Exotic flint and flint substitutes material in stone age and bronze age settlements in Lithuania

This article gives the results of researches carried out by a group of scientists from the Lithuanian Institute of History, the Institute of Geology and Geography and the Pedagogical University according to the project "Siliceous rocks as a raw material for prehistoric ware" supported by the Lithuanian State Science and Studies Foundation. The goal of the project was to explore the sources of various siliceous rock raw materials and their use in Stone and Bronze ages in the territory of Lithuania. Concerning the characteristics and geochemical structure of ancient Lithuanian settlements ware and their siliceous raw material, a special article is made ready for press by the authors of this publication (Baltrunas et al. 2006). In Lithuania, flint concretions can be found in comparatively deeply lying deposits of the Cretaceous system (period) (Fig. 1). Flint concretions are common in the southwest of the country in chalk and chalk marl from Turon to the cretaceous rocks' ridge of Maestricht. Deposit type flints are especially often in Santon - Campan cretaceous rocks. They vary much in shapes and sizes and can reach even 0,5 m in diameter. Quaternary glaciers have destroyed part of upper-lying Cretaceous carbonaceous rocks, covered them with morainic deposits and scattered flint pieces about south of the line Klaipeda-Raseiniai-Kaunas-Vilnius (Fig. 1). Beyond the spread line, flint is abundant among Quaternary deposits. Chalk blocks or their washout residuals can be found most often in the areas of Varena region: Matuizos, Mielupiai, Akmuo settlements, in the zone on both sides of the Merkys between Pamerkiai and Valkininkai settlements, in Salcininkai region near Jasiunai and elsewhere. Gaize that is often met with among silicites represents usually a grey and porous rock with prevailing silicon dioxide. In Lithuania, gaize appears in the Upper Cretaceous Santon - Campan layers and the Paleogene Alkas formation deposits (Katinas, 1994)Geologijos ir geografijos institutasLietuvos istorijos institutasVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij