LATE CHALCOLITHIC FLINT ASSEMBLAGE FROM THE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT OF TELISH-LAGA

Abstract

The paper presents result of a techno-typological analysis of the flint implements from the archaeological investigation at the settlement Telish-Laga. The flint assemblage comes from the context of two geological horizons, which refer to the Late Chalcolithic culture of Krivodol Salkutsa-Bubani. The collection consists of 1398 artefacts. Typologically, it is divided as follows: specimens with traces of preparing the cores, cores, debitage products, and retouched forms. A detailed analysis of the flint assemblage suggests the following conclusions: − relatively small number of cores, − the debitage products were mainly obtained from unidirectional cores, − the blades significantly prevail among the debitage products, − relatively large number of retouched tools, as more than half of the tools are on blades, − the end scrapers prevail in the composition of the assemblage, − lack of typological variety in retouched tools. The quantitative dominance of end scrapers in the assemblage and macroscopically visible traces of wear on some of them indicate manufacturing directly oriented on the processing of animal products, such as skin, meat, bone or horn. In general, the structure of the assemblage indicates that the preparation of the core was mainly carried out off-site. Other kinds of activities were performed on-site, including manufacturing flakes/blades from cores, retouches, repairs, and so on. The settlement in Telish-Laga occupied a stratigraphic hiatus between the horizons II and III of the prehistoric settlement of Telish-Redutite. Both settlements refer to the so-called “altitude settlements”, characteristic of the area of the Krivodol-Salkutsa-Bubani ethno-cultural complex. However, it is possible to accept a different hypothesis – the settlement from the locality of “Laga” may have continued Horizon II of Redutite. In the technological and typological aspect, the assemblage of Telish-Laga finds analogies in certain Neolithic collections, such as Gradeshnitsa-Malo Pole, Gradeshnitsa-Lukanovo Darvo, or Zaminets. It also shares similarities with the late Neolithic-Early Chalcolithic assemblages of Altimir-Bresta and Gradeshnitsa-Gradishteto.