The Neolithic stone raw-materials in Mid-western Poland. An archeologico-petrographic study
Biblioteka "Fontes Archaeologici Posnanienses", t. 5, Warszawa-Poznań 1980. Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu.

Summary


     The present study originated as an accomplishment of a joint archaeologico-petrographic research program, that was formulated in the Stone Age Department of the Archaeological Museum in Poznań in 1971 . The research was carried out in 1971 - 1977 in cooperation with the Department of Geology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. A dominating position in our previous .knowledge on the Neolithic raw-material economy was held by the well recognized problem of the exploitation, distribution and use of flint, while the identical questions concerning the remaining stone raw-materials (mainly crystallic rocks) were so far studied only marginally, although they involve the basic types of tools and weapons of that epoch. The idea of the present study is to fill up the purely archaeological data about Neolithic stone implements by the identification of their raw-material, in order to considerably increase their cognitive values.
     The territory covered by our study includes several physico-geographicaI regions of Mid-western Poland, belonging to four macroregions: Great Polish (Wielkopolska) Lowland, Chełmińskie-, East-, and South-Pomeranian Lake Districts. Chronologically, the study considers the Neolithic epoch, from the origin of the Danubian Cycle until the decline of the Corded Ware CuIture (Epi-Corded Ware Groups), i.e. from ca 4500 until ca 1700. BC. The examined set of stone implements includes 1557 specimens, 1480 (95.05 %) of which are loose finds. Only 31 implements were discovered during excavations and 46 pieces (2.95 %) belong to the homogenous inventories gathered during surface surveys. Typologically, the series of implements includes 10 categories: flat axes (493 specimens), perforated axes (863), hoes (57), chisels (11), adzes (2), mace-heads (25), hammers (28), hammeraxes (45), plugs (perforation outfalls; 3 pieces) and other implements of undetermined type (30).
     Petrographic identifications of the raw-material were determined macroscopically and subsequently controlled by a series of 45 microscopic analyses, using the thin slices method, as well as by 23 micrometric analyses. Results obtained by the latter method made possible the highly precise determinations of the type of rock which then served as a basis for localization of rock quarries exploited in the Neolithic.
     Chapter II sums up the effects of application of petrographic methods in archaeological research on the Neolithic stone industries. History of cooperation of both disciplines in this field was outlined within a three-stage scheme of its development: a) stage 1, purely descriptive (1863 - 1905), b) stage 2, analytic (1905 - 1936), c) stage 3, characterized by development of a set of archaeological and petrographic methods, sometimes called as petroarchaeology, and of specialized institutions and research centres (after 1936). The results of cooperation of Polish archaeologists and petrographers in this respect were presented on the European background, where the most important achievements were reached by English, German and Czechoslovak scholars.
     Chapter III contains the archaeological and petrographic classification of the examined set of implements. The former includes the chrono-cultural provenience of the implements, while the latter aims at the determination of the comparative scale of petrographic identification, stating the grade of their exactness as well as a construction of a list of stone raw-material types used in the Neolithic of the Mid-western Poland. While the uniform typological system for all Neolithic stone implements from the studied region is still lacking, the respective schemes from adjacent territories - Bohemia, Little Poland (Małopolska), as well as Middle and North-western Germany - were used; some fragmentary determinations formulated directly for Mid-western Poland were also considered. A three-grade scale of exactness of petrographic identifications includes: A - most general determinations (within a type of rocks), B - within a group of rocks, C - most exact - identifications of a single kind of rock or its variation. The scale was included to the list of stone raw-materials.
     The direct analysis of the set of implements is carried out in chapter IV. On the basis of the series of analytical tables (table 1 - 6), interrelations of several chosen archaeological and petrographic features of all considered implements, i.e. successively between the kind of raw-material and: chrono-cultural position of the implement (table 1 and 2), its general typological character (table 3 and 4) and - finally - its geographical provenience (table 5 and 6) were examined. Each of these aspects was analysed first in a detailed (table 1, 3, 5) and then in a general approach (table 2, 4, 6).
     Analytical tables present numerous interrelations in all of the three studied aspects. Lack of adequate comparative materials from adjacent territories hinders so far their broader interpretation. Furthermore, according to the accepted methodic assumptions, a statistical verification of results reached during analysis constitutes a necessary requirement of acquisition of reliable conclusions. The verification enables to distinguish, from among all registered quantitative interrelations between particular features, a group of statistically significant (i.e. not accidental) relations. Such verification, based upon two non-parametric tests - x2 (chi-square) and Smirnov's - will be, together with all its consequences for the examined problematics, a matter of a separate study. Nevertheless one may already signal the most important new data about Neolithic stone raw-material economy, reached by the study.
     Main result of the above mentioned analysis is the ascertainment and the closer characteristics of a raw-material differentiation in all three examined aspects. The degree of this differentiation - higher in chrono-cultural and typological than in geographical aspect - is limited by an almost entire domination of six rocks: amphibolite, basalt, diabase, gabbro, gneiss and leptite. Their widespread use resulted in a considerable unification of a petrographic structure of the whole set; therefore, most of the statistically proven differences is only of a quantitative character. The present analysis constitutes barely a reconnaissance of a so far unknown raw-material problematics in a Neolithic stone industry. The research proceedings covered only the most numerous ones from among previously distinguished categories, so that the results refer only to the crucial features of the described phenomena.
     When studying the chrono-cultural aspect of our series of implements, we noticed the presence of clearly outlined trends in the development of intensity of use of almost all popular stone raw-materials (basalt, gabbro, leptite - gradual rise of share in accordance with time passage; gneiss - fall of share). Several conclusions deal with the question whether the choice of raw-material type depended in the Neolithic on a type of the implement to be produced. In the group of implements typical for the Danubian Cycle (Bandkerarmik, KCW) occured a qualitative difference in the petrographic structure of perforated axes and in Epi-Corded Ware group (N/Br) - a considerable quantitative divergence between perforated axes and hammeraxes. In the latter case, a technological factor seems to have decisive meaning; diorite, which was never more often used in the production of perforated axes, was designed here to the less complicated production of hammeraxes (lack of perforation). The most outstanding differences in a kind of raw-material show mace-heads and hammers, what can be explained as a result of their functional distinctness in comparison with splitting tools (flat and perforated axes, hoes, chisels, adzes). One could also ascertain, that each of the chrono-cultural groups distinguished above was using a different set of raw-materials in order to produce the same type of implement. This phenomenon.was fully documented according to the category which was especially richly represented in the examined series, namely to the perforated axes (table 4). A dominating influence of acultural factor was revealed in this case. It outvoted other factors, particularly the affect of the natural environment; all of the chrono-cultural groups were developing in the same territory, hence they had, at least theoretically, access to the similar raw-material resources. According to the differentiation in the geographical aspect, the most important fact for the further research is the disclosure of a characteristic pattern of distribution of basalt implements which gradually disperse northwards (see table 5 and 6 and maps 1 - 13).
One demarcated also the territory of the intensive use of Poznań loam, limited to the South-western Great Poland (Wielkopolska; see table 5 and 6 and maps 1 - 13).



Analitical tables:


Table 1. Raw-material structure of the Neolithic stone implements from Mid-western Poland in chrono-cultural aspect (detailed approach).
Table 2. As above, general approach.
Table 3. Raw-material structure of the Neolithic stone implements of respective chrono-cultural groups from Mid-western Poland in typological aspect (detailed approach).
Table 4. As. above, general approach.
Table 5. Raw-material structure of the Neolithic stone implements of respective chrono-cultural groups from Mid-western Poland in geographical aspect (detailed approach).
Table 6. As above, general approach.
Table 7. A list of implements examined by the thin slice method.



Explanation to the maps:


Map 1. Distribution of flat axes of the Danubian Cycle in Mid-western Poland with regard to their raw-material differentiation.1 - amphibolite, 2 - aplite, 3 - basalt, 4 - diabase, 5 - gabbro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - hornblende gneiss, 8 - granitoide, 9 - catalogue number of the implement, 10 - loam, 11 - leptite, 12 - lydite, 13 - schist, 14 - nephrite, 15 - sandstone, 16 - serpentinite, 17 - other rocks, 18 - border of the examined area, 19 - region border.

Map 2. As above, perforated axes. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - diorite, 5 - gabbro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - hornblende gneiss, 8 - granitoide, 9 - loam, 10 - leptite, 11 - lydite, 12 - schist, 13 - sandstone, 14 - serpentinite, 15 - other rock, 16 - catalogue number of the implement, 17 - border of the examined area, 18 - region border.

Map 3. As above, hoes and other implements. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - gabbro, 5 - gneiss, 6 - -hornblende gneiss, 7 - granitoide, 8 - leptite, 9 - lydite, 10 - schist, 11 - sandstone, 12 - other implements, 13 - catalogue number of the implement, 14 - "other" implements, 15 - border of the examined area, 16 - region border.

Map. 4. Distribution of flat axes of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Mid-western Poland with regard to their raw-material differentiation. 1 -. amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - gabbro, 5 - gneiss,6 - granitoide, 7 - loam, 8 - leptite, 9 - schist, 10 - melaphyre, 11 - sandstone, 12 - other rocks, 13 - catalogue number of the implement, 14 - border of the examined area, 15 region border.

Map 5. As above, perforated axes. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt,3 - diabase, 4 - diorite, 5 - gabro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - granitoide,8 - loam, 9 - leptite, 10 - schist, 11 - sandstone, 12 - porphyry, 13 - greenstone, 14 - other rocks, 15 - catalogue number of the implement, 16 - border of the examined area, 17 - region border.

Map 6. Distribution of implements of the Globular Amphorae Culture and of remaining implement types of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Mid-western Poland with regard to their raw material differentiation. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - aplite, 3 - basalt, 4 - diabase, 5 - gabbro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - granitoide, 8 - loam, 9 - leptite, 10 - sandstone, 11 - other rocks, 12 - catalogue number of the implement, 13 - implements of the Globular Amphorae Culture, 14 - border of the examined area, 15 - region order.

Map 7. Distribution of perforated axes of the Corded Ware Culture in Mid-western Poland. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase,4 - diorite,5 - gabbro,6 - gneiss,7 - hornblende gneiss, 8 -granitoide, 9 - loam, 10 - leptite, 11 - schist, 12 - sandstone, 13 - serpentinite, 14 - greenstone, 15 - other rocks, 16 - catalogue number of the implement, 17 - border of the examined area, 18 - region border.

Map 8. Distribution of perforated axes of the Epi-Corded Ware Groups from the turn of the Neolitic and the Bronze Age in Mid-western Poland with regard to their raw-material differentiation. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - aplite,3 - basalt, 4 - diabase, 5 - gabbro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - loam, 8 - leptite, 9 - schist, 10 - serpentinite, 11 - other rocks, 12 - catalogue number of the implement, 13 - border of the examined area, 14 - region border.

Map 9. As above, hammeraxes. 1 - amphibolite,2 - aplite,3 - basalt, 4 - diabase, 5.- diorite, 6 - gabbro, 7 - gneiss, 8 - granitoide, 9 - leptite, 10 - other rocks, 11 - catalogue number of the implement, 12 - border or the examined area, 13 - region border.

Map 10. As above, mace heads and other implement types. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - gabbro, 5 - gneiss, 6 - granitoide, 7 - loam, 8 - leptite, 9 - sandstone, 10 - other rocks, 11 - "other" types or implements, 12 - catalogue number of the implement, 13 - border of the examined area, 14 - region border.

Map 11. Distribution or Neolithic flat axes or not determined chrono-cultural status (group "?") in. Mid-western Poland with regard to their raw-material differentiation. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - diorite, 5 - gabbro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - loam, 8 - leptite, 9 - lydite, 10 - schist, 11 - sandstone, 12 - porphyry, 13 - serpentinite, 14 - greenstone, 15 - other rocks, 16 - catalogue number of the implement, 17 - border of the examined area, 18 - region border.

Map 12. As above, perforated axes. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - diorite, 5 gabbro, 6 - gneiss, 7 - granitoide, 8 - loam, 9 - leptite, 10 - schist, 11 - sandstone, 12 - greenstone, 13 - other rocks, 14 - catalogue number of the implement, 15 - border of the examined area, 16 - region border.

Map 13. As above, other implement types. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt, 3 - diabase, 4 - gabbro, 5 - gneiss, 6 - leptite, 7 - lydite, 8 - schist, 9 - sandstone, 10 - other rocks, 11 - catalogue number of the implement, 12 - border of the examined area, 13 - region border.

Map 14. Neolithic stone implements from Mid-western Poland, examined by the thin slice method. 1 - amphibolite, 2 - basalt,3 - diabase, 4 - hornblende gneiss, 5 - schist,6 - serpentinite, 7 - other rocks




Translated by Andrzej Prinke