Provenance analysis of red sandstone ground stone tools from the tell site of Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa (SE Hungary)

Abstract

Hódmezővásárhely–Gorzsa is a multi-period tell settlement in South Hungary in the centre of the Great Hungarian Plain, about 15 km southwest of the city of Hódmezővásárhely. The thickest section of the settlement belongs to the Late Neolithic Tisza Culture period. In total, 1061 macrolithic artefacts were unearthed, a quarter of which was polished, and three quarter of which were ground stone tools. Half of the ground stones were made of different types of sandstone, including (1) red-, (2) grey micaceous-, (3) calcareous-, (4) white meta sandstones, and (5) other sandstones and metasandstones were identified. The red sandstones are further categorised into four subgroups based on optical microscopy. This examination is the first systematic multi-analytical investigation (i.e. optical microscopy, whole-rock geochemistry and mineral chemistry), carried out on these ground stone tool types. The goal is to identify and precisely locate the raw material types, in which heavy minerals and the tourmaline mineral chemistry play the key role. To determine the provenance of each of these subgroups, samples were collected from seven geological localities (i.e. primary outcrops and secondary presences, such as river drainages or terraces) for a comparative study. Based on our results, the alluvium of the Maros River can be considered as a possible source for the ‘Red – 3’ type of Gorzsa, while the results for the rest red sandstone types (‘Red – 1’, ‘Red − 2’ and ‘Red – 4’) are inconclusive in terms of provenance.