Petrographic research on stone tools from the megalithic cult site of Tokivske-1

Authors:

I. S. Nikitenko, Cand. Sc. (Geol.), Assoc. Prof., orcid.org/0000-0003-4207-2427, National Mining University, Dnipro, Ukraine, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

O. V. Starik, Cand. Sc. (History), Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D. I. Yavornytskyi, Dnipro, Ukraine, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

M. L. Kutsevol, Cand. Sc. (Geol.), Assoc. Prof., orcid.org/0000-0001-8718-2748, National Mining University, Dnipro, Ukraine, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

S. V. Shevchenko, Cand. Sc. (Geol.), Assoc. Prof., orcid.org/0000-0003-3994-1927, National Mining University, Dnipro, Ukraine, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract:

Purpose. Determination of the stone raw materials resource base used by the populations of various historical epochs, who left their monuments in the territory of the stationary megalithic cult site in the village of Tokivske, Apostolove Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.

Methodology. The research was performed using the method of comparative petrographic analysis of stone artefacts and rocks from natural exposures in thin sections.

Findings. Twelve artefacts were analyzed: eight of the Bronze Age, one of the Early Iron Age (Scythian Culture) and one of the 17^th–18^th centuries, as well as two undated artefacts. As a result of petrographic analysis, they were divided into groups according to the stone materials from which they were produced: granites, metabasites, quartzites and quartz, schists, metasandstones and sandstones. Among the Bronze Age artefacts seven have local provenance from the village of Tokivske and the neighboring village of Sholokhove where a stone-processing workshop might have existed. The one imported tool is an amphibolite grinder, most likely brought from the middle section of the river Bazavluk. Concerning stone items of other epochs, a metasandstone plummet, dated to the 17^th–18^th centuries, apparently originated from Kryvyi Rih. The provenances of the remaining artefacts are somewhat ambiguous.

Originality. For the first time the archaeological finds from the megalithic stationary cult site Tokivske-1 were studied using mineralogical and petrographic analysis, and the probable sites of the stone mining for their production were determined.

Practical value. The obtained data indicates sites where ancient stone-processing workshops existed, being useful information for archaeological exploration. Also, the gathered information can be used for writing general works on archaeology and the history of mining.

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