Pages:  95-103 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp25195103

The techniques for flint artifacts and raw material correlations have been developed since the mid-20th century along with the advances made in mineralogical and geochemical analytical methods. The article presents an overview of attempted correlations that have been published in Russia and abroad as well as examines their modest success rate. Even in the best cases, positive results (i.e., identifying a flint artifact and its respective flint source) barely reach 20% of the material studied. It has been shown that reliable correlation results can be achieved only by using a suite of research methods such as a petrographic method and a quantitative method of chemical composition analysis. The article contains the following geologic information about flint as a rock that can be of interest to archeologists: how flints, jaspers, and jasperoids are different, how a source of flint raw material is associated with a regional geologic setting, what sources of information can be useful when planning flint artifact-material correlations. The authors briefly review methods of geochemical and mineralogical analysis and compare non-destructive and destructive methods (and to what extent they can be destructive).

Keywords: stone raw material, flint, flint outcrops, geochemical analysis, structural analysis, petrographical analysis

Information about authors:

Maria Komagorova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Fersman Mineralogical Museum, the Russian Academy of Sciences. Lenin Ave., 18/2, Moscow, 119071, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0004-1111-8159

Maria Zheltova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191181, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-4144-6490