The use of phosphate minerals for determination of the provenance of flint used by prehistoric communities in East-Central Europe

The area of the Vistula is rich in deposits of several kinds of flint that were widely used in prehistoric times: ‘chocolate’, grey white-spotted, Jurassic-Kraków, striped (banded), and on its eastern borders, Volhynian. The differentiation of these flint types and determination of their characteristic features can be achieved by applying mineralogical studies. Samples of flint from Poland and Ukraine were collected in flint outcrops and deposits used by prehistoric communities from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age and analysed to determine distinguishing characteristics. The mineralogical research focused on the accessory minerals present in the flint samples. The most interesting and useful minerals recognized are apatites, and phosphates of rare earth elements. Their chemical composition is variable and characteristic for samples from different outcrops. The authors discuss the results of chemical analyses of the phosphates of flints from different geological formations. These analytical findings allow the determination of the diagnostic features of the raw materials that were used in this part of Europe by prehistoric communities.