Optional and inconvenient additions: rounded retouched tools from the Micoquian site of Pietraszyn 49a, Poland

Andrzej Wiśniewski; Adam Kobyłka; Dominika Tokarz; Katarzyna Zarzecka-Szubińska; Katarzyna Pyżewicz; Damian Stefański; Marcel Weiß

doi:10.23858/SA/77.2025.2.3881

Published: 2025-12-16

Vol. 77 No. 2 (2025)

Optional and inconvenient additions: rounded retouched tools from the Micoquian site of Pietraszyn 49a, Poland

Andrzej Wiśniewski , Adam Kobyłka , Dominika Tokarz , Katarzyna Zarzecka-Szubińska , Katarzyna Pyżewicz , Damian Stefański , Marcel Weiß

Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

Section: Field Survey and Materials

https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/77.2025.2.3881

Abstract

The rounded retouched tools that have been singled out in the Micoquian assemblages (‘Keilmessergruppe’)
have long been an enigma. Even though their presence was recognised as early as the early 20th century, they received their formal name, the so-called ‘groszaki’, much later. More recently, similar tools have been recorded at the open-air site Pietraszyn 49a, SW Poland. These examples are slightly larger than average. They were made from flakes and a chunk. During production, marginal and invasive retouch and thinning were used. The same technical means were used to produce bifacial tools. These specimens were compared with other tools of this type in Poland, both in metric and morphological terms. On this basis, the tools differed in this respect within and between assemblages. Nevertheless, the repetition of the oval forms suggests that they may be the result of
the transmission of cultural information.

Keywords:

Groszaki, Micoquian, technology, geometric-morphometric, function, cultural information

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Wiśniewski, A., Kobyłka, A., Tokarz, D., Zarzecka-Szubińska, K., Pyżewicz, K., Stefański, D., & Weiß, M. (2025). Optional and inconvenient additions: rounded retouched tools from the Micoquian site of Pietraszyn 49a, Poland. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, 77(2), 177–194. https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/77.2025.2.3881

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Andrzej Wiśniewski

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1379-333X

Affiliation:

Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland, Poland

Adam Kobyłka

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1529-6903

Affiliation:

Doctoral College of Archaeology, Art and Culture, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland, Poland

Dominika Tokarz

dominika.tokarz@uwr.edu.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9249-9037

Affiliation:

Doctoral College of Archaeology, Art and Culture, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland, Poland

Katarzyna Zarzecka-Szubińska

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5693-334X

Affiliation:

Department of Paleozoology University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland, Poland

Katarzyna Pyżewicz

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9228-9347

Affiliation:

Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, Poland

Damian Stefański

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7203-6796

Affiliation:

Archeological Museum in Kraków, Kraków, Poland, Poland

Marcel Weiß

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0778-5520

Affiliation:

State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, State Museum of Prehistory Halle, Halle (Saale), Germany, Germany