Examining Raw Material of Stone Tools. Siliceous Marl from the Eastern Part of the Polish Carpathians Re-interpreted

Abstract

Neolithic and Early Bronze Age communities which settled the eastern Carpathians Forelands and Carpathian Foothills used a variety of local and non-local siliceous raw materials. Silicites identified in archaeological material differ in quality and usefulness for making tools. Obsidian, Jurassic flint from the Cracow-Częstochowa Uplands, ‘chocolate’ flint, and Świeciechów (grey white-spotted) and Volhynian flints are the best quality. They were commonly used from the Early Neolithic onwards. On the other hand, some local raw materials were also in used. Among them the so-called Dynów marl or siliceous marls were suggested as the most popular. To correct the classification of raw material of these artefacts HCl (Hydrochloric acid) was used for testing both raw material samples and the artefacts of the so-called Dynów or siliceous marls. The results of the analysis shows that so-called Dynów or siliceous marl consists of several different raw material varieties. More than 50% of the analysed tools were of yellowish or grey-yellowish hornstones (cherts). Both siliceous marls and the chert came probably from different sources and each one has a different chemical composition and physical properties

Keywords

• Siliceous marl
• chert
• Carpathians
• Neolithic
• Early Bronze Age