Obsidian is abundant in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). Petrological and geochemical features of obsidian from four volcanic centers in the MER, namely Birenti, Dofen, Fentale and Kone, are presented. Compositional and petrological variability is noted among the Dofen and Fentale obsidian, but not in those from Kone and Birenti where each have separate but uniform elemental composition. The Fentale and Kone obsidian were source materials for the artifacts of a number of Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age/Neolithic sites in the region. We have yet to determine whether Dofen and Birenti were sources for archeological artifacts. The study also shows that volcanic episodes from a single center do not necessarily result in compositional variability.

中文翻译：

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来自埃塞俄比亚主裂谷北部地区的黑曜石：对考古学的影响

黑曜石在埃塞俄比亚的主要裂谷（MER）中丰富。介绍了来自MER的四个火山中心（即Birenti，Dofen，Fentale和Kone）的黑曜岩的岩石学和地球化学特征。在Dofen和Fentale黑曜石中发现了成分和岩石学的变异性，但在Kone和Birenti的黑曜石中却没有，但它们的元素组成各不相同。Fentale和Kone黑曜石是该地区许多中石器时代和晚期石器时代/新石器时代遗址人工制品的原始材料。我们尚未确定Dofen和Birenti是否是考古文物的来源。该研究还表明，来自单个中心的火山爆发并不一定会导致成分变化。