Tracing Stone with Metal: Estimating raw material provenance areas in the Banat (SW-Romania) for the early Upper Palaeolithic timeframe

Abstract

Far too often does country- or language-specific nomenclature impede the estimation of the past lithic raw material economy. Sadly, the early Upper Palaeolithic raw material record of the open-air localities of the Banat in Southwest Romania is no exception. It is dominated by a rock in literature referred to as Silexul de tip bănăţean. Silexul means “[…] a wide range of hard rocks with sharp edges, from which Palaeolithic tools are forged (Mogoşanu and Cârciumaru 1978, 18) and cannot simply be translated to flint. Moreover, the identity of the other varieties is also far from straightforward. It is hence proposed to consider only the geochemical make-up of the lithic records by means of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. As the entire geochemical composition of a landscape is seldom mapped, the results were compared to metal ore deposits, which have an excellent documentation due to their economic value. Five groups relating to distinct metal ore deposits were recognized. These deposits are used as guides to delineate the areas, in which the outcrops should occur. Further research will combine the results of this provenance study with data on lithic technology and cortex.

Resources

• Tracing Stone with Metal.pdf

Bibliography

Leonard, I. (2016): Tracing Stone with Metal: Estimating raw material provenance areas in the Banat (SW-Romania) for the early Upper Palaeolithic timeframe. CRC806-Database, DOI: 10.5880/SFB806.19