05.06.2013 Views

Natural Science in Archaeology

Natural Science in Archaeology

Natural Science in Archaeology

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

72 4 Lithic Materials<br />

Patay (1976) has presented a somewhat more restricted look at Chalcolithic stone<br />

tool resources <strong>in</strong> the Carpathian Bas<strong>in</strong>. Takács-Biró has edited the papers from the First<br />

International Conference on Prehistoric Fl<strong>in</strong>t M<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g and Lithic Raw Material Identification<br />

<strong>in</strong> the Carpathian Bas<strong>in</strong> (1986), published by the Magyar Nemzeti Museum.<br />

In a wide-rang<strong>in</strong>g book focus<strong>in</strong>g on Late Neolithic fl<strong>in</strong>t procurement patterns of the<br />

Great Hungarian Pla<strong>in</strong>, Biró (1998) covers what she considers 80 types of raw materials<br />

and discusses provenance, quality, circulation, cultural preferences, and means of<br />

identification. Major lithologic materials were obsidian, two dist<strong>in</strong>ct sources of fl<strong>in</strong>t,<br />

radiolarites, and quartzites of various qualities. Of significance <strong>in</strong> archaeom<strong>in</strong>eralogy<br />

is that she shows that most of the raw materials needed analysis by X-ray spectroscopy<br />

or th<strong>in</strong> section petrography for positive lithologic identification. These analyzed materials<br />

now form a reference collection at the Hungarian National Museum <strong>in</strong> Budapest.<br />

Biró (1985) discusses the prehistoric utilization of Neogene rocks <strong>in</strong> the Carpathian<br />

Bas<strong>in</strong>. For the western Carpathian region the great majority of geologic raw materials<br />

used dur<strong>in</strong>g the Stone Age were of local orig<strong>in</strong>. (Hovorka 2004) Obsidian and silex<br />

(high-silica) rocks, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g quartzite and rhyolite, were of particular importance.<br />

Kozlowsky (1973) has documented the orig<strong>in</strong> and distribution of the lithic raw materials<br />

used <strong>in</strong> the Paleolithic <strong>in</strong>dustries of the Carpathian region.<br />

A word of caution about the name silex. It was used by Pl<strong>in</strong>y for the m<strong>in</strong>eral<br />

quartz but <strong>in</strong> recent times it has been used <strong>in</strong> France and elsewhere for fl<strong>in</strong>t and<br />

any high quartz rock. De Fourestier (1999) lists more thasn 50 compound m<strong>in</strong>eral<br />

names [besides quartz and fl<strong>in</strong>t] that beg<strong>in</strong> with silex: for example, silex granatus<br />

Fig. 4.3 Chert knife with<br />

carved ivory handle, Gerzean<br />

Period, Egypt

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!