FLINT ARTEFACTS OF NORTHERN PONTIC POPULATIONS OF THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGE: 3200 – 1600 BC (BASED ON BURIAL MATERIALS). SERHIY M. RAZUMOV Реферат

At this chapter the author paid attention to artefacts without secondary modification of the Yamnaya cultural – historic community burials, of the Catacomb cultural – historic community burials and of the Babyno cultural – historic community burials. 

The author told that in his view, implements without secondary modification, i.e., displaying no retouch or traces of being used as working tools or weapons, include flakes and their fragments, as well as cores and pieces of flint raw material. There are traces of modification on some flake arrowhead blanks or implements from so-called ‘manufacture kits’, the author is strongly believed that it is unnecessary to separate them from the general stock of flake blanks bearing no traces of secondary modification. 

The whole chapter is full of figures of how many flint artifacts where found and are known at the moment to the scientist.

Speaking about artefacts without secondary modification of the Yamnaya cultural – historic community burials the author mentioned two types of burials: supine and contracted. The first one with the following numbers: total of 430 flakes in 242 complexes with skeletal remains contracted on the back; cores – only 7 items were recorded at skeletal remains contracted on the back; core-like flakes – 9 have been found: three as part of manufacture kits, three over the grave overlays, two by the children’s skulls in smears of ochre, and one clutched in the left hand of an adult from the primary burial; flint concretions and pebbles without traces of modification were found only in two burials: Lomonosove – the Crimea and Mykolayivka – Odessa Region.  

At this chapter the author told about various flint tools and divided them into groups depending on the usage. He mentioned the three big groups: tools for harvesting, for manufacturing meat and leather and for manufacturing stone, wood and bone. All these groups have different types.

For harvesting the author referred such types of tools as sickle and reaping knife. There are only two known cutting-edge inserts of the sickle and no more than three reaping knives. Early and Middle Bronze Age (1.15% of the total implements, even if taken together with reaping knives –) may serve as indirect evidence of their almost complete absence from the economic sphere. Probably, the reaping knives may be classed among cattle-breeding tools instead, because reaping knives could be also used for cutting wild herbs for feeding cattle. The example of such tools where found only one flake-based inlay of a sickle in the Yamnaya burials on the side (contracted) was found in the Tetskany complex (Republic of Moldova), where it lay behind the pelvis of a skeleton contracted on the left side, together with 13 unmodified flakes. One known reaping knife on a massive blade (Alkalia, Odessa Region) was found near the skull of a skeleton contracted on the left side, with a drilled axe-hammer at the right arm.

For manufacturing meat and leather there are several types, the first one is knife and knife for cutting skins. The author paid attention to the fact that it is rather difficult to separate meat-cutting knives from a mass of other flint implements, because cutting tools have been not studying in proper way. They can be distinguished in two cases:

- when there is a trasological definition, 

- when there is a good reason to do so based on the context of the find a ‘manufacture kit’. 

At this chapter the author described flint weaponry and practice of using of ritual artefacts. The author subdivided this chapter into subchapter speaking about  

weapons he paid attention to typology of arrowheads in different cultures (Yamnaya, Catacomb, Babyno), to typology of large bifaces (in Yamnaya, Catacomb, Babyno), to rare categories of weaponry and to flint miniature sculpture (from Yamnaya and Catacomb culture graves).

Weaponry is the material base of war, reflects the most advanced achievements of production technologies and material culture, as well as economy, social system, and ideology of a society.

Firstly the author told as typology of arrowheads in different cultures, there are descriptions and pictures of all types and figures which are known now to the scientists about the amount of arrowheads of various types, sub-types and versions.

They distinguished such types as Type A – arrowheads with a notched base. Sub-types I – the arrowhead’s sides form a relatively straight point-to-base line. Version 1 – the notch at the base of the arrowhead is curve-like. Version 2 – the notch at the base of the arrowhead is sub-triangular. Sub-type II – the arrowhead’s sides form an oval; the arrowhead is widest at the base of the nibs. Version 1 – the notch at the base of the arrowhead is curve-like. Version 2 – the notch at the base of the arrowhead is arch-like (the sides of the notch are parallel and slightly touch each other at the top). Version 3 – the notch at the base of the arrowhead is oval, end of the nibs are close to each other. 

Type B – arrowheads with a straight base. The author included arrowheads with a slightly convex or a slightly concave base (the notch or a convex base does not exceed 10% of the total length of the arrowhead).  Sub-type I – triangular low-proportion feather (similar to an equilateral triangle). Sub-type II – triangular feather of oblong proportions. Sub-type III – the sides from the base to the middle of the arrowheads or higher are parallel, then joined at the top – so-called ‘tower-like’ arrowheads. 

This chapter describes the flint knapping manufacture as a technological process. It is subdivided into two subchapters: identification of raw materials sources and flint knapping techniques.

The author told that the flint material didn’t changed from the Stone age. That’s why it is rather easy to identify raw materials from different periods and places, because they have different features such as colour, form and size. For instance, this refers to the flint from Kaniv with its typical yellowish sub-crust, or spotted Desna flint. However, identification of the exact source of raw materials used for making the majority of finds is a serious challenge. 

Various types of stone may be used for making working parts of implements, blades, and weapon heads. Apart from flint, we can mention obsidian (volcanic glass), chalcedony, fine-grain quartzites and jaspers, flint shales and limestones. The raw materials can be rather easily identified by experts based on their visual features, without any additional petrographic analyses. 

Various kinds of raw materials can also be found within one deposit. For instance, Donets chalk flint of the Turon horizon can be divided into several groups: 

1. dark grey, almost black, translucent top-quality Turon flint; 

2. grey, spotted Turon flint of lower quality than the first group; 

3. yellowish, with a wax hue, translucent flint of the Cognac horizon, of lower quality than the previous two groups; 

4. light-grey, opaque flint of the upper Cognac horizon, of low quality, very fragile.

Usually that was the raw material of the lowest quality. Under the influence of fluctuations of temperature, erosion, and mechanical damage, pebble nodules had cracks, their limestone crust was diffuse and wind-blown. And it was difficult to identify the quality of raw material only by look.

The importance of the monograph is that due to various analyzes and accurate data scientists received the information that will allow to reconstruct the past and recreate the use of flint materials in the different eras.

This list of features (catalogue) in which flint artefacts are recorded (broadly speaking lithic), documents the main research sources of the monograph. The presented sources are listed according to their cultural identification (cultural-historic communities/cultures: Yamnaya, Catacomb and Babyno) and correspondingly, according to region and location name.

In descriptions of features the following data has been provided: location, district, kurhan, grave, source inventory (artefact names documented according to meaning), bibliography and references to figures presented in the study (choice of feature and its analysis in relation to a given research project).

Finally, the monograph catalogue uses abbreviations, numerical identificators of features and their call numbers, which are applied in the text and illustrations.

I find this monograph very informative and useful for me, because you can learn a lot about life of people at Early and Middle Bronze Age, learn about their beliefs and rituals, about harvesting, various tools and the importance of flint at that time.