical characterization of the Central Mediterranean obsidian sources on the four islands of Lipari, Palmarola, Pantelleria, and Sardinia. On each island, I have identified multiple outcrops (subsources), and followed this by source analysis of >11,500 obsidian artifacts from many Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, accounting for more than 2/3 of all the analyses ever done in the central and western Mediterranean. My research shows changes over time in the use of the different island sources, and even of specific subsources as territorial control develops in these early agricultural societies. The map shows the many different sites in red that I have analyzed at least 10 obsidian artifacts. This research is recently summarized (Tykot, R.H. 2017. Obsidian Studies in the Prehistoric Central Mediterranean: After 50 Years, What Have We Learned and What Still Needs to Be Done? Open Archaeology 3: 264-278), as was a detailed study of the Lipari geological sources and distribution (Tykot, R.H. 2019. Geological Sources of Obsidian on Lipari and Artifact Production and Distribution in the Neolithic and Bronze Age Central Mediterranean. Open Archaeology 5: 83-105).

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