SESSION 6 - Characterising lithic sources
Heterogeneity of knappable raw material used for chipped stone artifact production at the Mesolithic site of Lepenski Vir (Serbia)

Lepenski Vir is a Mesolithic-Neolithic archaeological site situated in Eastern Serbia, on the right bank of the Danube River. Although it is most famous for its unique sculptures made of sandstone, it is also significant in terms of stone tools. Mineralogical-petrographical analyses of the investigated collection of chipped stone artefacts, represented by 910 samples, were done in order to characterize the raw material and its provenance. The results of research confirm the heterogeneity of the stone material used for making tools. The majority of the knapped stone tools were made of cherts and radiolarite (around 70%), quartzite (around 20%), acid volcanic rocks and their volcaniclastics (around 6%), whereas silicified limestones, basalts, diorite and gabbro represent the rest of the material.