Identifying Long-Distance Transport of Obsidian across the North American Landscape in Antiquity Based on Indigenous-Led Research Initiatives

Indigenous oral history and archaeological evidence both support extensive long-distance trade and exchange networks in ancient North America. However, many Indigenous communities oppose the excavation, decontextualization, and analysis of their belongings (artifacts) and ancestral remains for documenting such activities for Rights and Title applications. In partnership with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), an Indigenous community in modern-day Vancouver, BC, we are identifying ways by which previously-excavated materials can be analyzed to support community-led research initiatives. We investigate the geographic origins of small (<1cm in length) fragments of lithic material ("micro-belongings") assessing variations among the trace element, structural, and isotopic characteristics of obsidian sources in British Columbia. We develop a multiproxy approach for provenancing obsidian artifacts, combining the survey of an artifact assemblage using non-destructive techniques with further analysis of apre-selected subset of representative artifacts using precise and accurate minimally-invasive analytical methods. Our results showlong-distance trade and exchange in antiquity that supports the complicated social and material networks in which the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm are known to have participated through oral history and provides key supporting lines of evidence for how and from where ancient people procured resources in North America.