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FLINT MINING OF CENTRAL EUROPE 39

1973, 185 187) and obscrvations madę by S. Krukowski at Krzemionki Opatowskie (1939, 108-111). Attempts at defining the formcr size of mining ficlds basing on obli-terated remains of cxploitation units and of surfacc workings are bccoming ever morę difficull. This is true of all the mines we have discussed until now.

After complcte levelling of the territory, the area of the mining field is marked only by flint materials — the mixture of natural waste and industrial specimcns (Lech 1975a, 142-144). This criterion, in most cascs the only possible one to use, docs not eliminate the mistake result-ing from the fact that flint workshops and encampments were located in the vicinity of the minę but beyond the area of the mining field. Such a situation is illustratcd best by W. H. Holmes’ investigations carried out at the beginning of the last decade of the 19th ccntury on the territory of very well preservcd chert minę at Peoria, at the border linę of Missouri and Kansas — U.S.A (1894, 7 f.). It was cxploitcd by local Indian tribes in the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century. Holmes’ research showed that the mining field covered not morę than 1/3 part of the whole site. The rest of territory was covered by numerous processing workshops. In case of a completely lcvelled surface it would be im-possible to distinguish the area with shafts, from the areas occupied by workshops.

This conclusion is confirmcd by R. SchikTs investi-gations at the Polany Kolonie minę. Using systematic surfacc collcction one would have thought that the mining field covcred about 1.5 ha (Schild 1971, 31). Archaeolo-gical cxcavations showed that the minę territory was much smaller. Just after finishing the investigations R. Schild ąualified its area as smaller than 0.5 ha with about 50-70 shafts, but after morę analysis he stated morę precisely that the size of the mining field was about 0.2 ha (1973, 39; 1976a, 153).

The views on the size of the mining field at Grime’s Graves minę changed in the opposite direction. For many years it was thought, after A. L. Armstrong, that the minę area covercd about 14 ha (1926, 91). This Information was ąuoted among others by J. G. D. Clark (1957, 212) and R. R. Ciarkę (1971, 12). Meanwhile the latcst investigations show that the mining field at Grime’s Graves is much bigger, and its biggest part was completely Ievelled. The whole site area is presently cal-culated to cover morę than 37 ha (Sieveking et alii 1973, 184). As a result we should assumc that to define the surface of a mining field we must treat each site indivi-dually, taking into account its geographical and geomor-phological situation, recognition of the exp!oited de-posit, types of workings and the rangę of site destruc-tion. The result is always morę or less approximative.

Among roughly one hundred and fifty stone mines of primitive communities known today (compare Hol-

Fig. 60. Krzemionki Opatowskie. Fragment of the mining field on the main survey linc (former point No 38). Survey rods and

arrows rnark hollows left by shafts, that are visible today

Photo by J.Lceh

mes 1919, 155-240; Reisch 1974, 75 -86; Engelen 1975; Lech !975a; Gurina 1976, 101-108; Moser 1978), we have at our disposal data of various ąualities on the sizes of mining ficlds for a dozen or so sites. Apart from that, in the archaeological literaturę there are sometimes contradictory data on the size of some mines. This can arise partly from the variety of criteria used by various researchers or by the same researchers in various works (compare T. Żurowski 1960, 250, 277; 1962, 83). A com-parison of flint minę sizes in primitive communities in various regions of the world, suggests a four-group division.

The first group covers smali ones with a surface up to 1 ha. This would include the mines at Polany Kolonie — about 0.2 ha (Schild 1976a, 153), Tuśimice — about 0.2 ha (Neustupny 1976), Burły 3 localized south of the Aral Sea and to the east from the lower course of Arnu-darya, on the fringe of the Kyzyl-kum Descrt — 0.3 ha (Vinogradov 1968, 126 f.), Vienna-Mauer — about 0.5 ha (Kimbauer 1958, 132) and L'ćtut, north-cast from Bu-chara — about 1 ha (Kasymov 1972, 38, 53).

Mines of medium size with a surface from 1 ha to 5 ha constitutc the second group. The minę at Sąspów (4-5 ha) and probably the mines at Tomaszów and Wierzbica “Żele” (Schild 1971, 34-36) bclong to it. The Indian minę at Peoria (1.5-2 ha) is also placed in this group (Holmes, 1894, 9).

Mines with a large surface constitute the third group in our division. Their size ranges from 5 to 20 ha. The mines at Rijckholt—St. Geertruid (Bosch 1975,8), Easton Down (Stone 1931, 350), Krasnoye Selo (Gurina 1976, 130), and Bębło (Lech 1981).

Ones with a mining field bigger than 20 ha constitute the last group of very large mines. The mines at Grime’s Graves, Krzemionki Opatowskie and Świecie-chów (Sieveking et alii 1973, 184; Balcer 1975, 150-152; Bąbel 1975) are among them.