Obsidian in the Early Neolithic of the Upper Vistula basin: origin, processing, distribution and use – a case study from Tominy (southern Poland)

Abstract

The inflow of the Carpathian obsidian into the areas on the northern side of the Carpathians and the Sudetes is confirmed as early as in the Palaeolithic. However, its greatest intensity occurred in the Early Neolithic, i. e. in the late 6th and in the first half of 5th millennia BC. During that period, the phenomenon was closely related with the development of the Danubian cultural groups in the upper Vistula river basin, including especially Linear Pottery culture (LBK) and Malice Culture. The constant presence of this raw material products in mentioned areas is documented from the classical (musical-note) phase of LBK, constituting one of the most expressive pieces of evidence of permanent and intense intercultural contacts with communities of the northern Carpathian Basin. This phenomenon has been repeatedly emphasized in the literature. One of the most numerous LBK obsidian inventories in the upper Vistula river basin was obtained at site 6 in Tominy, located in southern Poland, in the non-loess zone of the Sandomierz Upland northern foreground. The above-mentioned collection, its non-destructive elemental analysis, using Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) and also traceological analysis, is the subject of this article. The results supplement the published data to a significant extent, simultaneously providing partial verification and updating of the current state of knowledge on the basic issues related to the Early Neolithic obsidian inflow into areas located North of the Carpathians, including primarily the origin of the raw material, the scale of its processing and distribution ways, as well as the range of its use by the LBK communities.

Obsidian Source Use Within the Alföld Linear Pottery culture in Slovakia

“…Măgura-Teleorman; Kasztovszky et al 2019, 86). The limited geochemical analysis previously conducted on Neolithic obsidian from Poland also indicates the exclusive dominance of the C1 obsidian variant (Kabaciński et al 2015;Szeliga et al 2019a;Szeliga et al 2021). Obsidian of the Carpathian 1 chemical type seems to have been the most important volcanic glass for prehistoric communities in East-Central Europe (Biró 2014, 64, Fig.…”

A specific obsidian workplace at the Malice culture settlement in Kraczkowa 31, Podkarpackie Voivodship (southeastern Poland)

“…and south-eastern Europe and the Near East, and pieces of raw material and various products were distributed widely over long distances, up to hundreds of kilometers from the sources. Obsidian management, and in its context, regional and interregional contacts and a variety of interactions in the Neolithic and Bronze Age in various parts of Europe, have long been the subject of interest of a large group of researchers (e.g., Kaczanowska and Lech 1977;Kulczycka-Leciejewiczowa 1979;Torrence 1986;Bacskay et al 1987;Kaczanowska, Kozłowski 1997;Carter 1998;Szeliga 2007;Kozłowski et al 2014;Milić 2016;Trykot 2017;Moutsiou 2019;Szeliga and Zakościelna 2019;Szeliga et al 2021). Moreover, in recent decades, such studies, in particular concerning the characteristic features of raw material from individual sources and extraction sites, have found strong support from effective analytical tools in the form of modern physicochemical methods (Williams, Nandris 1977;Williams-Thorpe et al 1984;Hughes and Werra 2014;Milić 2014;Bonsall et al 2017;Orange et al 2017;Riebe 2019;Dillian 2020;Kaminská 2021;Werra et al 2021, further literature there).…”