engleski

Fashion is tradition. Obsidian on Northern Balkans Copper Age sites

t is common in archaeological studies that cultural changes in prehistory were significant markers of past reality, representing changes in other aspects of social or economic life of prehistoric communities. In the Northern Balkans the transition from Neolithic to Copper Age had strong and manifold cultural manifestation. These include: change in settlement organization ; change in the pottery style and technology of production ; introduction and use of copper objects ; smaller quantity of decorated items ; different types of stone tools and materials used etc. All of these point to a complex social dynamics at prehistoric settlements. Yet, one aspect of material culture remained the same for over 1500 years: the appearance of obsidian. During Late Neolithic to Copper Age timeframe it was common thing to have obsidian artifacts in some quantity at any settlement of the region. Compositional data obtained by PGAA of obsidian from four Copper Age sites showed that they are all of Carpathian origin, from Carpathian I sources in Slovakia. Still, there were different practices observed during Neolithic (more abundant obsidian assemblages, more intensive use of obsidian, both Hungarian and Slovakian sources), while on Copper Age sites there is a reduction in the use of obsidian, but it remains constantly present. Obsidian presence on sites more than 400 km from the source in a form and quantity that is most certainly not utilitarian is an indication of social relationships on a scale we have yet to determine. In this paper, therefore, characterization and distribution of Croatian obsidian was put in its cultural and geographic settings to create new perspective on obsidian at territorial margins of its distribution. We will try to observe this obsidian occurrence as a possible example of longue durée and start a discussion about the significance of this practice as a source of information on prehistoric population in the Northern Balkans.

obsidian ; Neolithic ; Eneolithic ; Balkans

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