Indications of a major Neolithic trade route? An archaeometric geochemical and Sr, Pb isotope study on amphibolitic raw material from present day Europe

Geological setting, petrology and mineralogy of metabasites in a thermal aureole of Tanvald granite (northern Bohemia) used for the manufacture of Neolithic tools

“…Greenschist-to epidote amphibolite-facies in Neoproterozoic basic rocks in the Jílové Zone and in roof pendants of the Central Bohemian Pluton also have different textural and chemical characteristics. From this point of view, it seems most probable that the majority of the artefacts come from the contact of KJPC and possibly from the Smrčiny (Fichtelgebirge) area, as was suggested by Christensen et al (2006) (Šreinová et al 2000) and at many other sites. In Moravia, we can find it at the Vedrovice site (Přichystal 2002;Šrein pers.…”

“…Potential localities of this type of metabasite include other parts of the thermal aureole of KJPC and the German part of the Smrčiny/Fichtelgebirge area where Cambro-Ordovician bimodal volcanic suites occur (Furnes et al 1994;Siebel et al 1997;Patočka 1998, Patočka et al 2000;Christensen et al 2006;Kachlík 2007). Also, bimodal Devonian to Early Carboniferous suites occur in the Saxothuringian and Rhenohercynian realm (Patočka and Valenta 1996;Kachlík and Patočka 2001;Janoušek et al 2006;Timmerman et al 2007 and references therein).…”

“…This means that the thermal aureoles of plutonic rocks, where greenschist-to lower amphibolite-facies metabasites occur, represent the best environment for the formation of such rocks. As follows from the study of Neolithic artefacts (Christensen et al 2006), the metabasites they are made from should have alkali basalt protolith. This is indeed the case for metabasites in the studied area (Patočka et al 2000).…”

“…Recently, Christensen et al (2006) tried to date metabasites from the Tanvald granite thermal aureole using whole-rock Rb-Sr and U-Pb isochron methods. Using mainly the whole-rock geochemical and isotopic data, they compared these with metabasites from the Fichtelgebirge and artefacts collected from archaeological sites in the central part of Germany, now held in several museums in Germany.…”

“…), usage value and relative availability, fine-grained metabasites were sought-after raw materials from the Mesolithic up to the Late Neolithic times. In addition, because their distribution on the Earth's surface is very random, the tools manufactured from these materials were transported over long distances (more than 500 km) from the source of the raw materials to densely populated areas settled by cultures that used the stone artefacts mainly for farming purposes (Christensen et al 2006). Stone artefacts manufactured from several metabasite types were common mainly in the Early to Middle Neolithic periods in Central Europe (see Christensen et al 2006 for reference).…”