Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988
ANALYSES - LITHICS - Katalin T. BIRÓ: The study of polished stone implements in the Carpathian basin
2.2. Technological studies 2.2.1. Technological observations on the archaeological material Technological observations on polished stone tools extend to two fields: techniques of production and use. Both can be rooted in the investigations of the actual archaeological evidence, the observation of ethnographic parallels and experimental archaeology. The basic problems for the production technology are: origins and form of the raw material, collection or mining strategies, as well as tools and auxiliary materials used for the production of polished stone tools. Producing a perfectly finished, polished stone axe requires major efforts; a number of scholars therefore suppose that the bulk of the work was done by Nature - i.e., prehistoric people would have preferred pebbles for the production of polished stone tools, which was "licked into shape" and the tool was ready (recently: SZAKMÁNY-STARNINI 1996). Undoubtedly, there are sites and assemblages where such casual polished tools are found and even dominate. Among the materials I had the possibility to study, the Middle Neolithic settlement Homorma (Humene) corresponds best to this scheme. The site is the northernmost settlement of the Bükk culture, located at the feet of the Vihorlat Mountains. The bulk of the polished stone tools here were made of elongated river pebbles with minimal reshaping. The majority of polished stone tools, however, are different. Study in production centres - such as the workshop assemblages planted on greenschist (Felsőcsatár environs), greenschist-amphibolite (Zlkovce) or basalt 4 (Aszód), show a high degree of standardisation present in the formation of the rough-outs. In the workshop assemblages planted on the Felsőcsatár greenschist, the slaty structure of the raw material was utilised for chopping truncated triangular base forms to a characteristic asymmetrical type of chisel blade. A similar technique could be observed in connection with Carpathian greenschist (shoe-last form chisels and axes) or flint axe-blades of the Globular Amphorae culture. For the production of large series, the raw material was probably mined as blocks, nodules. In Hungary, however, we have no direct evidence for this 5 . Technological observations can be made, mainly, on the material from workshop sites. Mór Wosinszky, the excavator of the Lengyel settlement had a pioneering role in this type of work by the end of the last century. The comprehensive study of large scale modern excavations resulted in significant advances in this field. During the study of the Aszód settlement, the complete process of polished stone axe production was identified, presented first in a previous Archaeometry WG meeting in Veszprém in 1988. The elements of the lithic assemblage, related to polished stone tool production, have been published since, although the publication of the complete lithic material is still to be realised (BIRÓ 1992). In the case of Aszód, the locally worked raw material was bombs of basalt (or dark andésite?) with poliedric fracture planes, flaked with quartzite pebbles using the "clactonien" technique. Flakes could be refitted, offering evidence for this process. The preform delineated by flaking was ground and polished on grinders and polishers of sandstone surfaces of increasingly fine grain size. The final stage of polishing is documented also by the negative of polished The Aszód workshop was producing tools made of basalt or dark andésite - this problem is not completely decided on yet. A spectacular proof for mining is the above mentioned striped flint, used for polished axe-blades (e.g. ,Krzemionki flint mine). 117
