The Middle Neolithic and Chalcolithic Chipped Stone Assemblages of Transylvania: Their Exploitation, Manufacture and Trans-Carpathian Trade

This paper deals with the analysis of the chipped stone assemblages recovered from the Transylvanian sites of Miercurea Sibiului-Petriş and Peştera Ungurească in Cheile Turzii Gorge. They were settled, for different purposes, during part of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. The industries have been studied from the points of view of the raw materials exploitation and trade, and the typology of the chipped stone implements. Although the complexes from the two sites are poor, they show that the chippable stone resources varied through the times, according to the different cultural aspects represented from each site. Their procurement did not depend exclusively upon geological and geographical factors, but also upon human choices. The most important exogenous sources are represented by Carpathian obsidians, “Balkan” and Volhynian flints.