Chocolate flint outcrops in the Kraków-Częstochowa upland. State of knowledge on mining, use and distribution of the raw material and further research perspectives.

Abstract

New data obtained from the central part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland cast an interesting light on the issues of the origin of chocolate flint and the ways it was used by prehistoric communities inhabiting the region. Earlier interpretations indicated that the chocolate flint found at prehistoric sites in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland was imported from the outcrops in the north-eastern part of the Holy Cross Mountains. Identifying the sites of siliceous rocks outcrops, extraction and distribution are extremely important at not only the local but also trans-regional level.

Preliminary characterization of the prehistoric mine of chocolate flint in Poręba Dzierżna, site 24 (Wolbrom commune, Lesser Poland voivodeship)

“…Its very good quality was known and appreciated by prehistoric communities since the Middle Palaeolithic (see Ginter 1974, 9, 10, 63ff). Products made of this raw material are known from almost all regions of Poland, as well as neighbouring countries (Sudoł-Procyk 2021).…”