Multidisciplinary research on flint raw materials and artefacts from northwestern Bulgaria

Abstract

The paper presents newly obtained field and laboratory data for flint raw materials and artefacts from northwestern Bulgaria. The field survey and associated analytical work were carried out in 2020 with the following purposes: i) identifying flint raw material outcrops in the region; ii) collecting suitable raw material samples from discovered outcrops and flint artefacts from newly excavated archaeological sites; iii) integrated laboratory analyses of the samples (micropetrography and geochemistry); iv) recording and updating information about archaeological sites in the “Archaeological Map of Bulgaria” information system in the Montana and Vidin regions; and v) GIS-based reconstruction (least-cost path models) of possible raw material procurement systems, based on similarities between samples from different archaeological sites and flint outcrops. The micro-petrography and trace elements, determined by LA–ICP–MS suggest that only a few specimens among the analysed artefacts from NW Bulgaria show similarities to the local raw materials. The artefacts sampled as macroscopically similar to the Balkan flint (BF) from the recently discovered Neolithic sites in NW Bulgaria show affinity with previously studied samples of BF from the Pleven–Nikopol region, where two main clusters of BF sources were identified and recorded in 2011. Additionally, GIS-determined pathways of flint distribution are suggested in the context of raw material procurement strategy and acquisition.

Keywords

• Prehistory
• field survey
• flint raw material
• micropetrography
• LA–ICP–MS
• GIS