On the Issue of Consumer Settlements of Flint Products from the Tripolye Settlement-Workshop of the Bodaki in Phase BII

Abstract

AbstractThe article is devoted to studying raw materials (including flint and quartzite rocks) from the sites of the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture from the Bug-Dniester and Prut-Dniester interfluve of their heyday. Based on the data from archaeological contexts, technical and morphological analysis, and geological and mineralogical sciences, the authors identify sites of the developed period of the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, which were consumers of flint products from the Bodaki workshop. This is indicated by the similarity of Cucuteni-Tripolye tools with those from Bodaki and by the absence of traces of the Volhynian flint processing. Located in the Upper Prut, Middle Dniester, and Middle Bug, these sites are pretty far from the center of high-quality Volhynian flint processing. Nevertheless, their production complexes were based on sets of tools made of imported raw materials; local rocks were used to a lesser extent. The close resource-based contacts of the Cucuteni-Tripolye sites with Bodaki are also emphasized by the isolated finds of tools from the Middle Dniester raw material in its inventory. Adzes of South Bug ferruginous quartzite and blanks made of the Swieciechov flint indicate contacts with the Upper (Middle) Bug and Central Vistula territories. These findings highlight the high level of organization of flint processing, the presence of well-established links between the Tripolye communities in Phase BII, what provided their economy with high-quality tools.KeywordsEneolithicCucuteni-TripolyeBug-Dniester and Prut-Dniester interfluveStone raw materialsVolhynian flintWorkshop settlementConsumer settlement