Folia archeologica 36.
28 VIOLA 'Г. DOBOSI Snail shells used as ornaments , (Fig. 9.) Clavatula, Potamides, Dentalium. The 1984 excavation yielded further specimens. Engraved pebbles (Fig. 5, 1 a —b.) The sandstone-concretions disintegrated during faulting of rocks into planparallel or plan-concave forms which were later shaped by carving, engraving and polishing. If we stand one of the objects on its obvious bottom (originally of course it might have had another orientation as well) it has a shape like a bulky letter "b". The other object is more roughly made in the shape of a right triangle. It is, however, less characteristic with deep careful carving and has been identified as an idol. We do not think that either object had a practical function. Piece of succinite (Fig. 10, 1. magnified 2x !) This is a cubiform piece carved and polished with its angles rounded and its lateral faces slightly concave. It was found in very bad condition and the restoration of even only a small part of it involved immense difficulties. This task, demanding great attention and patience, was succesfully carried out by K. T. Bruder. We express our thanks for the chemical analysis to M. Földvári. The results of her work have been published in the appendix of this paper. Though the results of her investigations could not localize the provenance of the object, the existence of this find still raises several important questions: If the raw material of this cubiform piece is resin then: — we must try to compare infra-red spectra characteristic of different tree slecies; — after completing this task we may get data on the reconstruction of vegetation which would make it possible to outline climatic-ecological conditions as well. If the material of the object is succinite then two otber possibilities emerge: — There are several mines in Transdanubia in which there are layers at a great depth containing amber. These layers may have surface outcrops. — The object is made of true "classic" Baltic amber. In this case then the divergences observed in the spectrum may be the result of the unusually great degree of fossilization. In this last case (i. e. if the further analyses would prove it to be Baltic amber we would need to investigate: — the directions and distances between connections with the Upper Paleolithic site (the rock-crystal blade published in Acta Arch.Hung, suggests direct contacts to the West). — Another aspect of the problem which has far-reaching significance even from the viewpoint of international research is: If during the Ságvár—Lascaux interstadial the collection of Baltic amber was possible, it means that its natural provenance was not covered by ice in this period. — "Classic" amber can be collected even further southwards perhaps in the end-moraines of glaciers, just as is possible for certain grey flint variants of good quality. It is well-known that these flints were collected in the moraines.
