Provenance of obsidian artifacts from the Wolseongdong Paleolithic site, Korea, and its archaeological implications

The provenance of obsidian artifacts from the Wolseongdong Paleolithic site in Korea has hitherto been uncertain. A previous study was unable to identify the source despite the availability of major/minor element concentrations, strontium isotopic composition, and K–Ar age. We have revisited the problem, and obtained geochemical data for 100 obsidian artifacts from Wolseongdong using Laser Ablation – Inductive Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS). It was found that all lithics originated from a single source located around 700 km away, at the Paektusan Volcano on the DPR Korea/Chinese border. Our findings highlight the necessity of reliable data analysis and quality assurance for obsidian characterization studies.