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PL
This article discusses the final processing of flint axes and wedge-shaped tools. The author in his considerations focuses primarily on the use of two hypothetical processes, i.e. hand grinding or grinding with extra weight at the final stage of manufacturing these tools. Thus, he refers to the work by Danish archaeologist B. Madsen of 1984, entitled “Flint Axe Manufacture in the Neolithic: Experiments with Grinding and Polishing of Thin-Butted Flint Axes”, in which the researcher discussed, for the first time, an occurrence of these techniques in the axe-production process. The author of the article makes an attempt to repeat Madsen’s achievements, to check validity of the concept, and to include also an issue of using so called abrasive materials to support a grinding process in prehistory.  
EN
This article tackles the issue of the use of truncations by the population of the Lublin-Volhynian culture. The corpus of sources for their analyses is a group of 27 tools discovered during the research of the Las Stocki settlement, site 7. Microscopic observation made it possible to separate a considerable group of artefacts bearing use-wear traces on their surfaces. The most numerous were items used for processing plant material and wood. Other activities, like processing stone/pottery, hide, and other unspecified materials were recorded sporadically. Another research problem was the attempt to reconstruct the biographies of the stone tools. The analyses indicated that the materials were only partly useful in the research. This was caused by the poor preservation state of the artefacts and of the recorded use-wear traces. Tackling this issue gave the best results in the case of items used for cutting siliceous plants, which undoubtedly resulted from the distinct character of such use-wear patterns
EN
In 2012, series of archaeological rescue excavations were carried out at Zagórze, due to the construction of the Świnna Poręba retention reservoir on the Skawa river in Wadowice district (Lesser Poland voivodeship). During this research, in one of the excavated sites – no. 8 – a flint tool was discovered below the top of the slope in the diluvial cover, in the secondary position. The preliminary analysis showed that it is a so-called flame knife, characteristic tool of the Corded Ware culture. Sometime later, feature no. 894 was discovered, located approximately 35 meters from the aforementioned flame knife, at the top of the slope. Five fragments of pottery were found in this feature. Four of them have been classified as fragments of CWC ceramics, including fragments of a beaker and an amphora. On the basis of these finds, as well as comparisons to other sites, two hypotheses were formulated regarding the nature of the discovered feature: a flat grave or a feature of a settlement character. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis (including use-wear analysis of the flame knife) and interpretation of these discovered finds.
EN
At the beginning of the 1980s, a single fi nd of a fl int dagger was made in Brzoza (northern Kuyavia, Poland). The dagger was investigated in terms of raw material profi le, typological, technological and use-wear analyses. It was established that it was made of Scandinavian Cretaceous fl int and may be classifi ed into the subtype VIA (acc. Lomborg) or subvariant BBII2a (acc. Libera). The chronology of the dagger tends to be placed towards the end of the Early Bronze Age or the beginning of the Older Bronze Age in Poland (ca 1700-1500 cal BC). By means of use-wear analysis, diversifi ed and well-developed usage traces were recognized on the surface of the dagger. Some of them resulted in an obverse and inverse retouch indicative of secondary treatment. Here it appears that the dagger from Brzoza may be considered as an import from the western-Baltic production centre. Before deposition, the dagger had also been frequently used as a strike-a-light.
XX
This article attempts to interpretation function and probable internal, spatial organization of the Late Mesolithic camps, discovered at western habitat at site Ludowice 6, Wąbrzeźno commune (central Poland). The site is located in the middle part of Chełmińskie Lakeland (Fig. 1), within a slope of a hill reaching the height of at most 100 m above the sea level. It is situated in the contact zone of sander and a large melt ice depression, presently filled with biogenic sediments (peat - Fig. 2). Excavation research was conducted here in 2009-2013. Altogether, it covered the area of 756m2. Prehistoric materials found on the examined part of the site formed three collections. According to the observations made during the excavations, as well as opinions of a soil scientist and a geomorphologist, they persisted here in the in situ contexts (Osipowicz et al. 2014). The first of the evolving concentrations (located farthest to the east) consists of remnants of Late Palaeolithic settlement, the remaining two are Mesolithic. Both Early Holocene aggregations found are relatively large (around 4 ares each). So far, precise analysis covered only artefacts originating from one of them, due to location called western habitat (Osipowicz et al. 2014). A spatial analysis of the spread of specimens found here allowed to distinguish two, partly overlapping flint scatters (numbered as 1 and 2 – Fig. 3-6). Altogether, the study of this area provided an unusually rich prehistoric material, which included, among others, 4026 flint artefacts. Technological and stylistic analyzes carried out indicate that these materials may be associated with the Komornica culture and dated for the late (Atlantic) phase of its development (Osipowicz et al. 2014). This chronology found its confirmation in the radiocarbon cross-dating of charcoal samples collected from the hearth, identified within the habitat (feature 10). Both dates provided by two different laboratories are very similar: 6540±45BP (Poz-52082) and 6660±80BP (KML-1706); they locate the described materials in the period directly preceding the occurrence of early-agricultural societies at the Chełmińskie Lakeland (Kirkowski 1994, 58). The basis for conclusions drawn in article were primarily the results of use-wear analyze, which covered all the artefacts from the habitat identified under the arable layer, i.e. specimens included in the planygraphy as well as the material from sieves, and also chosen artefacts from the arable layer (those for which there was no doubt as for their Mesolithic chronology, in practice geometrical insets and other backed forms as well as some end scrapers). Altogether, it covered 2031 flint artefacts, that is more than a half of the collection from the habitat. As a result of the conducted analysis, identified were 198 artefacts bearing use-wear traces, which were used for 209 functions (Tab. 1, Fig. 8-11). Function of the camps Flint scatter 1 may be considered as a remnant of some sort of a briefly used home structure and its backroom. Such interpretation is supported by several arguments. First, it is in agreement with the identification of a complex hearth and several other large features (Fig. 12), which may be considered as the result of activities of character going beyond temporary/occasional stay of a human group. Important is here also significant amount of bones found, and most of all the fact they originate from many animal species (Osipowicz et al. 2014), what may suggest a longer occupation of the place. Next of the arguments supporting this hypothesis is the functional structure of the collection, in which in a similar way (although in an usually small number) are represented artefacts related to processing of hide/meat and bone/antler, specimens associated with wood treatment are relatively numerous, but no significant content of projectile insets characteristic for hunting camps were found. It’s a very similar functional structure to observed in case of a collection from the flint scatter 2 in site Sąsieczno 4 (Osipowicz 2010, 238). Nevertheless described feature from Ludowice couldn’t be used for a longer time, what indicates a small amount of discovered tools. Situation is very different in the case of flint scatter 2. No fireplace was found here, no larger number of features, and no bones (Osipowicz et al. 2014), while the functional structure of the collection is generally quite similar to the one observed in case of flint scatter 1 from site Sąsieczno 4 (Osipowicz 2010, 238). Identified functional tools are mainly (omitting the group of tools for treatment of siliceous plants for the moment) artefacts related to the processing of hide and meat, projectile insets as well as functionally uncertain but maybe directly associated with gathering or hunting microscrapers (Osipowicz 2010: 239). Such structure of the tool group suggests a hunting profile of the location. Thus, we are dealing here with collections largely corresponding in terms of functional structure to chronologically close Early Holocene collections from the site Sąsieczno 4. Interesting is also the occurrence here of the homestead-hunting camp arrangement observed in Sąsieczno. However, it is not possible to confirm its homogeneity, what precludes any far-reaching reasoning, going spatially beyond the area of a single flint scatter. Here the analogies between the two sites end. In materials from both concentrations found in the western habitation in Ludowice very strongly represented is also a functional group essentially absent in Sąsieczno, i.e. tools used for processing of siliceous plants. Artefacts included in it dominate both the studied collections and occurred in many types, what allows to claim that they probably evidence the basic activity of Mesolithic hunters in Ludowice. The results of hitherto analyzes indicate that curved knives constituting this group were most probably used in splitting and combing of plant fibers (Vaughan, Bocquet 1987: 402; Juel Jensen 1994: 67; van Gijn 2010: 66, Osipowicz 2010: 96). However, so far one did not succeed to identify with certainty the species which could be treated with the help of these tools. It is believed that these were perhaps plants useful for instance in making ropes or cloth production (Juel Jensen 1994: 63). Perhaps the discovery of a large number of these artefacts in Ludowice is a resultant of production exceeding the needs of single group. The existence of specialized workshops in the Mesolithic is suggested by findings from the site 7 in Krzyż Wielkopolski (Kabaciński et al. 2008). Localization of camp in Ludowice might be in such case determined by the consumption of resources provided by a peat bog located here in the Late Mesolithic, but most of all flora of ecological zone associated with it. Perhaps the availability of certain siliceous plant species, determined by the moment and length of their growth season fixed the time and duration of stay of Mesolithic people at the discussed site (occasional camp? – Galiński 2011: 90). This question however, has to remain unanswered, at least until an unambiguous interpretation of bent knives’ function is known. Internal organisation of the camps The methodology applied during excavations in Ludowice, especially the way of collecting and cataloguing of flint materials, together with a very good state of site preservation, allowed to carry out a precise spatial analysis and shed light on possible internal organization of the camp. Observation that comes to mind even after only a superficial analysis of various sources’ distribution in the settlement is the fact that both distinguished main flint scatter (1 and 2) do not form ensembles, where functional artefacts are spread evenly (Fig. 12). In both cases, they are concentrated in specific (southern) regions of flint scatter, occupying an area of approximately 5m2. At the same time, these were places with the highest concentration of flint artefacts, beyond which there were no significant signs of functional tools or any other relevant source categories. Therefore, these sites comprise the zone of economic activity (EA zone) of Mesolithic groups and, interestingly, in both concentrations cover less than a half of area where flint artefacts forming the flint scatter. The second important observation is the presence of large features in the centre of both EA zones, around which the economic activity of human groups was probably centred. In flint scatter 1 it is a hearth (feature 10) while in flint scatter 2 it is feature 2, relatively rich in prehistoric material (Osipowicz et al. 2014). The area around these features can be analysed in terms of zonality of tools (observable to some extent) related to the processing of particular types of raw materials and other artefacts which express human economic activity within a particular EA zone (Fig. 12). And so, feature 10 in flint scatter 1 constituted not only the central area of flint processing, but also of treatment of other stone materials. On its western side, works related to the processing of siliceous plants were performed, while on east and south sides most of works in wood were carried out. Bones were abundant within the whole area, and are most likely the remains of meals prepared on the hearth. Organization of the EA zone of flint scatter 2 is slightly different. Stone raw material was processed on the west side of centrally located pit (feature 2). The eastern and southern part of the zone was the site of siliceous plants’ processing. However, there was also a narrow area in this zone related to treatment of hide and meat (Fig. 12). Moreover, several microscrapers and flint projectile points were present in a scattered manner in flint scatter 2, which is probably the result of a functional profile different from that observed in concentration 1. Both Mesolithic sites are characterized by a rather large analogy in terms of the overall functional structure, and particularly the organization of internal space of settlements. However, until the larger number of collections is investigated and observations made here are confirmed, no far-reaching conclusions concerning presented issues can be drawn.
EN
Authors present an analysis of two Final Mesolithic flint assemblages from sites Wieliszew III and VIb in Central Poland. The sites comprised two artifact concentrations buried in trenches XVI and XVIIc. A number of quantitative and qualitative attributes characterize the two assemblages, namely: the dominance of scrapers over endscrapers, the occurrence of bipolar technique of flaking, the microlithic character of tools and the governance of trapezoidal pieces among the insets. These are the traits that have suggested a new discrete stylistic entity, which, subsequently, has been termed the Kokry industry. One hundred thirty and six flint artifacts from trench XVIIc show use-wear traces indicating heavy use. Hide processing wear has been the most frequent. In addition, the tools were involved in wood and bone processing, whereas the microliths were used as insets being elements of armament.
EN
The specific relationship between weapon-form and mode of use has become a subject of intense research regarding the martial practices of past societies. In recent years the application of wear analysis to bronze offensive weapons has allowed us to define their function on the basis of recognizable damage. This paper aims to present results of use-wear analysis conducted on a unique bronze sword that was found in Domasław, Poland in a cremation cemetery belonging to Lusatian culture. The sword reveals a broad range of traces, ones which may be attributed to respective fighting techniques. Another goal of the present work is to partially fill the research void which presently exists concerning warfare as practiced by the Lusatian culture people, and to point out the necessity of carrying out further studies of this kind.
EN
This paper summarizes the findings from the research into modifications formed as a result of storing and transporting flint copies of arrowheads inside a leather quiver. The study was inspired by the fact that Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age projectile points bear untypical microwear traces interpreted in many different ways in the literature on the subject. The aforementioned features (detected primarily in the uppermost parts of the artefacts) include: hide working polish as well as co-existing rounding and smoothing of the surface. With the aim of gaining a deeper insight into the subject, the authors conducted an experiment and performed a traceological analysis of arrowheads replicas. During the experimental phase, the microwear formation process was monitored using the microscopic equipment. As a result, distinctive traces on the tools were identified. This fact supported the hypothesis that leather quiver exerts its impact on the arrow points stored inside
EN
The article reports on two sickles made of Ożarów flint, stray finds from Dwikozy in the Sandomierz Upland (Fig. 1, 2) and reexamines earlier interpretations of the function of this form of sickle and technologies involved. Both these bifacial tools were made of tabular flint which is one of the two varieties of this lithic material sourced at Ożarów (Fig. 3, 4). Typologically the sickles are type AA forms according to the classification of Jerzy Libera (2001). A closer technological analysis revealed two stages of the manufacturing process. The first stage was reduction using the technique of direct percussion with a soft hammerstone. During the second stage the working edge was shaped by delicate retouch using the pressure technique. Additionally one of the sickles was found to retain marks of grinding, possibly associated with repairs or with non-utilitarian functions of this specimen. In each sickle most of the blade retained marks of heavy wear associated with the reaping of silica-rich plants. Furthermore, there were also traces of hafting with an organic material – antler or wood. The use-wear most likely was caused by farm work, or by jobs associated with construction – cutting reeds or peat used in water- and air-proofing domestic structures.
PL
Archaeological excavations carried out by Patrimonium Foundation at site Dąbrówka 9, com. Kowal, in 2009 provided a unique assemblage of a series of blades made on so-called chocolate flint. Refitting of blades permitted reconstruction of core reduction stages. However, there the question arises of what was the origin of the find – a purpose for which the artefacts were brought to and finally deposited at the site. The blades were produced outside the site Dąbrówka 9 and they are represented either by very even regular ones – “select”, as well as debitage of the core reduction. Use-wear analysis, however, proved that each artefact had been at least sporadically used.
EN
The article presents an analysis of grave goods from a Corded Ware Culture burial dis-covered on the Nieborowa I site in central-eastern Poland. A functional analysis of flint objects indicated the presence of seven arrowheads, a side-scraper and fire flint among the grave goods. The arrowheads were not used as points; three of them bore traces of mounting. They were found in one spot, suggesting that they had been placed in the grave in a container of some kind (quiver ?). The mounting traces were not too strong or were absent altogether, thus the arrowheads could well have been placed in a container other than a quiver (bag?). Traces observed on the edges of one of the examined flint objects demonstrated its function as a fire flint. The side-scraper was used for work on a hard material. The observed similarities of the flint tool set placed as grave goods in burials of males of Corded Ware Culture and the observed traces of use on these tools point to a strictly defined set of rules governing burial rites in this cultural phase.
EN
Archaeological materials from graves of the Lublin-Volhynian Culture at Złota, Sandomierz County were published in the past at least twice, reported on briefly by Józef Żurowski (1930; 1932), and published comprehensively – complete with osteology, archaeozoology and malacology analyses and 14C dates – by Barbara Sałacińska and Anna Zakościelna (2007). The present study reports on insights from the analysis of use-wear on flints from grave inventories no. 101 and 122 deriving from site Grodzisko II at Złota (Fig. 1). The analysis focused on seven flint objects. Two of these survived from the original total of 11 flint objects found in grave 101 (Fig. 2): a retouched dagger on a macrolithic blade (Fig. 3) and an endscraper on a blade (Fig. 4). Grave 122, interpreted as a cenotaph (Fig. 5), contributed five flints: three blades (Fig. 6:1.2, 7:1), a blade-like flake (Fig. 7:2) and a truncation (Fig. 8). All of them were examined for the presence of use-wear. Possibly the most remarkable in this group is the dagger on a retouched blade from grave 101. The use-wear identified on its surface was caused by the use of the lateral edges of this tool for scraping hide and/or plants (Fig. 3, 9:3.4). Additionally, the dagger appears to have been kept in a sheath (Fig. 9:1). Not to be discounted either is the presence of a handle made of an organic material (Fig. 9:2), similar to the one known from a flint dagger found at Charavines in France (Fig. 10). The endscraper from the same grave inventories had been used as a knife for cutting meat (Fig. 4). Flints belonging to the grave inventory 122 appear to have been used in somewhat different activities namely, in firemaking – the truncation (Fig. 8), and working wood – the blade-like flake (Fig. 7:2). Two blades (Fig. 6:1, 7:1) presumably were used in processing animal carcasses, but use-wear observed on them is insufficiently developed to make this conclusion definitive. The investigated assemblage is not the first group of flint tools assigned to the Lublin-Volhynian Culture which was subjected to use-wear analysis. Despite the small size of this series a comparison made of the analysis results revealed a degree of convergence. There was similarity both in how daggers were used as macrolithic scrapers, may have been provided with a handle and/or a sheath. Tools with similar use-wear surfaced at Książnice 2 and Strzyżów 2A. Also worth noting is the frequently observed tradition of offering to the dead on their last journey ‘flint tools’ in the form of unretouched blades which apparently served as knives. This type of behaviour is documented by the grave inventory 122 from Złota, and also, by other inventories, for example, the grave inventory 1/1961 at Strzyżów IA, and by all the funeral features with flint objects in site Strzyżów 2A (graves nos. 3, 4, 5, 6).
PL
Niniejszy artykuł jest studium poświęconym organizacji przestrzennej osadnictwa kultury świderskiej na stanowisku w Krakowie-Bieżanowie 15. W trakcie szerokopłaszczyznowych badań ratowniczych (2004-2008), pozyskano tam liczne materiały krzemienne wiązane z tą kulturą. Pochodzą one zarówno z obiektów, jak np. niewielkiej krzemienicy (KB-15/1 – obiekt 1), czy skupiska materiału (obiekt 2 i 3), jak również ze znacznej części przebadanej partii stanowiska, gdzie zostały podjęte jako znaleziska pojedyncze. Analiza planigraficzna podstawowych grup narzędziowych, tj. liściaków (ostrzy) świderskich, drapaczy i rylców, pokazała, że ich rozrzut wokół obiektów archeologicznych nie jest przypadkowy i wskazuje on na zróżnicowanie w zakresie funkcjonalnej organizacji przestrzeni przez ludność kultury świderskiej na stanowisku. Niniejsze badanie miało odpowiedzieć na pytanie dotyczące właściwości tego zróżnicowania. W tym celu przebadano mikroskopowo część dostępnego materiału. Chociaż stan zachowania zabytków mocno ograniczył możliwość przeprowadzenie analizy traseologicznej, to poczyniono szereg cennych obserwacji. Szczególnie interesujące wnioski dotyczyły liściaków i drapaczy. Dodatkowo, liściaki świderskie, jako miarodajna kategoria zabytków związanych z kulturą świderską, zostały przeanalizowane przez zastosowanie metod morfometrycznych (analiza przekroju poprzecznego ostrza, analiza kąta ostrza, morfometria geometryczna kształtu liściaków), a płynące z nich wnioski uzupełniły badania traseologiczne. Uzyskane wyniki pozwoliły na wskazanie wyróżniających się obszarów (strefy liściaków, drapaczy i rylców) oraz ich interpretację funkcjonalną.
EN
This article is a study devoted to the spatial organization of a settlement of the Swiderian culture at Kraków-Bieżanów site 15. In the course of wide-scale rescue excavations (1999-2008), numerous lithic materials associated with this culture were discovered. They come from archaeological features such as the small kshemenitsa (KB-15/1 – feature 1) or spots of material clustering (features 2 and 3), they were collected as single finds. The spatialanalysis of the basic tool groups, i.e. Swiderian points, endscrapers and burins, showed that their distribution around archaeological objects wasnot accidental and points to diversity in functional space organization at the site. The aim of this investigation was to find the reason for the nature of this differentiation. For this purpose, a part of the available material has been studied by means of use-wear analysis. Although the state of preservation of lithics greatly reduced the possibility of carrying out functional analysis, a number of valuable observations were made. Particularly interesting were results concerning Swiderian points and endscrapers. In addition, Swiderian points, as the most intriguing category of typological tool related to the Swiderian culture, were analyzed by morphometric methods (tip cross-sectional area analysis, tip angle analysis, geometrics morphometrics) which were subjected to corroborated use-wear studies. The results obtained indicated the distictive areas (points, endscrapers and burins zones) and shed light on their functional interpretation.
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