Archaeomineralogical investigations of the stone age in the Volga-Kama region

Archaeomineralogical investigations at the sites of the Stone Age and Chal-colithic are aimed at studying lithologic, mineralogic, and petrographic characteristics of used raw materials, important to reveal stone splitting technology and formation of stone industries. Flint artefacts (spalls, debitage) from the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Meso-lithic sites, and siliceous rocks samples from the nearby deposits of the Perm period were investigated (Fig. 2: 1, 2). It was estabHshed that at the workshop sites raw material of law quaHty was used, which determined technical and typological character of local industries (Fig. 1). The electronic paramagnetic resonance analysis of a flint flake points to a preliminary heating of the artifact. Using this kind of analysis is promising for investigation of early technology of flint heat treatment (Fig. 2).