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FLINT MINING OF CENTRAL EUROPE 17

as “chains” (Fig. 16). Very big nodules (approx. 40 cm) are vcry rarc just as are the very smali oncs (under than 10 cm). Nodules often have an irregular form with numerous outgrowths (Gurina 1976, 34-39). The nodules’ siliceous mass is black with somc parts of a grey or white colour. The cortex is whitc.

On the eastcrn fringe of the Vistuia river basin, on the uppcr Bug, a vast zonę of Cretaceous Volhynian and Dncstr type flint starts. They are also called Bug flint and originate from the Turonian (Kovnurko 1963, 238 f.; Svesnikov 1969, 114). Its main deposits are in the Volhynian Upland, in the north part of the Podolian table-land, and in the upper and middle Dncstr river basin. The Volhynian flint occurs in the form of big nodules (Fig. 17). Nodules with the diameter of up to 50 cm werc exploited¹. The cortcx of the Volhynian and Dnestr flints is usually thin (up to 1 mm), and smooth. The colour of the siliceous mass is black, dark grcy, in some places greyish; sometimes conccntric stripes occur in the nodules. The deposits of black flints in the western Ukrainę belong to the biggest and the most abundant ones in Europę. They were casily accessible and provided raw materials of the best ąuality. Besides them, other varieties of flint occur therc. They were grcy, brown, and black white spotted in colour. The Volhynian and Dncstr flints have good transparency, while the others

• • u

:>    *• I

Fig. 17. Vel*ke RaSkovce, TrebiSov dist. Largc Volhynian or Dnestr flint nodule placed in grave No 37. Length of nodule 26.5cm;

width Dcm

Aftcr J.Yizdal

cannot be scen through and havc a duli surfacc. They werc of local significance.

This review of the most important siliceous rock deposits exploited by the early farming communities in Central Europę is not comprehensivc. We can expect that further studies will discover data on new deposits and their geology, as wcll as their role in prehistory.

III. AGENTS REYEALING THE EXISTENCE OF THE DEPOSITS IN PRIMEYAL CONDITIONS

With the primeval vegetation and lack of the anthro-pogenic transformations in the natural environment, the number of the exposed deposits or siliceous rock out-crops must havc becn much smaller than today. The ma-jority of exposures obscrvcd today, whether in road cuttings or on hill slopes and valley edges, or in ąuarries, is the result of the processes which sometimes started many centurics ago following deforestation and other human activities.

There are several climatic zones prevailing in Europę and the area under discussion belongs to the west Central European configuration. It is in the zonę of deci-duous forests. They were the prevailing plant communities, other than the mixed forests which occur on a smaller scalę (Odum 1963, 383-386, 393-395; Medwecka-Kor-naś 1972, 37). In this biom the layer of herbs and shrub-bery is usually well developed. In spite of the differences between contemporary climate and the climate of the At-lantic and Subboreal periods. we know that in prehistorie times Central Europę was covered by rich and varied deciduous forests. Finding the deposits of the raw materiał in such conditions was not simple (Figs. 18 and 19).

Primeval agents revealing and cxposing the deposits of siliceous rocks were somewhat diflerent from ones today. They also had diflerent rangę and the scalę of influence. They cover:

1.    Rain water.

2.    Scas, rivers and streams.

3.    Rockfall and slumping of juvenile slopes, with angles between 45°-90°.

4.    Soil crcep and landslides on maturę slopes with angles ranging from some 2° to 45°.

5.    Uprooting of trees.

6.    Ground movements due to freczing and thawing.

These processes had a diflerent significance depend-

ing on the type of deposits. From this point of view the siliceous rock agglomerations can be divided into three groups:

I. Siliceous rocks on the primary or secondary deposits in the massive rock — Jurassic and Cretaceous limestones, chalk, sandstones, marls and puddingstones.

3 — Przegląd Archeologiczny, t. 28

1

Part of Information on the Volhynian type of flint and other flints from the West Ukrainę 1 owe to the kind information of Dr. Sc. A.P.Ćernys and to Dr. Sc. I.K.Svcsnikov from the Archaeological Department of the Social Science Institutc UAN in Lvc v.