Chemical Composition: In 1998, Jelmer Eerkens and Michael Glascock analyzed a small sample of obsidian nodules collected from both primary and secondary contexts in the Saline Range at the University of Missouri Research Reactor Facility (MURR). Data from neutron activation analysis (NAA) suggested three geochemically distinct obsidian types occur in the Saline Range.

A much larger sample was analyzed in 1999 at Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Lab in Corvallis, Oregon. X-ray fluorescence data confirm the Saline Range obsidians can indeed be separated geochemically into three source groups, Saline Valley 1, Saline Valley 2, and Saline Valley 3.

Saline Valley 1 and the Queen Imposter: In addition to obsidian designated "Saline Valley", the Saline Range has recently proven to be the origin of the so-called "Queen Imposter". Artifacts manufactured from this glass type were first recognized at CA-INY-30 (Basgall and McGuire 1988), and have since been recovered from sites elsewhere in the Owens Valley (Burton 1996b; Hughes 1996b), on Hunter Mountain (where 14% of the artifacts submitted to Hughes for XRF analysis were manufactured from "Queen Imposter") (Burton 1996a; Hughes 1996a), in the Inyo-White Mountains (Reynolds 1996), and from the Komodo site (CA-MNO-679) in Long Valley (Basgall 1988; Basgall 1989). Artifacts manufactured from "Queen Imposter" obsidian were recovered from Lake Mohave/Little Lake, Newberry, Haiwee, and Marana components at CA-INY-30 (Basgall and McGuire 1988), indicating a long temporal span for the exploitation of this source. Recent analysis of Saline Valley source material by Richard Hughes has confirmed that the identity of the "Queen Imposter" source and Saline Valley 1 are one and the same (Johnson et al. 1999).

Prehistoric Use: The prehistoric exploitation of obsidian in Saline Valley was first reported by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) personnel who recorded a site (CA-INY-1975) where obsidian nodules, as well as some worked flakes, occurred in float for as much as ¾ of a mile along both sides of a dirt road near Steele Pass on the east side of the Saline Range (Ernst et al. 1975). Further mention of this obsidian source was made in a BLM report on the cultural resources the Saline Planning Unit (Norwood et al. 1980). It is stated in the aforementioned report that "This source (Iny-1975) does not consist of a major extensive outcrop but is an area where nodules of obsidian occur as float. Flakes and debitage in the vicinity indicate that aboriginal people knew of and exploited the source." More recently, Linda Reynolds, Inyo National Forest Archaeologist, has described a quarry site on a knoll below Steele Pass consisting of an outcrop "comprised of nodules embedded in what appears to be a rhyolite matrix" (Reynolds 1996). Hers is the first archaeological description of the prehistoric exploitation of obsidian from a primary context in Saline Valley, however, it is unclear whether the flakes and cores occurring at this site derived from the small nodules embedded in the rhyolite flow on the knoll, or whether they derived from nodules occurring in a vitrophyre further upslope. This vitrophyre is the likely source of the obsidian nodules reported at CA-INY-1975. At any rate, Reynolds (1996) also provides the first written description of the visual characteristics of obsidian occurring on the eastern side of the Saline Range.

Saline Valley has been reported as the geologic source of obsidian for artifacts found at sites on Hunter Mountain (Burton 1996a; Hughes 1996a), which divides Panamint and Saline Valleys, the Inyo-White Mountains (Reynolds 1996), and at Surprise Springs in the Grapevine Mountains east of Death Valley (Burton and Farrell 1996). Of the 88 obsidian artifacts from the Hunter Mountain sites submitted for XRF analysis, 22% derived from the "Saline Valley" source (Burton 1996a). It is only recently that obsidian has been identified as "Saline Valley" in XRF obsidian source analyses conducted by Richard Hughes; this material is likely the same as that identified as "Unknown 4" at CA-INY-30 (Basgall and McGuire 1988) in the southern Owens Valley.

Geologic Mapping: Nelson (1971) and Ross (1967).