Skip to content

VITA ANTIQUA,     ISSN 2522-9419 (Online), 2519-4542 (Print)
Center for Paleoethnological Research

VITA ANTIQUA 10, 2018, Prehistoric Networks in Southern and Eastern Europe, 61-91
Lithic Assemblages of Early Agricultural Communities in Middle Dniester: comparative study
Shydlovskyi Pavlo
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

DOI:10.37098/2519-4542-2018-1-10-61-91
https://doi.org/10.37098/2519-4542-2018-1-10-61-91

ABSTRACT

Flint products are the most massive material on the sites of early-agricultural groups and demonstrate the traditional component, which is less responsive to external influences, as opposed to other categories of material culture. Tools are directly related to the provision of food production and therefore in the most vivid form demonstrate the cultural adaptation of the group to the requirements of the type of farming. In order to determine the degree of affinity between the two early-agricultural communities of Middle Dniester which are traditionally considered evolutionarily related, a comparative analysis of technical and typological features of the two lithic assemblages was conducted: Yosypivka I (LBK) and Bernashivka I (Precucuteni-Trypillia A). Both collections are quite representative and come from residential areas of settlements. Despite some similarity in their typological and statistical indexes, a detailed analysis reveals a significant difference between technological features, the nature of raw materials provision and microlithic set. Significant difference in technology between two settlements is a consequence of different economic orientation, different level of interaction of groups and different sources of both industries. In general, the lithic assemblage of Trypillia A does not reveal an evolutionary affinity with the assemblages of LBK, Boian and the classic Criş of Balkans. Largely, early Tripillian materials are closer to those of the late BDK and Criş of Moldova, which manifests in the use of local deposits of raw materials, using a regular blade as a blank for insets. However, the use of microburin technology for making microliths is a striking feature of Bernashivka, which distinguishes this settlement from among other early-agricultural sites. It is possible that such character of the Trypillian A industry indicates a certain isolation of groups in the conditions of migration. Features in flint processing may be explained by the fact that migrants often form a narrow group, which is not a carrier of a full set of characteristics of the “mother” culture.

Key words: Neolithic, Linear-band ceramic culture, Precucuteni-Trypillia A, lithic assemblage, tools, microliths

Language: English

PDF:DOWNLOAD DOWNLOAD

UDK: 903.21(282.247.314-197.4)”636”