Pages: 474-482

A selected review of the written records enables to affirm that the white crust used in the incised or stamped decoration of the pottery found in the Old World had been used, though not continuously, during a long chronological period from the Neolithic to the beginning of the new era. The first so far microscopic analysis of such crust pastes, mostly of the Tripolje cultural items, confirmed that the mineral used for this purpose came from a range of natural material (spongit, kaolin, clay marl, fossil bones, gypsum), which often tends to belong to certain geological regions, which in its turn allows using composition of the pastes in identification purposes: for instance, the spongit paste is typical to the Middle Dniester region, the kaolin one – to the crust formation area of weathering of the Ukrainian shield, bone – to the region between Danube and South Boug rivers. The pottery identified on the Early Tripolje settlement at Bernashevka, decorated with both spongit and kaolin pastes is the evidence to presence in this community of at least two distinctly separated technological traditions, the western and the eastern ones. This proves migration of individuals not only from the west to the east, but also in the opposite direction already at the early Tripolje stage. The immersion method for study of the paste material under the polarized microscope is recommended for wide usage, as it is the most operational method, which requires the minimum samples and anticipates, if necessary, the more detailed mineral and petrographic analysis.