Not only is it a visually attractive material, but it can easily be worked to create sharp edges, perfect for spearheads, knives, and hand-axes. Snowflake obsidian has been linked by some to ...

A fragment of obsidian with a relatively flat surface and subcircular shape was selected, sharp edges and ridges were removed, contours were polished, and a coarse-grained stone was used to begin ...

It’s fine structure means both that it fractures predictably during tool-making and it will produce a razor sharp edge. But, what ultimately makes obsidian so well suited for tracking social relations ...