Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory (NWROSL), has been operating continuously out of the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon since 1995. We offer a variety of different analytical services related to obsidian artifact trace element provenance (“sourcing”) studies and obsidian source studies, primarily in the context of archaeological research. This website describes our services and provides methodological and source information that supplements and supports our contract investigations and research interests. Click here for a summary of our XRF services. Interested in our company logo? Read more about it.
Northwest Archaeometrics: You might want to also have a look around our companion lab, Northwest Archaeometrics. Northwest Archaeometrics offers 3D scanning and morphometric analyses of artifacts, GIS services, archaeological excavation and laboratory workflow/inventory software, and more.
Looking for Hydration Services? Northwest Research is pleased to announce that we have formed a new partnership with Willamette Analytics. Willamette Analytics has performed obsidian hydration services for the last eight years in here in Corvallis, Oregon under the careful watch of Jennifer Thatcher. Jennifer will be staying on as an advisor and emeritus for the foreseeable future to help with the transition to our new hydration analyst, Jason Henry.
Willamette Analytics will continue to work closely with Northwest Research and will retain the same name, pricing structure, analysis methodologies, and report formats. The only difference you should see is that our address is changing for receiving artifacts. If you have any questions, please let us know at nyersa@obsidianlab.com or give us a call at (541)497-3236.
We are happy to announce that we have made available a shapefile as well as downloadable spreadsheet containing the source locations in our database! To access these data, head over to the resources page or click here.
