Raw material's base of the eneolithic industry of chopping tools from lake Onega (an attempt of geochemical study)

The article is devoted to the results of the first attempt of geochemical investigation of the lithic raw materials (slightly metamorphosed tuffs) that were used to produce chopping tools of the so-called Russian Karelian type on the western shore of Lake Onega during the Eneolithic period. The implements of this type are especially noteworthy because of their role in the long-distance exchange. Conducted petrographical studies confirm that the material for these tools, including those found at the distance of 1000 km. from the present-day Russian Karelia, must have originated on the western shore of Lake Onega. Geochemical study with the aid of ICP-MS method was performed with the aim to define a more precise location of the raw material procurement area and to obtain the geochemical “passport” of the material that was used to make these tools in the workshops on the western shore of Lake Onega, where the full cycle of production took place. The research was also conducted to compare it in the future with geochemical characteristics of the material of finds that were found outside the production center. The study confirmed the principal unity of the raw material base of all studied workshops and demonstrated that the procurement area was connected to the outcrops of metatuffs in the rock massif to the north from the outfall of the Shuya River on the western shore of Lake Onega between villages Shuiskaya and Shuiskaya Chupa, as well as to the closest boulder agglomerations to the north from the lower reaches of the Shuya River.