LAUSR

Abstract There has been a long discussion on the nature of cultural, societal, and economical transformation after the migration of the Kura-Araxes groups from southern Caucasus to Iran and eastern Anatolia in the host areas. Provenance studies of obsidian artifacts could shed more light on this issue from another aspect. In this paper, we investigate if there is any similarity or difference in the obsidian consumption model among Kura-Araxes and autochthonous groups and if these similarities or differences can say anything about the economic, social, and cultural management of theses societies and their inner societal and cultural dynamics. A total of forty-eight obsidian artifacts from 13 surveyed and two excavated sites were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence. The results show the cultural transformation in northwestern Iran did not affect the exchange areas and interaction routes.