Abstract
Flaked stone artefacts found on the quarry Lojanik in west-central Serbia are good examples of how the function of non-diagnostic pieces could be determined through technological and use-wear analysis. In this study, we present the examples of surface clusters and artefacts from stratigraphic layers. Our attention is focused on the prevailing category of fragmented raw materials in the initial phase of knapping, preforms, debris, shattered pieces of anthropogenic origin and an immense number of artefacts and geofacts.
 The study of mines and quarries, as well as distribution of the raw materials that come from the central Balkans is an understudied phenomenon. Flaked stone artefacts found on the outcrops of the Lojanik hilltop is a good example of how we can apply technological, petrological and use-wear analysis on this type of site. Keeping in mind the loose context of the finds, as well as the lack of any datable material, this issue has to be approached with a lot of caution, since the locality itself seems to show human presence during Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The main focus of the study was put on the prevailing categories linked to the initial extraction of raw material on the site, as well as initial steps of shaping the raw material into cores. Samples were collected from several outcrops and so-called workshops from two localities of the hilltop: Lojanik 1 and Lojanik 2. The focal points of interest are categories that include waste, shatter, technical or shaping flakes. Worked pieces of raw material are now in the central position, and the study of these pieces have opened new grounds for this and similar occurrences - the study of so-called “grey zones” of production.
Highlights
Important period in the study of chipped stone technology in Serbia is the first decade of this century when the systematic approach to the petroarchaeological studies has been introduced, that is, when a question of provenance was incorporated as an inseparable element of the lithic studies
When identifying the location of the extraction of raw materials and the relationship with the closest settlements, the specific academic goal has been significantly changed, which is well illustrated in case of the quarry Lojanik, and the Early Neolithic site Crkvine, as well as the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic site Divlje Polje (Bogosavljević Petrović et al 2017)
The fact that 80% of raw materials from the nearby Early Neolithic settlement Crkvine come from Lojanik and the case that surface concentrations both on the settlement and on the quarry are of Palaeolithic provenance with the same raw material structure are the main reasons for taking interest in Lojanik
Summary
Important period in the study of chipped stone technology in Serbia is the first decade of this century when the systematic approach to the petroarchaeological studies has been introduced, that is, when a question of provenance was incorporated as an inseparable element of the lithic studies. Before 1990, only three sites were known in Serbia as potential mines of the stone raw materials: Ramaća in central Serbia (Jovanović & Milić 1988), Kremenac in the east Serbia (Šarić 2013) and Lojanik in the west-central Serbia (Bogosavljević Petrović et al 2017) Such a situation illustrates the full amount of circumstances and the absence of more compelling interest for studying lithic mining activities. The fact that 80% of raw materials from the nearby Early Neolithic settlement Crkvine come from Lojanik and the case that surface concentrations both on the settlement and on the quarry are of Palaeolithic provenance with the same raw material structure are the main reasons for taking interest in Lojanik The main methodological issues are concerned with the secondary context noted on the slopes of the Lojanik hill and the problems of defining the extraction and production areas that are in the vicinity of the outcrop zones
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