Grey zones of production: Discussing the technology of tools at the Lojanik quarry in west-central Serbia

Abstract

Flaked stone artefacts found on the quarry Lojanik in west-central Serbia are good examples of how the function of non-diagnostic pieces could be determined through technological and use-wear analysis. In this study, we present the examples of surface clusters and artefacts from stratigraphic layers. Our attention is focused on the prevailing category of fragmented raw materials in the initial phase of knapping, preforms, debris, shattered pieces of anthropogenic origin and an immense number of artefacts and geofacts. The study of mines and quarries, as well as distribution of the raw materials that come from the central Balkans is an understudied phenomenon. Flaked stone artefacts found on the outcrops of the Lojanik hilltop is a good example of how we can apply technological, petrological and use-wear analysis on this type of site. Keeping in mind the loose context of the finds, as well as the lack of any datable material, this issue has to be approached with a lot of caution, since the locality itself seems to show human presence during Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The main focus of the study was put on the prevailing categories linked to the initial extraction of raw material on the site, as well as initial steps of shaping the raw material into cores. Samples were collected from several outcrops and so-called workshops from two localities of the hilltop: Lojanik 1 and Lojanik 2. The focal points of interest are categories that include waste, shatter, technical or shaping flakes. Worked pieces of raw material are now in the central position, and the study of these pieces have opened new grounds for this and similar occurrences - the study of so-called “grey zones” of production.