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.

The purpose of the work was to determine the provenance of the raw materials of ancient stone products, found during the excavations of the Bronze-Early Iron Age monument Tokivske-1, with the aim to establish connections of the ancient population of the area with residents of other regions. The archaeological monument Tokivske-1, located in the northern outskirts of the village Tokivske, Apostolove Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, has been explored by the expedition of Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi since 2012. The authors of this article already carried out petrographic study of stone artefacts from this monument, which had been found during the first five years of excavations. However, over the past two years, a number of stone and other items were found that could expand our knowledge of the links of Tokivske-1 with ancient industrial centers of other regions. To carry out the petrographic analysis, six artefacts were taken, mainly those made from macroscopically different rocks. Most of them can be related to metalworking. The analyzed samples are represented by an amphibolite hammer for forging jewels or peening sheet copper, a dolerite anvil-prop for a specified hammer, a fragment of an abrasive stone made of ferruginous quartzite, a quartz tile, which is a fragment of an altar, and fragments of an anvil and a scepter-pestle made of sandstone. Petrographic analysis of artefacts allowed determining the probable provenance of their raw materials. Amphibolites are quite common in the territory of the Middle Dnipro area, but by the color of the hornblende, the predominance of epidotization processes over sericitization and macrostructural features, the studied rock is more similar to the amphibolites from the middle stream of the Bazavluk River. Dolerites, similar to the raw material of the anvil-prop, are also common in the area of excavations, and by  the presence of the micropegmatite in its composition, its origin can be localized in the middle stream of the river Bazavluk or in the valley of the river Mokra Sura. Magnetite quartzite – the raw material of the abrasive stone – most likely comes from the territory of the city of Kryvyi Rih. Quartz tile – a fragment of an altar – is a quartz vein, similar to those that intersect granites of the Tokivskyi massif directly near the village Tokivske. Sandstones, from which the anvil and the scepter-pestle were produced, appeared to be very similar in their petrographic features. They are represented by quartz sandstones with fragments of rocks and polymineral cement with the predominance of quartz regenerative and porous sericite cement. Also, the relic chalcedony and, more rarely, clay cement are present in the pores. In the territory of Ukraine, the most similar to them, according to petrographic characteristics, are the sandstones of the Carboniferous system, which crop out in the Donbas. Thus, the obtained data testifies to the connection of the Tokivske-1 archaeological complex with other parts of the Middle Dnipro area, such as the middle stream of the Bazavluk River and the Kryvyi Rih area, as well as with more distant regions such as the Donbas. It should be noted that scepter-pestles, similar to the one studied by us, are associated with metalworking, and the Donetsk basin, where the raw material of the indicated tool originates from, was the copper production center of the Late Bronze Age.

The present article is devoted to the mineralogical and petrographic research of raw materials of the collection of casting molds of the Bronze Age, found by the expedition of Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi during the excavations of the archaeological monument of Tokivske-1, located near the village Tokivske of Apostolove Rayon, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The finding of casting molds is of great importance, since it can be the evidence of bronze foundry production existence in the territory of the monument, which until now was regarded only as a megalithic place of worship. Provenance determination of the raw materials of casting molds can help to identify the role of Tokivske-1 in the system of metalworking cells of the Sabatynivska culture time (XVI–XIII centuries BC) and to establish its links with the ancient centers of mining of stone raw materials. According to previous petrographic studies, it is known that stone molds were made mainly of talc-chlorite-tremolite schists, since this material was easily processed and could withstand more castings than clay molds. Because of this, stone casting molds were highly valued, as well as bronze wares and ingots, and were transported over long distances. The purpose of the study was to establish links between the archaeological monument of Tokivske-1 and known mining and metallurgical centers of the Bronze Age, on the basis of mineralogical and petrographic research of raw materials of casting molds. As a result of the study of samples in thin sections and by X-ray diffraction analysis, it was established that the stone molds were mainly made of tremolite-chlorite-anthophyllite meta-ultrabazites. The determination of the origin of the rocks from which the casting molds were made was carried out by comparing their mineralogical and petrographic features with the features of similar rocks that form natural outcrops, as described in geological survey reports and literary data, and as observed by us in rock samples from natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro and the Azov Sea areas. It was ascertained that the rocks from which all the casting molds of the collection were made do not form natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro area and are not characteristic of the Kryvyi Rih area, which is considered to be the main center of raw materials extraction for the stone foundry forms of the Late Bronze Age on the territory of Ukraine. It was established that such rocks are more characteristic of the Western Azov Sea area, but one can not exclude another source of raw materials of the mold collection, in particular the Southern Urals, where bronze metallurgy was significantly developed and similar stone matrices were used. The obtained results suggest revision of established ideas on sources of supply of stone raw materials during the late Bronze Age.

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