Obsidian Evidence, Confidence and Modelled Corridors in the Taş Tepeler Project Constellation

This interactive map accompanies From Distant Volcanoes to the Şanlıurfa Plateau: Obsidian Evidence, Confidence and Modelled Corridors in the Taş Tepeler Project Constellation. It presents the paper-core dataset for the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic / early Neolithic timeframe, c. 9600-8200 BCE. This includes Taş Tepeler sites, selected Upper Tigris and Middle Euphrates comparators, relevant obsidian source landscapes, and modelled corridor families. It is an evidence-ranking and hypothesis-generating companion, not a proof of routes or social mechanisms.

Evidence-ranked publication companion map
Mapped lines are evidence-ranked corridor hypotheses. They should not be read as reconstructed routes, direct exchange paths, or evidence for specific social mechanisms. They are included as modelled landscape heuristics for comparing plausible source-landscape/site movement zones under the assumptions described in the paper.

Dataset View

This view shows the paper-core archaeological and geological dataset: Taş Tepeler sites, selected Upper Tigris and Middle Euphrates comparators, relevant obsidian source landscapes, and the corridor families used in the paper. It is not a complete inventory of all Neolithic sites or obsidian evidence in the wider region.
This view emphasises published source-linked evidence and local analytical source-zone comparison, including Upper Tigris and Middle Euphrates comparators and the Harbetsuvan analytical anchor. A source attribution or source-zone comparison strengthens the material claim, but it does not identify an exact travelled route or social mechanism.
This view shows modelled source-landscape-to-site corridor families used as a landscape heuristic for comparing plausible movement zones between obsidian source landscapes and archaeological sites. The lines are not direct archaeological evidence of journeys, exchange transactions or social routes. They are least-cost and corridor-family outputs based on landscape parameters described in the paper, using the deterministic, isotropic least-cost implementation described in the paper. Tobler 1993, Herzog 2014, White 2015 and Lewis 2021 are included as methodological context and caution, not as claims that the displayed lines recover actual routes.
Hydrological features are included as landscape context for interpreting site locations, source landscapes and modelled corridor families. Rivers, valleys and drainage systems may have structured movement possibilities and regional connectivity, but the hydrology layer is not treated here as independent evidence that obsidian moved along these waterways.
The evidence table separates source confidence, corridor status and social inference. It avoids a single route-confidence score because a secure source attribution, a modelled corridor and a social mechanism are different claims.

Showing the paper-core dataset used for the main argument.

Map filters

Filter the visible paper-core evidence by evidential status. These filters change what is visible; they do not turn presence, source comparison or modelled corridors into equivalent evidence.

Evidence status
Shows the paper-core evidence classes together, from direct provenance and local analytical comparison to lower-confidence spatial hypotheses.
The strongest class. Artefacts or assemblages have been linked to source zones by published, auditable geochemical evidence. Local source-zone comparison is shown separately.
Published local XRF/mineralogical comparison indicates broad source-zone access, but this class is not treated as a fully auditable artefact-by-artefact provenance table or as route proof.
Obsidian is reported securely at the site, but source attribution is absent, unpublished, or less secure. This supports extra-local access, not a source-specific route.
Mapped lines are evidence-ranked corridor hypotheses. They should not be read as reconstructed routes, direct exchange paths, or evidence for specific social mechanisms. They are included as modelled landscape heuristics for comparing plausible source-landscape/site movement zones under the assumptions described in the paper.
Hydrological features are included as landscape context for interpreting site locations, source landscapes and modelled corridor families. Rivers, valleys and drainage systems may have structured movement possibilities, but this layer is not independent evidence that obsidian moved along these waterways.

Showing all evidence statuses together.

About This Map

This interactive map accompanies From Distant Volcanoes to the Şanlıurfa Plateau: Obsidian Evidence, Confidence and Modelled Corridors in the Taş Tepeler Project Constellation. It presents the paper-core dataset for the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic / early Neolithic timeframe, c. 9600-8200 BCE. This includes Taş Tepeler sites, selected Upper Tigris and Middle Euphrates comparators, relevant obsidian source landscapes, and modelled corridor families. It is an evidence-ranking and hypothesis-generating companion, not a proof of routes or social mechanisms.

The map is intended as a transparent, revisable research companion to the published evidence table. Use the map-summary help item and legend for the distinction between analytical source evidence, modelled corridors and social interpretation.

  • Source confidence, corridor confidence and social interpretation are kept separate.
  • Least-cost and landscape-aware corridors are comparative spatial models, not recovered journeys.
  • Hydrological layers provide landscape context and do not by themselves demonstrate river transport.
Contribute obsidian data

Help improve the map: this dataset is intended to be revisable. If you know of additional published or unpublished obsidian evidence relevant to Taş Tepeler, the Upper Tigris, the Middle Euphrates, or related source landscapes, please contact the authors with site details, bibliographic references, analytical data, coordinates where available, and any relevant excavation or museum context.

Suitable submissions may be reviewed for inclusion in future versions of the map. Inclusion is not automatic. Contact: d.schwartzman@sussex.ac.uk.

Selected feature

Map feature

Map Source Index

Sources listed here are restricted to the paper-core Taş Tepeler map: local plateau evidence, selected Upper Tigris and Middle Euphrates comparators, relevant obsidian source landscapes, and the corridor-modelling or base-geography references used for the visible layers.

Evidence Category Table

Entries are categorical evidence aids, not new data. They separate source confidence, corridor status and social inference so the map does not collapse provenance, modelled geometry and social mechanism into one score.