Stone Raw Material Economy in the Neolithic of the Polish Lowlands

Prinke, Andrzej; Skoczylas, Janusz

doi:0079-7138

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Tytuł: Stone Raw Material Economy in the Neolithic of the Polish Lowlands

Abstrakt:

This article comprises results achieved during the realization of the authors’ own program of archaeological and petrographic studies of the raw material differentiation in Neolithic stone processing. Methodical assumptions, objectives and cognitive possibilities of this programhave been presented in PA 26:1978, 43 ff. Disposing of identifications of stone material from numerous series of Neolithic stone implements from Mid-western Poland, the authors obtained a quantity of new data concerning the means of their exploitation, distributionand use. Among other problems, the authors discussed the origin of these raw materials (selection of erratic material, transport from distant, original deposits and the exploitation of local quarries in the Lowlands), problems concerning the choice of appropriate raw material depending on the function of implements and technique of their production as well as the regional differentiation of the raw material structure of the stone industry, which have been examined on the basis of statistical tests. Results concerning the investigated region were compared as a whole with the present state of knowledge of the relevant problem in Central Europe. Finally, an attempt was made to reconstruct the practical petrographic knowledge of ancient stone workers, seen as an index of the degree of adaptation of particular Neolithic societies to the natural environment of the Lowlands