Most people driving through Yellowstone would probably see Obsidian Cliff as another striking piece of volcanic scenery.
For thousands of years, however, people saw something much more valuable.
They saw stone.
Obsidian is volcanic glass, and when properly worked, it produces an extraordinarily sharp edge. Native people quarried the obsidian at this Yellowstone site for more than 11,000 years, shaping it into spear points, knives, scrapers, and other tools.
And the stone did not remain in Yellowstone.
Obsidian from the cliff traveled across an astonishing portion of North America. Archaeologists have identified it in artifacts found as far away as Texas, Washington, southern Alberta, and Ohio. At certain Hopewell sites in the Ohio Valley, about 90 percent of the recovered obsidian originated at Obsidian Cliff—roughly 1,500 miles away.
Today, scientists can use the trace elements in obsidian almost like a chemical fingerprint, allowing them to link an ancient artifact found hundreds of miles away to the Yellowstone source from which it came.
Obsidian Cliff wasn’t simply a geological formation. It was a quarry, a workshop, and a link in networks connecting people across North America long before Europeans arrived.
Long before Yellowstone became America’s first national park, Obsidian Cliff was already a destination.
Read the full story: Obsidian Cliff: Yellowstone’s Ancient Stone Highway
