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16 JACEK LECH

Fig. 15. Sećovce, Trebi.fov dist.

The analysis of the archaeological materials from the settlements indicates that they were very rich. Approxi-mate regions wherc siliccous rocks occur (which are de-scribed by the SIovak archaeologists as limnoąuartzit) are in the Kremnicke vrchy Mountains, Vtaćnik and Stiavnicke vrchy in western Slovakia. In the northern part of the Slanske vrchy Mountains, to the north-east from Kośice, opal jaspers are found. Wbite hornstones from the Tribeć Mountains were used locally in the upper Żitava rivcr basin, in the vicinity of the lown of Zlatć Moravcc¹.

Obsidian was an important raw materiał for the early farming communities of the eastern part of Central Europę. It occurs on the eastern border of Slovakia and Hungary, in the Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Zemplin Uplands (Zemplinske vrchy and Zempleni Hegyseg). The region of their occurrence is betwccn the rivers Bodrog and Hornad, to the south-west starting from the place wherc the river Latroica joins the river Ondava forming the Bodrog. Abundant obsidian workshops of the early farming communities are known from the area around the villages of Cejkov, KaSov, Mała Torona, dist. Tre-biśov in Slovakia (Jansak 1935, and the collection of the Slovak Ethnographical Museum in Martin). Obsidian occurs in the weathering wastc of the local volcanic rocks in the form of round or ova! nodules. The surface of the nodules is black, unevcn, glossy or grey-black, duli with numerous smali hollows sometimes with the structure similar to purnice and with a vcry thin layer of the surrounding rock sunk into the tektite, forming a kind of cortex (Fig. 15). Obsidian from the Zemplin Uplands is black, translucent and glossy. Utilized obsidian nodules vary in diameter from approx. 1 cm to a dozen or so centimetres.

Obsidian nodules from workshop

After V.Budinsky-Kri£ka

In Hungary, in the region of Miscolc, there are Li-mnoąuarzit deposits (Vertes 1964, 210). On the north--west border of the Transdanubian Central Mountains (Dunantul), in the region of Tata, the layers of liver--brown Zppcr Dogger radiolarian chert (flint) occur in the Jurassic Iimestones (Fulop 1973; 1975). Further to the south-west in the central Transdanubian Mountains, close to Siimeg, dark-grey radiolarian flints occur in the limestone marls of the Cretaceous period (Vertes 1964; Fulop 1975).

In Austria the radiolarites deposits described by some scientists as hornstones occur in the Iimestones forming Jurassic Klippes in the region of Vienna. The Vienna-Mauer minę is a known cxploitation site (Kirnbauer 1958; Ruttkay 1970). Dark-rcd, violet and greenish--brown radiolarites were extruded there.

Abundant flint deposits in a smali area of Chalk occur in Whitc Russia, in the region of Volkovysk, on the river Roś (left-bank tributary of the Niemen). Local chalk layers were pushed here from the north by the glacier. Roś flint was exploitcd in a few mines (Gurina 1976). The best known one is at Krasnoye Selo. The chalk surface is covered by the moraine formations. Their thickness differs. In particular cascs the thickness is so smali that the chalk comes to the surface when the soil is ploughed or dug. In other places the capping is 1.5 m thick. Flint nodules of the Roś type occur in the chalk irregularly, in separated agglomerations or in the parallel and obliąue layers described by N. N. Gurina

Fig. 16. Krasnoye Selo, Volkovysk dist. Position of layers of flint

in chalk — “chains”

a, b — soil and subsoil; c — chalk; d — “chains" of flint nodules

After N.N.Gurina

1

1 thank Dr.Ladislav Bancs C.Sc., Dr.Juraj Barta C.Sc. and most especially Dr.Juraj Pavuk C.Sc. of the Institute of Archaeology SAV in Nitra, for their help in getting acquaintcd with the differen-tiation of the siliceous raw materials in Slovakia. An attempt at rccognizing the main siliceous raw materials of SIovakia was imdcr-taken recently by Dr.Małgorzata Kaczanowska at the Archaeological Museum in Cracow (in press).