Neolithic Adhesive from a T-shaped Ornamental Element Excavated at Site 14 at Kowal, Kuyavia, Central Poland

Abstract

We conducted an identification of a substance isolated from a T‐shaped ornamental element excavated from a Globular Amphora Culture tomb at the Kowal 14 archaeological site in Poland. 14C dating indicated 4105 ± 35 bp (POZ‐21912) and 3990 ± 50 bp (POZ‐21910). Analytical methods such as SEM–EDS, XRD and FT–IR were applied to study the origin of its structure. The results of instrumental analysis and the archaeological context indicate that the adhesive substance investigated consists mainly of calcium carbonate (calcite, 78–88%), silica dioxide (quartz), sodium aluminium silicate (albite) and potassium aluminium silicate (microcline). The material might be a man‐made, mineral adhesive, a kind of lime mortar. The object is considered as the oldest European finding of this type outside the Mediterranean Basin. It provides evidence for the use of the lime calcination process in Central Europe as early as in the Late Neolithic, for which there were—up to now—no convincing premises.

Archaeological Adhesives

“…At the site of Gesher, a mud plaster containing silt, iron oxide, quartz, and vegetal material was used to haft a flint crescent around 11,000 years ago (Shaham, Grosman, and Goren-Inbar 2010). About 4000 years ago in Poland, a calcite putty was used to hold an ornament together (Rumiński and Osipowicz 2014). Gypsum and lime plasters were used in Pharaonic Egypt in monumental architecture for construction, decoration, and coatings (Coppola, Taccia, and Tedeschi 2013;Regourd et al 1988).…”