Hornfels is a fine grain contact metamorphic rock type widespread used as raw material for polished stone artefacts in Prehistory in the Carpathian basin and its environs. Although hornfels stone tools are distributed on the whole territory of the Carpathian Basin, they dominate in the archaeological assemblages mainly in its eastern part, with increasing amount toward SE direction. The source of this raw material was unknown for long time. Our research was aimed to characterize these artefacts based on their petrological and geochemical properties. Also, it was aimed to determine their geological source and provenance. The hornfels artefacts have been investigated mainly by non-destructive methods, avoiding any damage to the complete pieces. After macroscopic description and magnetic susceptibility measurements, we employed non-destructive analytical methods. In particular, we experimented with the “original surface investigation”, a type of SEM-EDX analysis that allows to determine the chemical composition of rock forming minerals and to characterize the texture of the rocks. Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis was used for determination of major elements and some traces in the bulk. Hornfels is a very fine grained, massive, hard but tenacious rock type, very good for producing polished stone axes/adzes blades due to its resistance to mechanical stress. The main constituents are diopside and basic plagioclase, moreover they may contain K-feldspar, scapolite, biotite and accessories. Other important feature that the rock has high Ca-content. During fieldwork research, several natural samples have been collected and analysed. Two localities have been discovered where rocks found to be similar to the raw materials of the artefacts occur: one in the south-western Rusca Mts, and the other in the southern Apuseni Mts. Hornfels formed at the contact zone of subvolcanic rocks so-called Banatite and high Ca-content Gosau facies sediments.

Occurrences and provenances of Prehistoric hornfels polished stone tools in Hungary

STARNINI Elisabetta;
2016-01-01

Abstract

Hornfels is a fine grain contact metamorphic rock type widespread used as raw material for polished stone artefacts in Prehistory in the Carpathian basin and its environs. Although hornfels stone tools are distributed on the whole territory of the Carpathian Basin, they dominate in the archaeological assemblages mainly in its eastern part, with increasing amount toward SE direction. The source of this raw material was unknown for long time. Our research was aimed to characterize these artefacts based on their petrological and geochemical properties. Also, it was aimed to determine their geological source and provenance. The hornfels artefacts have been investigated mainly by non-destructive methods, avoiding any damage to the complete pieces. After macroscopic description and magnetic susceptibility measurements, we employed non-destructive analytical methods. In particular, we experimented with the “original surface investigation”, a type of SEM-EDX analysis that allows to determine the chemical composition of rock forming minerals and to characterize the texture of the rocks. Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis was used for determination of major elements and some traces in the bulk. Hornfels is a very fine grained, massive, hard but tenacious rock type, very good for producing polished stone axes/adzes blades due to its resistance to mechanical stress. The main constituents are diopside and basic plagioclase, moreover they may contain K-feldspar, scapolite, biotite and accessories. Other important feature that the rock has high Ca-content. During fieldwork research, several natural samples have been collected and analysed. Two localities have been discovered where rocks found to be similar to the raw materials of the artefacts occur: one in the south-western Rusca Mts, and the other in the southern Apuseni Mts. Hornfels formed at the contact zone of subvolcanic rocks so-called Banatite and high Ca-content Gosau facies sediments.
2016
978-618-80277-2-5
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/989394
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