New data for the characterisation of Milos obsidians

Newly produced fission track (FT), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and micro-Raman spectrometry data have been used to characterize the classical source areas of the Milos obsidians better and to check the provenance of obsidian artefacts. The Bombarda-Adhamas and Demenegaki obsidians yielded indistinguishable FT ages 1.57±0.12 and 1.60±0.06 My, respectively, in agreement with previous FT data. By INAA analyses it was possible to discriminate between the three obsidian sources on Milos: Bombarda-Adhamas, Demenegaki and A. Ioannes. Raman spectroscopy has been found to be a valuable technique to gain a chemico-structural characterization of a given obsidian population in terms of dissolved water content and microlite distribution/composition.