Geochemical Sourcing of Lithic Raw Materials from Secondary Deposits in South Serbia. Implications for Early Neolithic Resource Management Strategies. Archaeologia Austriaca|Archaeologia Austriaca Band 102/2018|

Résumé 0

The valleys of the South Morava River and its tributaries in the region of Pusta Reka around the cities of Leskovac and Lebane in southern Serbia are notable for the high density of early prehistoric settlements identified archaeologically. The area represents a link between the Mediterranean and the (northern) Balkans and is therefore of key importance for understanding the processes of Neolithisation in south-eastern and central Europe, which commenced at the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. The current study is part of a larger project which aims to address issues concerning Early Neolithic resource management and production strategies, and specifically the use of the prehistoric landscape, through the characterisation of lithic materials in archaeological assemblages from this region. Lithic raw materials used for chipped stone tool production in the Pusta Reka region include a wide range of cryptocrystalline SiO2 modifications of volcanic and perivolcanic origin. These materials are found abundantly in secondary alluvial deposits in the extensive Neogene basin complexes of southern Serbia. The current pilot study was undertaken to test the viability of sourcing such lithic materials from secondary deposits to their primary origin using the Multi-Layered Chert Sourcing Approach (MLA), a method developed by the first author of this study, which combines visual, microscopic, and geochemical techniques using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). In the light of the encouraging results, it is planned to extend the analytical work and to apply this method of provenance study to archaeological materials in order to reconstruct the economic behaviour of the Early Neolithic communities in this region.