Techno-spatial analysis of the obsidian productions at Dry Creek (Interior Alaska)

• Interior Alaska is a key-region for studying long-distance circulation/use of obsidian. • This work focuses on Dry Creek, the largest obsidian assemblage in interior Alaska. • The data is the largest published sample size of source obsidian from a site in Alaska. • We analyze how artifacts from each obsidian sources were transported to the site. • We discuss the much-overlooked mid-Holocene component IV clusters. Interior Alaska is a key-region for studying long-distance circulation, trade and use of obsidian. Although the main raw materials in the early and late prehistoric sites from the region are various types of local cherts, basalts, rhyolites and so on, a large number of these sites include a small percentage of stone tools made of obsidian. The present article focused on the largest obsidian assemblage found in Interior Alaska at the Dry Creek site in the Nenana River valley). Our research aims at better understanding how obsidian was acquired, transported, exchanged, and used in addition to identifying geological source origins. This study discusses the technological implications of obsidian assemblages, and couples this information with the spatial data of the site and the sourcing of the obsidian artifacts. The data presented here is the largest published sample size of source obsidian from a single site in Alaska.