Lithic raw material procurement in the Moravian Neolithic: the search for extra-regional networks

Abstract

-The study of lithic raw material procurement can contribute to the study of ancient networks. Petrographic analysis combined with systematic mapping of raw material outcrops has been conducted in Moravia and adjacent territories by A. Přichystal over a period of more than three decades. Combined with well excavated (including wet-screening) and 14 C (radiometric) (2008) focused on the supply of Neolithic raw materials in a particular micro-region of the Brno Basin. One set of limitations regarding the methods used in Moravia is posed by the necessity of working with assemblages excavated and collected over a long period, by different people using different excavation methods, and often lacking in information concerning possible contamination by older or younger material (the majority of sites are poly-cultural). The lack of (or inconclusive) radiocarbon dating results is also a problem. Therefore, we have selected a set of reference-sites that we deem representative of each culture and cultural phase. The selected reference sites were excavated using modern field techniques (including wet-sieving and precisely fixing the provenance of all items) and dated using absolute dating methods. It will be necessary to excavate more such reference sites in Moravia in the near future.An important innovation in lithic raw material studies has been the development of a non-destructive method of sourcing raw materials. Using this method, it has been possible to determine the source of many (hundreds to thousands) chipped artefacts. The method involves matching chipped silicic artefacts with raw materials from geological sources using a stereomicroscope with water as an immersion liquid (Přichystal 2002b). This research has resulted in the sourcing of thousands of Neolithic chipped artefacts which, in turn, has made it possible to reconstruct raw material distribution networks. The geographical and geological setting of MoraviaMoravia is a historical geographic unit (land) currently constituting the eastern half of the Czech Republic. From a geographical and geological point of view, Moravia lies on the boundary between the Western Carpathians in the east and the Bohemian Massif in the west, and also on the Black Sea (Danube, southern Moravia), and the Baltic Sea watershed (Oder River, northern Moravia). The relief of Moravia consists of river valleys surrounded by highlands. The river valleys are connected by gates which form a system of passages -communication routes which connect eastern and western, northern and southern Europe (Svoboda et al. 1996).During the last glaciation Moravia was a periglacial zone between the Alpine and Fenoscandinavian ice sheets and allowed movements (migrating animal herds, hunter-gatherers, raw materials) in both of the above-mentioned directions. After the LGM, people penetrated Moravia from both western and eastern refuges (cf. Semino et al. 2000), and the Morava River served as an arbitrary boundary between the western Magdalenian and eastern Epigravettian culture complexes. The...

Jurrasic-Cracow Flint in the Linear Pottery Culture in Kuyavia, Chełmno Land and the Lower Vistula Region

“…Although the above thesis is as yet poorly supported by the sources, this line of interpretation seems to be worth studying further. (Mateiciucová 2008;Kuča et al 2009) or Bohemia (Lech 1989). It is interesting that such interregional contacts, mirrored by the presence of specific flint raw material, are not reflected in other kinds of material culture, for example pottery.…”