Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

TY  - JOUR
JO  - Anthropologie (Brno)
TI  - From far or from near? Sources of Kraków-Częstochowa banded and chocolate silicite raw material used during the Stone Age in Biśnik Cave (southern Poland)
AU  - Krajcarz MT
AU  - Krajcarz M
AU  - Sudoł M
AU  - Cyrek K
Y1  - 2012
VL  - 50
IS  - 4
PB  - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic
SN  - 0323-1119
SP  - 411
EP  - 425
KW  - Silicite
KW  - Chert
KW  - Deposit
KW  - Distribution
KW  - Kraków-Częstochowa Upland
N2  - 
N2  - Biśnik Cave is a multilayered archeological site situated on Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (southern Poland). Long sequence of cultural levels places the Biśnik Cave among the most important archeological sites of Middle European Paleolithic. Archeological levels contain numerous silicite artefacts. Preliminary analysis of silicite assemblages showed high diversity of raw material. The inventory is rich in local Jurassic silicite (so called "Cracowian silicite"), but also substantial occurrence of chocolate and banded silicites is significant. The provenance of raw material used by ancient people in Biśnik Cave to make artefacts was not clear and it had inspired the authors to search for the outcrops of silicite raw material in the area around the site. Authors conducted the field survey to prepare a map of natural silicite deposits in 10 km circle around the Biśnik Cave. As a result ten types of Jurassic silicites were discovered. Among them the occurrence of "Kraków-Częstochowa banded (=striped) silicite" and "Kraków-Częstochowa chocolate silicite" at this area was established, the varieties of banded and chocolate silicites known from the Holy Cross Mountains. Analysis of macro- and microscopic characteristics of artefacts made of banded and chocolate silicites from Biśnik Cave has showed that this raw material present the same features as respective silicites from natural deposits in the vicinity of Biśnik Cave. This discover changes the former interpretation of silicite import to Biśnik Cave from Holy Cross Mountains. New data on the usage of local chocolate and banded silicites in the consecutive cultural levels at Biśnik Cave prove that we have to be cautious while drawing conclusions about long-distance import of raw material during Stone Age.
ER  -