Preliminary characterization of the prehistoric mine of chocolate flint in Poręba Dzierżna, site 24 (Wolbrom commune, Lesser Poland voivodeship)

Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk; Maciej  Krajcarz; Magdalena Malak; Dagmara H. Werra

doi:10.23858/SA/73.2021.2.2546

Published: 2021-03-10

Vol. 73 No. 2 (2021)

Preliminary characterization of the prehistoric mine of chocolate flint in Poręba Dzierżna, site 24 (Wolbrom commune, Lesser Poland voivodeship)

Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk , Maciej T. Krajcarz , Magdalena Malak , Dagmara H. Werra

Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

Section: Field Survey and Materials

https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/73.2021.2.2546

Abstract

Researches on prehistoric flint mines are currently widely developing, as they allow a deep insight into the past economy, early industry, and the network of trading routes and inter-regional contacts. In the territory of Poland and in general, Central Europe, one of the most important flint raw materials was an Upper Jurassic chert, so-called chocolate flint. In this paper are presented preliminary results of the research of chocolate flint mine in Poręba Dzierżna, site 24 (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, southern Poland). The outcrop, and anthropogenic relief indicating the activity of prehistoric miners, were discovered in 2013. Recently excavations undertaken on the site recorded the remains of mining shafts, spoil heaps, and rich traces of workshops. The deposits of chocolate flint were previously known only in the Holy Cross Mountains, 130 km to the NE. The research undertaken has therefore a significant impact on the existing interpretations related to the extraction, use, and distribution of chocolate flint by prehistoric communities in Central Europe.

Keywords:

geoarchaeology, stone age, raw material, prehistoric communities, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk, One century of studies on chocolate flint. And what do we really know about it ...? , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 74 No. 1 (2022): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk, Grzegorz Osipowicz, Kacper Baranowski, The Magdalenian site Kleszczowa 9, Pilica commune, Silesian voivodship (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland). Multi-aspectual analysis of the flint inventory and the importance of the site , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 76 No. 1 (2024): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk , Kamil Adamczak, Grzegorz Osipowicz, A flint dagger from Brzoza, Nowa Wieś Wielka com., Bydgoszcz dist., Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 69 (2017)
Kamil Adamczak, Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk, Macrolithic retouched blades from Kałdus and Stare Marzy: foreign technology and new ideology in the lithic traditions of the TRB communities in the Lower Vistula region , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 76 No. 1 (2024): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Sudoł-Procyk, M., Krajcarz, M. ., Malak, M., & H. Werra, D. (2021). Preliminary characterization of the prehistoric mine of chocolate flint in Poręba Dzierżna, site 24 (Wolbrom commune, Lesser Poland voivodeship). Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, 73(2). https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/73.2021.2.2546

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Bańdo C., Dagman-Ginter A., Holen S., Kozłowski J. K., Montet-White A., Pawlikowski M. and Sobczyk K. 1992. Wołowice, province of Kraków. Flint extraction and processing site. Recherches Archéologiques de 1990, 5-25.
Google Scholar

Bąbel J. T. 2014. „Krzemionki Opatowskie”, najważniejszy zabytek górnictwa pradziejowego w Polsce. In D. Piotrowska, W. Piotrowski, K. Kaptur and A. Jedynak (eds), Górnictwo z epoki kamienia: Krzemionki – Polska – Europa. W 90. rocznicę odkrycia kopalni w Krzemionkach. Silex et Ferrum 1. Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski: Muzeum Historyczno-Archeologiczne, 53-104.
Google Scholar

Dagnan-Ginter A. 1974. Wołowice, pow. Kraków, stanowisko 1. Informator Archeologiczny: badania 8, 18-19.
Google Scholar

Dzieduszycka-Machnikowa A. and Lech J. 1976. Neolityczne zespoły pracowniane z kopalni krzemienia w Sąspowie. Wrocław, Warszawa, Kraków, Gdańsk: Ossolineum.
Google Scholar

Felder P. J., Rademakers P. C. M. and de Grooth M. E. Th. (eds) 1998. Excavations of prehistoric flint mines at Rijckholt-St. Geertruid (Limburg, the Netherlands) by the ‘Prehistoric Flint Mines Working Group’ of the Dutch Geological Society, Limburg section (= Archäologische Berichte 12). Bonn: Rudolf Habelt GmbH.
Google Scholar

Ginter B. 1974. Wydobywanie, przetwórstwo i dystrybucja surowców i wyrobów krzemiennych w schyłkowym paleolicie północnej części Europy Środkowej. Przegląd Archeologiczny 21, 5-122.
Google Scholar

Ginter B. 1983. Pradzieje Rudawy i okolicy. Rocznik Naukowo-Dydaktyczny WSP w Krakowie, Prace Historyczne 10, 19-41.
Google Scholar

Ginter B. and Kowalski S. 1964. Produkcja skałek do broni palnej i jej znaczenie dla poznania krzemieniarstwa czasów przedhistorycznych. Materiały Archeologiczne 5, 83-89.
Google Scholar

Ginter B. and Kozłowski J. K. 1969. Technika obróbki i typologia wyrobów kamiennych paleolitu i mezolitu. Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński.
Google Scholar

Kochman A., Matyszkiewicz J. and Wasilewski M. 2020. Siliceous rocks from the southern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (Southern Poland) as potential raw materials in the manufacture of stone tools – A characterization and possibilities of identification. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 30, 102195. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102195.
Google Scholar

Kopacz J. 2017. Eksploatacja, obróbka i dystrybucja krzemienia jurajskiego odmiany G w eneolicie. The paper presented on „I Krzemionkowskie Seminarium Archeologiczne. Wiosna 2017”, 25th March 2017. Muzeum Archeologiczne i Rezerwat Krzemionki.
Google Scholar

Kopacz J. and Pelisiak A. 1986. Rejon pracowniano-osadniczy nad Krztynią, woj. Czestochowa. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 39, 191-199.
Google Scholar

Kozłowski J. K., Ginter B., Drobniewicz B., Sobczyk K. and Burdukiewicz J. M. 1976. Brzoskwinia-Krzemionki, gm. Zabierzów, woj. krakowskie. Informator Archeologiczny: badania 10, 16-17.
Google Scholar

Krajcarz M. T., Krajcarz M., Sudoł M. and Cyrek K. 2012. From far or from near? Sources of Kraków-Częstochowa banded and chocolate silicite raw material used during the Stone Age in Biśnik Cave (southern Poland). Anthropologie (Brno) L/4, 411-425.
Google Scholar

Krajcarz M. T., Krajcarz M., Sudoł M. and Cyrek K. 2014. Wychodnie krzemienia pasiastego na Wyżynie Ryczowskiej (Wyżyna Krakowsko-Częstochowska). In D. Piotrowska, W. Piotrowski, K. Kaptur and A. Jedynak (eds), Górnictwo z epoki kamienia: Krzemionki – Polska – Europa. W 90. rocznicę odkrycia kopalni w Krzemionkach/Stone Age mining: Krzemionki – Poland – Europe. On the ninetieth anniversary of the discovery of the Krzemionki mine (= Silex et Ferrum 1). Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski: Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, 319-338.
Google Scholar

Krajcarz M. T. and Sudoł-Procyk M. 2019a. The deposits of chocolate flint in Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. In D. H. Werra, M. Sudoł-Procyk, A. Jedynak, K. Kaptur and M. T. Krajcarz (eds), UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times „The filint mining studies: archaeological excavations – extraction methods – chipping floors – distribution of raw materials and workshop products”, Program – Abstracts – Field Guide, 19-21th September 2019. Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski: Archeological Museum and Reserve „Krzemionki”, 13-15.
Google Scholar

Krajcarz M. T. and Sudoł-Procyk M. 2019b. The mine of chocolate flint in the Udorka Valley (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland), Field Trip Guide, In. D.H. Werra, M. Sudoł-Procyk, A. Jedynak, K. Kaptur and M. T. Krajcarz (eds), UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times „The filint mining studies: archaeological excavations – extraction methods – chipping floors – distribution of raw materials and workshop products”, Program – Abstracts – Field Guide, 19-21th September 2019. Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski: Archeological Museum and Reserve „Krzemionki”, 33-37.
Google Scholar

Krukowski S. 1923. Sprawozdanie z działalności państwowego konserwatora zabytków przedhistorycznych na okręg kielecki w r. 1922. Wiadomości Archeologiczne 8, 64-84.
Google Scholar

Lech J. 1981. Flint mining among the early farming communities of central Europe. Przegląd Archeologiczny 28, 5-55.
Google Scholar

Lech J. 2011. Danubian organization of flint mining in the southern part of the Polish Jura: a study from Sąspów near Cracow. In M. Capote, S. Consuegra, P. Dĺaz-Del-Rĺo and X. Terradas (eds), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times (Madrid, 4-17 October 2009) (= BAR International Series 2260). Oxford: Archaeopress, 117-128
Google Scholar

Lech J. 2012. Analysis of the chipping floors. In I. Longworth, G. Varndell and J. Lech (eds), with contributions by Ambers J., Ashton N., Cowell M., Craddock P., Hughes M., and illustrations by Crummy S., Dean P., Hughes K., Moores M., Excavations at Grimes Graves, Norfolk, 1972-1976. Fascicule 6. Exploration and excavations beyond the deep mines including Gale de Giberne Sieveking’s excavations in the West Field. London: British Museum Pubns Ltd., 90-121.
Google Scholar

Lech J. and Werra D. H. 2019. The flint mine site Wierzbica ‘Zele’ (Poland) and Bronze Age workshop materials after forty years of new research (1979-2018). Anthropologica et Præhistorica 128 (2017), 81-95.
Google Scholar

Matyszkiewicz J. and Kochman A. 2020. The provenance of siliceous rocks from the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (Poland) used as raw-materials in the manufacture of siliceous artefacts from Central-Eastern Europe; An old problem in new light. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 34, 102600. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102600
Google Scholar

Pelisiak A. 2006. The exploitation and distribution of flints from the central part of Polish Jura in the Late Neolithic times. Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia 1, 73-86.
Google Scholar

Schild R. 1976. Flint mining and trade in Polish prehistory as seen from the perspective of the chocolate flint of central Poland. A second approach. Acta Archaeologica Carpathica 16, 147-176.
Google Scholar

Schild R., Królik H. and Marczak M. 1985. Kopalnia krzemienia czekoladowego w Tomaszowie. Wrocław: Ossolineum.
Google Scholar

Sobczyk K. 1993. The Late Palaeolithic flint workshops at Brzoskwinia-Krzemionki near Kraków (= Zeszyty Naukowe UJ. Prace Archeologiczne 55). Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński.
Google Scholar

Sudoł-Procyk M. 2020. Magdalenian settlement in the south-estern part of the Ryczów Upland (Polish Jura). New data and the importance of the region. Anthropologie (Brno) LVIII/2-3, 285-302.
Google Scholar

Sudoł-Procyk M. 2021. Chocolate flint outcrops in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. State of know-ledge on mining, use and distribution of the raw material and further research perspectives. In A. Nemergut, I. Cheben and K. Pyżewicz (eds), Fossile directeur. Multiple perspectives on lithic studies in Central and Eastern Europe. Študijné zvesti 2-2021 Archeologického ústav SAV – Supplementum 2, 1-13.
Google Scholar

Sudoł-Procyk M., Budziszewski J., Krajcarz M. T., Jakubczak M. and Szubski M. 2018a. The chocolate flint mines in the Udorka Valley (Częstochowa Upland) – a preliminary report on the field and lidar surveys. In D. H. Werra and M. Woźny (eds), Between History and Archaeology Papers in honour of Jacek Lech. Oxford: Archaeopress Archaeology, 89-102.
Google Scholar

Sudoł M., Cyrek K., Krajcarz M. T. and Krajcarz M. 2016. Around the Biśnik Cave – The area of human penetration during Palaeolithic. Anthropologie (Brno) 44/1, 49-68.
Google Scholar

Sudoł-Procyk M., Krajcarz M. T. and Krajcarz, M. 2018b. The use of landscape and georesources at microregional scale during Late Glacial and Early Holocene – the case study of Udorka Valley (Polish Jura). Book of abstracts. 18th UISPP World Congress, Paris, 4-9 June 2018, 2376-2377.
Google Scholar

Sudoł-Procyk M. and Krajcarz M. T. 2021. The use of landscape and georesources at microregional scale during the younger part of the Late Glacial in the south- eastern part of Ryczów Upland (Polish Jura). In F. Bostyn, F. Giligny and P. Topping (eds), Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age. Oxford: Archaeopress, 16-30.
Google Scholar

Tarantini M., Eramo G., Monno A. and Muntoni I. M. 2016. The Gargano Promontory Flint. Mining practices and archaeometric characterisation. In A. Tomasso, D. Binder, G. Martino, G. Porraz, P. Simon and N. Naudinot (eds), Ressources lithiques, productions et transferts entre Alpes et Méditerranée. Paris: Société préhistorique française (Séances de la SPF 5), 249-267.
Google Scholar

Werra D. H., Woźny M., Brandl M. and Hauzenberger Ch. 2019. History of research and flint exploitation in Zelków (South Poland) – gunflint workshop – the use and meaning of flint in modern times. Anthropologica et Præhistorica 128 (2017), 57-69.
Google Scholar

Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk

sudol@umk.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4099-5893

Affiliation:

Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Szosa Bydgoska 44/48, 87–100 Toruń, Poland Poland

Maciej T. Krajcarz

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1240-0664

Affiliation:

Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda St. No 51/55, 00–818 Warszawa, Poland Poland

Magdalena Malak

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9210-8179

Affiliation:

Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Szosa Bydgoska St. No 44/48, 87–100 Toruń, Poland Poland

Dagmara H. Werra

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2233-1663

Affiliation:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 105, Solidarności Avenue, 00-140 Warsaw, Poland Poland