On raw materials of neolithic stone hoes from the dnieper rapids area

Authors:

I.S.Nikitenko, Cand. Sc. (Geol.), Assoc. Prof., State Higher Educational Institution “National Mining University”, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

M.L.Kutsevol, Cand. Sc. (Geol.), Assoc. Prof. State Higher Educational Institution “National Mining University”, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract:

Purpose. To determine the types and origins of rocks used in the Dnieper Rapids Area during the Neolithic Age (7^th–5^th millennia BCE) for making of artifacts identified as hoes in the collection of Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I.Yavornytskyi. To determine specialties of usage of the raw materials by ancient craftsmen for making stone hoes.

Methodology. Petrographic analysis of the stone hoes from the museum’s collection. Sampling of outcrops in the area where the artifacts were found and petrographic analysis of the sampled specimens. Use of logical analogy in comparing the artifacts raw materials with the rocks of the Dnieper valley to determine the probable origins of the raw materials.

Findings. It was determined that during the Neolithic Age the following local rocks were used by the population of the Dnieper Rapids Area to make stone hoes: trondhjemite, tonalite, granodiorite, diorite, granite, amphibolite, migmatite, vein quartz and epidosite. The raw materials of practically all stone hoes of the known origin (Ihren peninsula) were mined at nearby outcrops of the Dnipropetrovskyi and Surskyi granitoid complexes. Use of almost all local rock types bears evidence to the fact that there were no strict requirements for properties of the raw materials. Use of local granitoids and concomitant rocks for making stone hoes can be explained by relict layered structure of the rocks which made it easier to detach plates of desired shape. Results of the study show that during the Neolithic Age active use of the Middle Dnieper Area rocks began along with the emergence of primitive mining.

Originality. For the first time Neolithic stone hoes from the Dnieper Rapids Area were studied by means of petrographic analysis in thin sections and the stone hoes raw materials were compared with rocks of the area using the results of the analysis.

Practical value. The findings can be used in reconstructing the history of the beginning of mining in the Middle Dnieper Area.

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