New data on the archaeological obsidian of Transylvania and Banat.

P. Biagi, B. Gratuze, and S. Boucetta
Ca'Foscari University, Venice; CNRS, Orleans

The scientific analysis of 38 obsidian artefacts from 10 Neolithic sites of Transylvania and Banat, among which are six attributed to the Early Neolithic Cris Culture (Miercurea Sibiului, Let, Seusa, Limba Bordane, Dudesti Vechii and Silagiu), has demonstrated that they all are from Slovak and Hungarian sources. These results confirm that these sources were already known to the earliest Cris Culture farmers, who inhabited these two regions of Romania from the last two centuries of the seventh millennium uncal BP. It is important to point out that none of the analysed samples comes from the Greek island of Melos. This indicates that the raw material outcrops exploited by the first farmers of Transylvania and Banat were located northwest of their settlements. These data are of key importance for the understanding of the trade routes followed by the first Neolithic inhabitants of the region under study. A discussion on the typology of the obsidian artefacts, the absolute chronology of the sites from where they were collected and the variability of the sources exploited according to the different Neolithic periods (Early, Middle and Late) conclude the article.

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