Науковий вісник НГУ

On the earliest evidence of the middle Dnipro area non-flint rocks use

• 
• 

User Rating:  / 1

PoorBest 

Details

Category: Content №5 2022

Last Updated on 31 October 2022

Published on 30 October 2022

Hits: 2816

Authors:

I.S.Nikitenko, orcid.org/0000-0003-4207-2427, Dnipro University of Technology, Dnipro, Ukraine, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

V.N.Stepanchuk, orcid.org/0000-0002-5476-2284, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

V.I.Ganotskiy, orcid.org/0000-0003-0154-3579, Dnipro University of Technology, Dnipro, Ukraine

повний текст / full article

Naukovyi Visnyk Natsionalnoho Hirnychoho Universytetu. 2022, (5): 005 - 011

https://doi.org/10.33271/nvngu/2022-5/005

Abstract:

Purpose. To determine the rock composition and origin of raw materials of non-flint stone products found during the study on the Mira Upper Palaeolithic archaeological site in the Middle Dnipro area.

Methodology. The research on the artefacts was carried out using the mineralogical and petrographic methods. The rocks were studied in transparent thin sections using a polarized microscope. To verify the accuracy of the petrographic analysis of some specimens, the XRD and XRF methods were applied. Establishing the provenance of the rocks was performed using comparative mineralogical and petrographic analysis, for which the specimens of samples from the outcrops were used, as well as geological survey and literary data.

Findings. To conduct petrographic research, seven specimens of stones with traces of processing, found during archaeological excavations of the Upper Palaeolithic Mira site, were taken. As a result of the petrographic analysis, it was established that the stones with traces of processing are represented by the aplitoid two-feldspar granites, altered dolerite, quartz arenite, quartz rock, amphibolite and actinolitite. All the mentioned rocks are typical for the Middle Dnipro area. The specimens of the granites, dolerite, and arenite, by their petrographic features, have analogues among the rocks of the region and, more likely, are of the local provenance. Most likely, a quartz sample comes from the territory of the Ukrainian Shield. The types of amphibolite and actinolitite, which are analogues to the studied artefacts by their petrographic and chemical features, do not occur today among the rocks that form natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro area. Thus, the specimens of the amphibolite and actinolitite may have both local and other origin. More accurate determination of the provenance of the amphibolite and actinolitite samples requires further study involving sample collections from other regions, wherefrom these rocks could have been carried.

Originality. For the first time, the Upper Palaeolithic Mira archaeological site stone artefacts were studied in thin sections and with the application of XRD and XRF analyses, which made it possible to make more precise findings on their petrographic properties and origin. The studied samples are of great importance because, today, they are the earliest non-flint stone artefacts from the Middle Dnipro area to be studied by means of petrography, particularly those made from crystalline rocks of the Ukrainian Shield.

Practical value. The results obtained can be used in performing studies on archaeology and the history of mining, as well as in popular science works.

Keywords: stone artefacts, petroarchaeology, Early Upper Palaeolithic, Mira, Ukraine

References.

1. Nikitenko, I.S., & Kutsevol, M.L. (2016). On raw materials of Neolithic stone hoes from the Dnipro rapids area. Naukovyi Visnyk Natsionalnoho Hirnychoho Universytetu, (4), 5-12.

2. Angelucci, D.E. (2010). The recognition and description of knapped lithic artifacts in thin section. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal, 25/2, 220-232. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.20303.

3. Ciornei, A. (2015). On the so-called Kriva Reka type of Ludogorie chert: a petrographic perspective from the Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Giurgiu-Clrai area (southern Romania). Studii de Preistorie, 12, 31-80.

4. Winiewski, A., Furmanek, M., Borowski, M., Kdzioka, K., Rapiski, A., & Winnicka, K.(2012).Lithic raw material and Late Palaeolithic strategies of mobility: a case study from Sowin 7, SW Poland.Anthropologie (Brno),50,4, 391-409.

5. Brandl, M., Moreau, L., Schmitsberger, O., & Neugebauer-Maresch,C. (2015). The Southern Moravian Cherts at the Aurignacian site of Stratzing-Galgenberg, Austria. Anthropologie, LIII/1 2, 181-202.

6. Erahm, E., & Hauck, T.C. (2017). Origin of an obsidian scraper at Yabroud Rockshelter II (Syria): Implications for Near Eastern social networks in the early Upper Palaeolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 13, 415-427.

7. Calle, C.I., Vallejo, S.M.D., Romn, C.L., Sanchez, A.V., Giraldez, P.R., Vinagre, T.A., & Snchez, C.M. (2016). Siliceous raw material consumption during the late Upper Palaeolithic in El Pirulejo, South of Iberia (Priego, Crdoba). Journal of Lithic Studies, 3/2. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i2.1872.

8. Stepanchuk, V., & Petrugne, V. (2005). Raw materials as source for tracing migration: the case of Mira in Middle Dnipro area. Archaeometriai Mhely, 4, 38-45. Retrieved from http://www.ace.hu/am/2005_4/AM-2005-4-STEP.pdf.

9. Matviyishyna, Zh.M., Gerasymenko, N.P., Perederii, V.I., Brahin, A.M., Ivchenko, A.S., Karmazynenko, S.P., , & Parkhomenko, O.G. (2010). Spatial temporal correlation of paleogeographical conditions of the Quaternary period on the territory of Ukraine. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka. ISBN 978-966-00-0903-8.

10. Gerasimenko, N.P., & Haesaerts, P. (2013). Description of litho-pedostratigraphy of the main profile. Northern wall of the main excavation, data of 20002001. Appendix in: Stepanchuk, V.N., 2013. Mira: the early Upper Palaeolithic site on Dnipro. Stratum plus, 1, 99-101.

11. Hoffecker, J.F., Holliday, V.T., Stepanchuk, V.N., Brugre, A., Forman, S.L., Goldberg, P., , & Pisarev, I. (2014). Geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological studies at Mira, an early Upper Paleolithic site in the Lower Dnepr Valley, Ukraine. Geoarchaeology, 29, 61-77. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21460.

12. Stepanchuk, V.N. (2021). Mira layer I Early UP Dwelling: Main features and interpretations. LAnthropologie, 125(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2021.102920.

13. Yesypchuk, K.Yu., Bobrov, O.B., Stepaniuk, L.M., Shcherbak,M.P., Hlevaskyi, Ye.B., Skobeliev, V.M., , & Heichenko, M.V. (2004). Correlation chronostratigraphic scheme of the Early Precambrian of the Ukrainian Shield. Ukrainian State Institute of Geological Prospecting, Kyiv.

14. Sukach, V.V. (2015). Petrogenesis of the Aulska Series amphibolites of the Bazavluchok River basin, Middle Dnipro megablock of the Ukrainian Shield. Mineralohichnyi zhurnal, 1(37), 69-85.

• Next >