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Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie – an outline of the issues

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  • State Archeological Museum in Warsaw, Poland, Warsaw

Abstract and Figures

The analysis of the Middle and Late Neolithic settlement pattern confirms the thesis of the significant role of the middle Kamienna river basin in the region of the Sandomierz Upland and the Iłża Forehills as the settlement base for banded flint mines in the area of Krzemionki Opatowskie. Some of the settlements of the Funnel Beaker culture located in the northern and central part of the Sandomierz Upland could be related to exploitation and processing of the: banded and the Świeciechów flint raw materials. The area of the right-bank tributaries of the Kamienna river is considered a settlement base for the prehistoric banded flint mines of the Globular Amphora culture. The surface survey and test excavation carried out in the middle course of the Kamienna river in the Iłża Forehills, as well as archaeological excavations in the mining field, showed the existence of quite numerous sites from the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age.
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Sprawozdania archeologiczne 74/1, 2022
pl iSSn 0081-3834
doi: 10.23858/Sa/74.2022.1.3073
This article is published in an open-access under the CC BY 4.0 license (https: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Barbara Sałacińska1, Sławomir Sałaciński2
SETTLEMENT BASE OF THE NEOLITHIC
BANDED FLINT MINES IN KRZEMIONKI OPATOWSKIE –
AN OUTLINE OF THE ISSUES
ABSTRACT
Sałacińska B. and Sałaciński S. 2022. Settlement base of the Neolithic banded int mines in Krzemionki
Opatowskie – an outline of the issues. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 74/1, 67-104.
The analysis of the Middle and Late Neolithic settlement pattern conrms the thesis of the signicant role of the
middle Kamienna river basin in the region of the Sandomierz Upland and the Iłża Forehills as the settlement
base for banded int mines in the area of Krzemionki Opatowskie. Some of the settlements of the Funnel Beaker
culture located in the northern and central part of the Sandomierz Upland could be related to exploitation and
processing of the: banded and the Świeciechów int raw materials. The area of the right-bank tributaries of the
Kamienna river is considered a settlement base for the prehistoric banded int mines of the Globular Amphora
culture.
The surface survey and test excavation carried out in the middle course of the Kamienna river in the Iłża
Forehills, as well as archaeological excavations in the mining eld, showed the existence of quite numerous sites
from the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age.
Keywords: Funnel Beaker culture, Globular Amphora culture, Sandomierz Upland, Iłża Forehills, Neolithic
settlement, int raw materials
Received: 06.04.2022; Revised: 26.05.2022; Accepted: 27.10.2022
1 State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw, Długa st. 52; 00-241 Warszawa, Poland; neolit@pma.pl;
ORCID: 0000-0001-6126-397X
2 State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw, Długa st. 52; 00-241 Warszawa, Poland; neolit@pma.pl;
ORCID: 0000-0002-0767-8979
68 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
INTRODUCTION
The prehistoric banded int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
district, were discovered in 1922 by the outstanding geologist Jan Samsonowicz. The mines
have been studied by several generations of Polish archaeologists, and the results of their
work have been published in specialist and popular science national and European publi-
cations. The main focus was on the issues of prehistoric mining, production and distribu-
tion of products and conservation issues (Sałaciński 1997; Matraszek and Sałaciński 2005,
74-89; Sałacińska and Sałaciński 2007; Bąbel 2015, 28-41). The on-mine and next-to-mine
settlement was dealt with on a smaller scale. Naturally, all researchers recorded facts re-
lated to this issue (Krukowski 1939, 79-83; Żurowski 1962, 28; Borkowski et al. 1989, 196-
207; Zalewski 1989; Sałaciński 1997, 22-23; Bąbel 2015, 129-131, 183-199; Gamble et al.
2018, 73).
In this article, we want to pay attention to the issues related to the settlement base of
communities that carried out prehistoric exploitation of banded int in the mines in
Krzemionki Opatowskie. We focus on selected archaeological sites, mentioning their loca-
tion, chronology and cultural afliation. The full development of this issue would, however,
exceed the volume of this type of publication.
The territorial coverage of the study includes the southern fringes of the Iłża Forehills
(the central part of the Kamienna river basin, the immediate vicinity of the complex of
banded int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie) and the northern edge of the Sandomierz
Upland (basin of the Kamionka, Obręczówka, Gierczanka and upper Opatówka rivers),
located within the Kielce Upland (Kondracki 1994, 207, 212, 213). The chronological and
cultural scope of the study covers the Neolithic (the Funnel Beaker culture – FBC, the
Globular Amphora culture GAC) and marginally the Early Bronze Age (the Mierzano-
wice culture – MC).
GEOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
The Iłża Forehills and the Sandomierz Upland are two different regions in terms of
geology, geomorphology and environment. The Iłża Forehills is located within the out-
cropping of rocks of the Jurassic period, and in its eastern part, in the lower reaches of the
Kamienna river of the Cretaceous period ones. It lies in the so-called north eastern
Mesozoic fringe of the Holy Cross Mountains. In prehistory, this region was a place of ex-
tracting various siliceous rocks – “chocolate” ints, banded ints, Świeciechów and Ożarów
ints.
The landform of the region is characterised by low ranges of hills. There are mainly
sandy and sandy-rocky podzolic and pseudo-podzolic soils here. The most important river
is the Kamienna river, and except for this, the area is largely devoid of surface waters.
69
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Small, essentially periodic watercourses and surface ponding occur in Ostrowiec Święto-
krzyski and Kolonia Miłkowska (Budziszewski and Michniak 1989, 151; Kondracki 1994,
207; Kowalski 1997, 19; Jedynak et al. 2008, 49-51).
The foundation of the Sandomierz Upland is a geological continuation of the Holy
Cross Mountains. The whole upland is covered by loess deposits of considerable thickness.
The land area is quite at, cut by the valley systems of the Vistula tributaries Koprzy-
wianka and Opatówka rivers, and the tributaries of the Kamienna river – Świślina, Ka-
mionka, Obręczówka and Gierczanka rivers (some of the river names have been changed:
Gierczanka to Przepaść, and Obręczówka to Krzczonowianka; some rivers on physical and
geographical maps have different names: Kamionka/Szewnianka, Garbutka/Garbatka;
the article uses the old names of rivers, accepted and still used in the archaeological litera-
ture: cf. Kowalski 1975b; Jedynak 2009, 157; Kaptur 2010, 55; Gałka 2016; Kowalewska-
Marszałek 2019, 128). The northern border of the upland is formed by the Kamienna river
valley and the slope of the loess cover between Ćmielów and Zawichost. The fertile loess
soils belong to the brown earth class, and sometimes to the black earth class (Kondracki
1994, 207, 212, 213). It is a region that was seen as conducive to settlement and farming
already since the Neolithic (Kowalewska-Marszałek 2019, further literature there).
The two analysed regions are geographically separated by the Kamienna river valley,
and in terms of communication, as a water communication route – it connects them.
CHRONOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL FRAMEWORK
Since the discovery of the mining complex in Krzemionki Opatowskie, several genera-
tions of Polish archaeologists and other researchers related to archaeology, initially on
a secondary basis, and then on a larger scale, dealt with the problem of the settlement base
of Neolithic banded int mines. The traces of settlement located within mine complexes,
in places adjacent to the mining eld in the area of natural water reservoirs – sinkholes, in
staged int processing camps located between mines and miners’ mother settlements, as
well as in users’ settlements were analysed (selected works: Krukowski 1939; Krzak 1961;
1962; 1993; Żurowski 1962; Kruk 1973; 1980; 2008; Balcer 1975; 2002; Kowalewska-Mar-
szałek 1986; 2018; 2019; Borkowski et al. 1989; 1991; Migal and Jaworowska 1992; Za-
lewski 1996; Sałaciński 1997; Kruk and Milisauskas 1999; Jedynak et al. 2008; Jedynak
and Kaptur 2008; Uzarowicz-Chmielewska and Sałacińska 2013; Bąbel 2014; 2015;
Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020).
The complex of banded int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie itself is located in the
Iłża Forehills. In terms of geological structure, it is located in the north-eastern periphery
of the Holy Cross Mountains, in the area of the Magoń-Folwarczysko syncline (Budzisze-
wski and Michniak 1989). It is situated about 3-3.5 km from the Kamienna valley (distance
measured in a straight line to the east).
70 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
The prehistoric exploitation of banded int in Krzemionki Opatowskie was carried out
in the form of surface pits, pit-niche, stall-and-pillar and stall mines. The population of the
FBC began the extraction of the banded int with use of mining methods. They exploited
shallow pit and pit-niche mines. This is conrmed by the nds of FBC pottery sherds, com-
ing from the outer part of the mining eld. The population of the GAC continued to exploit
and developed extractive mining techniques – exploitation was carried out in stall-and-
pillar and stall mines. This is conrmed by the nds of pottery fragments of this culture
and the forms of roughouts and of tool semi-nished products with quadrilateral section
– axe blades and chisels.
After the end of GAC, the exploitation of banded int disappears, and products made
of this raw material are rarely found in the inventories of the Corded Ware (CWC) and
Złocka culture. Such a break could last from the end of the GAC to the beginning of the
Bronze Age and amounted to about 400-500 years (Balcer and Kowalski 1978, 138-139).
There was a renewal of use of the mine on a limited scale in the Early Bronze Age when
communities of the MC began activity in the mining area re-digging Neolithic waste heaps.
This is conrmed, among other things, by pottery sherds, semi-nished products of bifa-
cial axes and remains of hoes (Borkowski et al. 1989, 201-203; Migal and Jaworowska
1992, 52, 54, 56; Krakowska 1996; Migal and Sałaciński 1997, 105; Sałaciński 1997, 23;
Balcer 2002, 21; Bąbel 2014, 80; 2015, 113, 114, 185-193; Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020,
363-368). In the Sandomierz Upland, mainly bifacial axes and heart-shaped projectile
points were found in MC assemblages and in the form of loose nds. Furthermore traces
of banded int tools are known from the sites of the Trzciniec culture in the Sandomierz
and Lublin Uplands, proving the use of banded material to a negligible extent in the Bronze
Age (Balcer and Kowalski 1978, 139, 140).
Of utmost signicance for research on the importance of prehistoric exploitation of
banded int are the analysis of Bogdan Balcer and Krzysztof Kowalski on the distribution
of products of this raw material, mainly axe blades and chisels with quadrilateral section
in the FBC and GAC, and bifacial axes in contexts of the MC. The maximum range of oc-
currence of banded int artefacts in the FBC was 250 km from the deposits, and in the
GAC – 660 km from the deposits, while in the MC – 65 km from the deposits (Balcer and
Kowalski 1978; Balcer 2015, 128, 129).
A very important issue is the dating of the mine complex in Krzemionki Opatowskie
and of the banded int exploitation of the settlement base. The earliest phases of banded
int exploitation occurs in the years 5000-4700 BC. On the other hand, the most intensive
mining work was carried out in the period of 3600-3000 BC, with most of the analysed
samples falling within a shorter range of approx. 300 years from 3300 to 3000 BC
(Borkowski and Zalewski 1992; Pazdur et al. 1992; Nowak 2009, 327, 334; Bąbel 2015,
124-128). The exploitation of banded int in niche mines was estimated at around 3340 BC
or 3220 BC, in pillar mines around 3370 BC or 3340 BC, 3210 BC and in stall mines 3270 BC
or 3110 BC, 3070 BC (Borkowski and Zalewski 1992; Pazdur et al. 1992) .
71
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
In the Sandomierz Upland, the beginnings of the FBC settlement are set at 3650/3600 BC,
the intensication of FBC settlement falls in the years 3500-3300 BC, and its development
could last until 2900/2800 BC.
The settlement in loess areas is considered representative for the south-eastern group
of the FBC. On the Sandomierz Upland, there was one of the concentrations of the settle-
ment of this culture. The aforementioned group appeared in different areas replacing the
earlier settlement of the Lublin-Volhynian culture from its late stage. Its chronology was
determined in older publications and was presented in detail by Piotr Włodarczak, who
states that the determinations of the absolute age of assemblages from the Sandomierz
Upland are consistent with the results of typological analyses developed for the materials
of the south-eastern group of the FBC. Its inventories should be linked with the middle and
the late stages of the classical phase of development, with the existence of large settle-
ments, with two development stages: II (phase II-IIIA – from 3650 BC to 3400/3300 BC),
and III (phase IIIB-IV from 3400/3300 BC to 2900/2800 BC), which can be synchronised
with the two main classic development phases from the KPL settlement in Bronocice,
Pińczów district (BR II and BR III). According to P. Włodarczak, it is possible to divide stage
III into two shorter time sections IIIA and IIIB (Włodarczak 2006; Nowak 2009, 325-344;
Kadrow 2009, 140-142; Kruk and Milisauskas 2018, 116-132, older literature there).
In the Sandomierz Upland, the GAC settlement began at the turn of the 4th and 3rd mil-
lennium BC, and perhaps the rst centuries of the 3rd millennium BC. Until then, there
were undoubtedly stable FBC settlements. Their disappearance probably took place dur-
ing the rst two centuries of the 3rd millennium BC as a result of the GAC population ex-
pansion, and – soon after – the CWC population expansion (Włodarczak 2006, 56, 57).
The Globular Amphora culture, according to Janusz Kruk and Sarunas Milisauskas, is
dated in the Sandomierz and Lublin Uplands (Kruk and Milisauskas 1999, 192) to the
range of approx. 2900 BC (2400 bc) to 2500 BC (2060 bc). These data are based also on
the studies of Józef Ścibior and ndings of Sławomir Kadrow and Marzena Szmyt for the
eastern group of the Globular Amphora culture dated from 2950 to 2350 BC (Ścibior 1991;
Kadrow and Szmyt 1996, 103-111).
SETTLEMENT TRACES WITHIN THE MINING FIELD
IN KRZEMIONKI OPATOWSKIE (ON-MINE ENCAMPMENTS)
Stefan Krukowski, the author of an excellent monograph of banded int mines (Kru-
kowski 1939), was a precursor of research on prehistoric int mining in Poland, and at the
same time an outstanding expert in Krzemionki Opatowskie. He argued that the miners
established encampments on the mining eld and beyond it. These were not suitable for
use in winter and their occupation was limited to the warmer seasons, they were located
every year as open-air or sites with shelters. Population groups involved in the extraction
72 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
of banded int were coming to the mines in the spring and were going back to their vil-
lages in the fall. Exploitation was discontinued for the winter. The miners also camped in
the vicinity of the sinkholes, adjacent to the mines which were constituting for them a source
of rainwater (Krukowski 1939, 77-80).
Traces of Neolithic and Early Bronze miners’ camps (mainly in the form of pottery
sherds of the FBC, the GAC and the MC) were discovered directly at the exploited mines
(Borkowski et al. 1989, 201-203; Migal and Jaworowska 1992, 52, 54, 56; Migal and Sała-
ciński 1997, 105; Bąbel 2014, 80; 2015, 185-193).
In the area of the shaft of the deep stall mine 7/610, during the excavation work carried
out by the Team for the Study of Prehistoric Flint Mining of the State Archaeological Mu-
seum in Warsaw, sixteen variously oriented post-holes were found and interpreted as the
remains of a roong structure covering the shaft. Also discovered were a miners’ encamp-
ment, a complex of a domestic nature, bonre traces and a int processing workshop
where axe blades were produced and mining tools of stone and int were repaired. Apart
from mass int materials, fragments of the GAC ceramics were discovered in two clusters
(Migal and Jaworowska 1992; Borkowski 1997, 46, 47). Vessels analogous to them have
been discovered, among other places, at the settlement of the GAC in Mierzanowice (Bal-
cer 1963, Pl. II: 3, IV: 4, V: 8, VII: 20, 21). The shaft roong structure conrms the multi-
season nature of mining works (Bąbel 2015, 97, 98). According to the radiocarbon dates,
the settlement complex on the surface (encampment) should be dated to the calendar age
range to 3280-2940 BC. From the excavations of the underground mine, dates of between
3460 and 2970 BC were obtained. Differences in chronological terms are explained by the
inuence of natural external factors (Migal and Jaworowska 1992, 55).
SETTLEMENTS WITH DEBRIS FROM VARIOUS STAGES OF FLINT
PROCESSING LOCATED IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF THE
MINING EXPLOITATION FIELD IN KRZEMIONKI OPATOWSKIE,
IN THE AREA OF SINKHOLES
Traces of Neolithic and Early Bronze settlement in the area of the sinkholes (Fig. 1) by
the banded int mines, neighbouring with the exploitation eld in Krzemionki Opato-
wskie, were recorded during inspections and surface surveys conducted by S. Krukowski in
the 20s and 30s of the 20th century. The material gathered included artefacts obtained from
the local population and collected at his request (Krukowski 1939; Sałaciński and Sałacińska
2020). Close to the sinkholes, in addition to artefacts of domestic type, including FBC and
GAC ceramic fragments (Bąbel 2015, 183-199). Neolithic int processing workshops of the
on-mine type were also discovered, in which roughouts and semi-nished products of axes
were produced, having strict analogies to artefacts originating from the mining eld (Figs
2: b, d, 3: a; Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020, 361, gs 9-11). On a smaller scale there was
73
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Fig. 1. Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district.
A – location of the exploitation field, aerial photo, the 1960s; B – the Kał Hutny Dół sinkhole in the 1930s;
C – the Kał Dwojak sinkhole in the 1930s.
Photo from the collection of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw
74 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
Fig. 2. Core forms of banded flint from encampments located at sinkholes: a – Krzemionki Opatowskie,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, the Kał Plinik sinkhole, semi-finished product of a chisel with quadrilat-
eral section, Globular Amphora culture; b – Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district,
the Kał Chodnik sinkhole, semi-finished product of an axe with quadrilateral section, Funnel Beaker cul-
ture/Globular Amphora culture; c – Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, the Kał
Trojak sinkhole, semi-finished product of a chisel with quadrilateral section, Globular Amphora culture;
d – Kąty near Jelenia Góra (now part of the village of Sudół), Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, semi-
finished product of an axe with quadrilateral section, Funnel Beaker culture/Globular Amphora culture;
e – Kąty near Jelenia Góra (now part of the village of Sudół), Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, pick,
Globular Amphora culture. Drawn by B. Karch, graphic design by B. Sałacińska
75
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Fig. 3. Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, the Kał Wielki Lej Krasowy or Kał
Wielki Dół sinkhole), core forms of banded flint from an encampment located at the sinkhole: a semi-
finished product of an axe with quadrilateral section, Funnel Beaker culture/Globular Amphora culture;
b – semi-finished product of a bifacial axe, Mierzanowice culture; c – hoe, Mierzanowice culture; d – flake
core, Mierzanowice culture. Drawn by B. Karch, graphic design by B. Sałacińska
76 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
evidence for the production of chisel-forms (Fig. 2: a, c; Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020,
361, gs 12, 13). The close relations with the nearby mines are also conrmed by the min-
ing tools distinguished in the materials from the camps situated by the sinkholes – int
wedges and picks made of banded int material (Fig. 2: e; Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020,
364, g. 17).
Among the tools made of banded int, both from mine elds and from sinkholes, hoes
were also distinguished (Fig. 3: c). They functionally served as digger-tools to work in the
upper parts of the shafts and digging up waste heaps to obtain int chunks. They are dated
to the Early Bronze Age and are associated with the MC (Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020,
364, 367, gs 9: a, 19: a, 20). The semi-nished products of bifacial axe blades are also as-
sociated with the MC (Fig. 3: b; Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020, 361, 364, gs 14, 15) and
small cores intended for obtaining akes for the production of arrowheads (Fig. 3: d;
Sałaciński and Sałacińska 2020, 371, gs 21: a, 23).
In the years 1986-1988, Marek Zalewski from the Team for Research on Prehistoric
Flint Mining of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw conducted excavations near
one of the sinkhole called by the archaeologists ‘Kał Cebuli’ or ‘Kał Smużek’, located south-
west of the border of the mining eld. One of the main goals of this work was an attempt
to dene the connections between the camp and the mines. The analysis of the historic
material obtained from the research shows that all production steps of the int axes of the
FBC or the GAC have been produced here, from the initial stage – raw nodules, rough outs,
massive cortical akes, through shaping – scar akes of several series, to the nishing
stages of axe blades – fragments of grindstones (Zalewski 1996).
The workshop-type material discovered at the sinkholes are a testimony to the stages
of processing of banded int in the camps. Excavation research in the area of Kał Cebuli
conrmed the ndings of S. Krukowski about the great importance of natural water reser-
voirs in sinkholes for the camp of Neolithic and Early Bronze miners exploiting banded
int in nearby mines (Zalewski 1996, 359, 373; Sałaciński 1997, 23).
In the times of operation of the mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie, not only rough
outs and semi-nished axes reached the miners’ home settlements, but also, although on
a much smaller scale, fragments of int nodules (concretions) used for other types of
products, e.g. cores, blade-and-ake blanks and ultimately retouched tools (Sałaciński
1989). The production of semi-nished axes of banded int on a mass scale was also car-
ried out in int processing workshops at settlements of the FBC, e.g. in Podgrodzie, Os-
trowiec Świętokrzyski district (Krzak 1966; Balcer 1975, 185), and above all at the site on
Gawroniec Hill in Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district (Krukowski 1939, 89; Balcer
2002, 130-145).
Apart from the traces of encampment within the mine area and at the sinkholes neigh-
bouring the mining eld, B. Balcer distinguished the mother settlement, the production
settlements and the users’ settlements (Balcer 1975, 30).
77
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
SETTLEMENTS OF THE FUNNEL BEAKER CULTURE
IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE SANDOMIERZ UPLAND
The Sandomierz Upland, especially its northern part (Fig. 4), is considered a settle-
ment base for the population of the FBC that exploited banded int in the mines in Krze-
mionki Opatowskie (Krukowski 1939, 84-97; Wiślański 1979b, 246-248; Balcer 1975, 247;
Kruk 1980, 105).
This nding is supported by the results of the analyses carried out by Hanna Kowa-
lewska-Marszałek on the Neolithic settlement, which indicate that the Sandomierz Upland
is an area of compact, intensive settlement of the FBC (e.g., Kowalewska-Marszałek 2018;
Fig. 4. Sandomierz Upland. Maps of the distribution of settlement points of the Funnel Beaker culture.
Based on: Balcer 1971, Fig. 1; Bąbel 2015, Fig. 174; Kowalewska-Marszałek 2019, Fig. 1: a, source: digital
terrain model Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography. Graphic design by B. Sałacińska, W. Grużdź
78 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
2019, further literature there). The settlement network of this culture is characterised by
high uniformity, as well as a preference for regions with similar environmental conditions.
The distribution of settlement points is divided into three latitudinal zones: northern, cen-
tral and southern. Larger concentrations of settlements of the FBC are visible over the
upper Gorzyczanka river, the upper Kamionka river, in the Opatówka river basin and in
some sections of the Vistula escarpment (around Złota, the area between the Pepper
Mountains north of Sandomierz and Zawichost). In the central-western zone, as well as in
the northern zone, the most common are large settlements, usually characterised by a high
intensity of use. Medium-sized settlements predominate in the central-eastern part. A spe-
cial category are the so-called upland settlements: situated in places with natural defensive
values, including in Stryczowice, site 1, Ćmielów, Gawroniec site, Grzegorzowice, Diabli
Piec site, Nikisiałka Duża, site 1 (Kowalewska-Marszałek 2018, 320; 2019, 120-127, 132,
gs 1: a, 2: a).
According to H. Kowalewska-Marszałek, the settlement of the FBC in the northern and
central part of the Sandomierz Upland may be related to the exploitation and processing
of int raw materials: banded and Świeciechów ints, the outcrops of which are located
north and north-east of the Upland (Kowalewska-Marszałek 2019, 127).
The mother settlement of the miners from Krzemionki Opatowskie
on the Gawroniec Hill in Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district
The mother settlement of miners from Krzemionki Opatowskie, according to S. Kru-
kowski, was located at the site on Gawroniec Hill in Ćmielów (Krukowski 1939, 84-97).
The settlement is situated on a loess hill on the northern edge of the Sandomierz Upland,
in the Kamienna river valley, which separates the upland from the Iłża Forehills (Fig. 5).
The river bed is located approximately 1 km from the settlement.
The site was discovered by an amateur archaeologist, Zdzisław Lenartowicz (Lenar-
towicz 1922), in the years 1928-1939, it was surface tested by S. Krukowski (Sałaciński
1982; 1989). Open-area excavation research was carried out in the years 1947-1961 (six
seasons) by Zoa Podkowińska, and one campaign by Zygmunt Krzak (Podkowińska
1950; 1952; Krzak 1963). During the research, 255 pits were discovered, 245 have been
explored.
The connections of the settlement of the FBC in Ćmielów with mining activities and
processing of banded int were emphasised by S. Krukowski, Z. Podkowińska, Z. Krzak
and B. Balcer (Krukowski 1939, 84-97; Podkowińska 1950, 165; 1952; Krzak 1962; Balcer
2002, 161-162). Flint products were produced there on a mass scale, above all semi--
nished products of axe blades with quadrilateral section were nished there (Figs 6, 7;
Balcer 2002, 88). According to S. Krukowski, each year seasonal teams of miners and
helpers were sent to the mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie, and the crews were provisioned.
There had to be also a market place, most often in the fall (after the grain harvest), where
79
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Fig. 5. Ćmielów, Gawroniec site, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district.
A – view of the site, photo M. Bogacki, photo from the collection of the Historical and Archaeological
Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski; B – view of the site, east side, 1982, photo S. Sałaciński; C – view of
the site, 2019, photo B. Sałacińska
80 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
a barter trade took place and various agricultural products were obtained from the inhab-
itants of various villages in exchange for int products and int raw material (Krukowski
1939, 105-107). In addition, the commercial importance of the settlement in Ćmielów has
been demonstrated by Kazimierz Krysiak, who claimed that the remains of young indi-
viduals, which are present in large quantities among animal bones, were obtained during
Fig. 6. Ćmielów, Gawroniec site, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district.
The biggest banded flint axes of the Funnel Beaker culture (a) and the Globular Amphora culture (b).
After Balcer 2002, fig. 34
81
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Fig. 7. Ćmielów, Gawroniec site, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district.
Axes of banded flint of the Funnel Beaker culture. After Balcer 2002, fig. 35: a, b
the exchange of goods (Krysiak 1950, 166; Podkowińska 1950, 131). K. Krysiak believed
that it was a fact worth emphasising that a large number of deer antlers, with a negligible
proportion of the bones of these animals, also testies to their imported origin (Krysiak
1952, 243, 244). However, he did not take into account that they may have come from col-
lecting shed antlers (Sałaciński 1982, 13).
Bogdan Balcer argued that the large number and type of production residues disco-
vered at the Gawroniec site in Ćmielów indicate that the banded and Świeciechów int
came from independent exploitation. He considered the settlement at the site on Gawro-
niec Hill to be a model production site (Balcer 2002, 147). He believed that the connec-
tions between the settlement in Ćmielów and the deposits of the Świeciechów raw material
82 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
were of greater importance than with the nearby of the banded ints ones. This was be-
cause most of the cores, blades and blade retouched tools from this settlement are made of
the Świeciechów raw material (Krukowski 1939, 89, 91; Balcer 2002, 130). Both raw materi-
als could be obtained by opencast methods. Within the mining eld in Krzemionki
Opatowskie, banded int was mined in area of shallow pit and niche mines, on the outside
part of the band of outcrops. More controversially, B. Balcer does not rule out the use of
the more labour-intensive method of underground mining in the stall units at the end of the
existence of the Gawroniec settlement in Ćmielów or after its collapse (Balcer 2002, 130).
Based on radiocarbon dates, the operation of the settlement of the FBC at the Gawro-
niec site in Ćmielów covers the period of approx. 3500-3200 BC (approx. 2865-2625 bc)
(Balcer 2002, 15).
Specialised teams of miners from the settlement at the Gawroniec site in Ćmielów
could reach the area of banded int deposits in Krzemionki Opatowskie in two ways – on
foot through the forest areas of the Kamienna river valley, along well-worn trails, or by foot
and by water using the Kamienna river. The raw int material was initially worked in the
mines and then transported to the mother village. There were also places of multi-staged
processing, but the scale of processing at such points was not large (Balcer 2002, 155, 161).
Finds of banded int raw material in the FBC in the form of axe blades and their frag-
ments occur within a radius of 250 km from the deposits, mainly, however, near the mines,
on the Sandomierz Upland. In other loess parts of the Lesser Poland Upland and on the
fringes of the West-Volhynian Upland, the proportion of banded int in the assemblages
is already small (Balcer and Kowalski 1978).
Settlement of the Funnel Beaker culture in Stryczowice,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district
One of the settlements that is linked to the extraction of banded int in Krzemionki
Opatowskie is the settlement of the FBC in Stryczowice, site 1. The site is located in the
Sandomierz Upland, on the plateau of the loess upland, between the Garbutka and the
Kamionka rivers (Fig. 8). It was discovered in 1970 by Jerzy Tomasz Bąbel (Bąbel 1975, 539).
The excavations were carried out in the years 1976-1985 (with breaks for 7 seasons) on
behalf of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw by Anna Uzarowicz-Chmielewska.
Over 17 ares were examined, including 32 settlements features (Uzarowicz-Chmielewska
and Sałacińska 2013, 239; further literature there). In the artefacts of banded int (234
specimens), 12 axes with quadrilateral section were identied (Fig. 9: b-d), partially po-
lished with various degrees of functional damage (Sałaciński 2013, 260). Most of the fea-
tures were interpreted as various types of economic pits of a storage nature, they certainly
had different roongs, three features were described as water tanks. The site in Stryczo-
wice can be associated with multi-path settlements of chaotic development and irregular
shape with a zonal arrangement of buildings (Uzarowicz-Chmielewska and Sałacińska
83
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Fig. 8. Stryczowice, site 1, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district. A – orthophotomap of the vicinity of the site,
source: digital terrain model Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography, after Uzarowicz-Chmielewska and
Sałacińska 2013, fig. 3; B – the view from the site at Stryczowice to its surrounding area, 1983, computer
image processing R. Sofuł, photo from the collection of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw, after
Uzarowicz-Chmielewska and Sałacińska 2013, fig. 5; C – view of the site, 2017, photo B. Sałacińska
84 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
Fig. 9. Axes of banded flint, Funnel Beaker culture.
A – Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, site 1, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, after Balcer 1983, fig. 21: 13;
b–d – Stryczowice, site 1, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district,
after Uzarowicz-Chmielewska and Sałacińska 2013, Figs 29: 1, 2, 149: 4
85
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
2013, 223-227). One of the research hypotheses has connected the settlement with the
mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie. The mere presence of products of banded int is not,
however, automatic evidence of such relationships. The above assessment may be con-
firmed by the discovery of a stone pick made of gabbro, which could have been used as
a mining tool (Uzarowicz-Chmielewska and Sałacińska 2013, 214, g. 195). Similar stone
picks were discovered in Krzemionki Opatowskie (Borkowski et al. 1989, g. 26). However,
this is a single piece of circumstantial evidence in assessing the above hypothesis.
The acquired assemblage of vessel ceramics shows high homogeneity and should be
associated with the classical phase of the south-eastern group of the FBC (Uzarowicz-
Chmielewska and Sałacińska 2013, 229-232). According to P. Włodarczak, the obtained
radiocarbon dates may indicate that the material from Stryczowice is contemporary to the
younger dated assemblages from Ćmielów. Their age can most likely be estimated at around
3520-3310 BC, that is the late sub-period of the classical phase, synchronised with the
BR III A stage (Włodarczak 2006, 42).
Settlement of the Funnel Beaker culture in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district
Another site of the FBC settlements identied by excavation is the settlement in Os-
trowiec Świętokrzyski, site I. The site is located on the northern edge of the Sandomierz
Upland, on a loess headland, on the Kamionka river, close to its conuence with Kamienna
river. The excavations were carried out in 1942 by Konrad Jażdżewski and Kazimierz Sale-
wicz. During the research, copious Neolithic material was discovered, among other things,
a settlement of the FBC functioned here (Fig. 9: a). Ceramics and int artefacts related to
the GAC and the MC were also discovered. A unique nd is the vessel of the FBC with an
ornament interpreted as a schematic representation of a four-wheeled cart (Uzarowiczowa
1975; Uzarowicz-Chmielewska 1978).
SETTLEMENTS OF THE GLOBULAR AMPHORA CULTURE
IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE SANDOMIERZ UPLAND
The problem of the settlement model at the time of existence of the GAC, related to the
extraction of banded int, according to B. Balcer, has not been resolved denitively and
reliably. The production of axe blades from banded raw material within this culture and
the distribution of polished specimens over a distance of over 600 kilometres and the sta-
bilisation of the settlement, indicate the enormous importance of deposits, mining and
processing in the life of the these communities (Bąbel 2015, 145).
The region of the right tributaries of the Kamienna river – Kamionka, Obręczówka and
Gierczanka rivers is treated as a settlement base for the population of the GAC (Fig. 10)
86 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
Fig. 10. Sandomierz Upland.
Maps of the distribution of settlement points of the Globular Amphora culture.
Based on: Balcer 1971, fig. 1; Bąbel 2015, fig. 179; Kowalewska-Marszałek 2019, fig. 1: b,
source: digital terrain model Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography.
Graphic design by B. Sałacińska, W. Grużdź
exploiting banded int in the mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie (Kowalewska-Marszałek
1986, 13, 20, map 4; 2019, 127-139; Jedynak 2009, 166).
According to H. Kowalewska-Marszałek the compact range of occurrence of the settle-
ment of the GAC is conned to the north-western part of the Sandomierz Upland, from the
Kamionka river in the west to Gierczanka river in the east, and to the tributaries of the up-
per and central Opatówka river in the south. Small concentrations of sites are also visible
87
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
on the upper reaches of Gorzyczanka and Polanówka rivers in the area of Złota, Sando-
mierz district. In the eastern and southern part of the Upland, only single sites of this
culture can be found (Kowalewska-Marszałek 2019, 127-130, gs 1: b, 2: b).
The intensive exploitation of banded int in the middle and late section of the Neo-
lithic and in the Early Bronze Age undoubtedly required the existence of a settlement base
in close proximity of the mines of this raw material. There is much evidence that this role
was played primarily by the Sandomierz Upland, which was the natural context of the
functioning of the int mines located in the area of Krzemionki Opatowskie (e.g., Kru-
kowski 1939, 84-97; Balcer 1975, 247; Wiślański 1979b, 246-248; Kruk 1980, 105; Kowa-
lewska-Marszałek 2019, 132).
A detailed analysis of the settlement of the Middle and Late Neolithic fully conrms the
thesis about the signicant role of the Sandomierz Upland as a settlement base for the
banded int mines in the Krzemionki region. Taking into account all the analysed features
of the settlement network of this area, it can be concluded that the relationship with the
banded int mines is more pronounced in the case of the GAC. This is evidenced primarily
by the clear concentration of sites of this culture in the northern part of the Upland, in
close proximity to the outcrop of this raw material, in the absence of similar concentra-
tions in other regions. There is no such clear accumulation of sites within the FBC, and
large settlements of this culture (e.g., Ćmielów, Gawroniec site, Stryczowice, site 1) show
a partial relationship with the processing of banded int (Balcer 2002, 147; Sałaciński
2013; Kowalewska-Marszałek 2019, 132).
Settlement of the Globular Amphora culture in Mierzanowice,
Opatów district
One of the studied sites of the GAC is the settlement in Mierzanowice, located on the
Sandomierz Upland, in the Gierczanka river valley. The excavations were carried out by
K. Salewicz in 1936 (Salewicz 1939) and in 1957 by Aleksander Gardawski and Jacek
Miśkiewicz (Gardawski and Miśkiewicz 1958).
The site in Mierzanowice is considered to be a large, stabilised village of farmers and
breeders. K. Salewicz mentioned the discovery of dug-out dwellings there. Alongside the
features sunk into the ground, there were probably above-ground buildings with lumps of
construction daub with impressions of wooden logs and reeds (Salewicz 1939). The inves-
tigators, A. Gardawski and J. Miśkiewicz, conrmed the existence of of buildings of such
a character. They discovered several large pits with circular outlines, and three of them
were forming a compact complex, similarly as in the settlements of the FBC (Gardawski
and Miśkiewicz 1958).
K. Salewicz stated on the basis of ceramics that in the case of the GAC we are not deal-
ing here with its pure form, but with its transitional stage to the Złota culture, which he
called the Early Złota culture (Salewicz 1939).
88 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
The site of the GAC in Mierzanowice is certainly one of the permanent settlements of
this culture in the Sandomierz Upland. This is shown by the ownership of deposits and
also evidence of mining and processing specialisations. During the existence of the GAC,
one settlement was inhabited by a dozen or so people at the same time. The extent of the
settlements was to be inuenced by the subsequent stages of settling (Balcer 1963, 99-142;
2012, 137, 138; Bąbel 2015, 144, 145).
Settlement of the Globular Amphora culture in Kosowice,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district
One site of the GAC in the Kamionka river valley recognised by excavation is the settle-
ment in Kosowice. It was discovered during a surface survey by J.T. Bąbel in 1970. It is
situated within the Sandomierz Upland, at the culmination of a loess hill, which slopes
south towards the left tributary of the Kamionka river (Bąbel 1975, 553). In 1972, J. T. Bąbel
and K. Kowalski conducted test excavations on the site. In one of the trenches, 10 pits were
discovered, and seven have been explored (Bąbel and Kowalski 1975, 307).
The obtained historic material is dominated by richly ornamented pottery fragments,
characterised by a high homogeneity. Among flint artefacts, relatively few specimens
of banded raw material were distinguished, including one flake from a polished axe
blade. The most interesting is a semi-nished product of chisel with quadrilateral section
– a typical tool in the production inventories of the GAC (Bąbel and Kowalski 1975, 308-
312, g. 18: o). Analogous forms are quite common in the workshop-type materials from
the mine area in Krzemionki Opatowskie (Sałaciński 2000, 285, g. 1; Bąbel 2015, g. 143: b,
149: b).
All the tested pits and ceramics from the surface of the site belong to the GAC. J.T. Bąbel
and K. Kowalski claim that it was a permanent settlement of this culture. The whole ce-
ramic material is similar to the specimens from Mierzanowice. The authors concluded that
both sites represent the same chronological horizon, i.e. the rst quarter of the second mil-
lennium BC (Bąbel and Kowalski 1975, 314).
Settlement of the Globular Amphora culture in Krzczonowice,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district
Another site of the GAC identied by excavation is the settlement in Krzczonowice,
located in the northern part of the Sandomierz Upland, on a loess headland that cuts deep
into the valley of the right tributary of the Obręczówka river. The site was discovered dur-
ing surface survey in the early 1970s by K. Kowalski from the State Archaeological Museum
in Warsaw. In 1996 and 1997, it was veried during surface survey carried out as part of
the Archaeological Picture of Poland (AZP) campaign by the research team of the Institute
of Archaeology of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin.
89
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
Fig. 11. Krzczonowice, site 63, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district. Semi-finished products of chisels with
quadrilateral section of banded flint, Globular Amphora culture. After Jedynak 2009, figs 4, 5
In 2006, rescue excavations were carried out by Artur Jedynak and Kamil Kaptur from
the Museum and Archaeological and Natural Reserve “Krzemionki”, the Branch of the
Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. The work covered an
area of 2.1 ares. 11 features were discovered, including 10 farm pits and a skeleton grave.
In one of the features a depression in the bottom was explored, which is most probably the
place where the pit roong or the communication ladder support was attached (Jedynak
and Kaptur 2008, 23, g. 1). The original nd is a deposit of four half-products of banded
int, two of chisels with quadrilateral section (Fig. 11) and two of axes with quadrilateral
section (Fig. 12). Based on the presence of historic material on the surface, it was found
that the settlement occupied an area of approx. 1 hectare. The concentration of features of
the GAC was uneven, their size and stratigraphic system, as well as the number of artefacts
in lls, suggest the longer lasting of the settlement. The analysis of int artefacts showed
90 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
that the site featured materials typical for the home facies a large percentage of tools
(Jedynak and Kaptur 2008, 19, 25, g. 3). Further excavation research would allow us to
obtain evidence of the connections between the inhabitants of the settlement and the area
of exploitation of this raw material, situated north of the Kamienna river valley. Dating
ceramics using the thermoluminescence method put its age at the years 2716-2069 BC
(Jedynak and Kaptur 2008, 20).
Settlement of the Globular Amphora culture in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district
One of the sites of the GAC in the Kamienna river valley, on the northern edge of the
loess Sandomierz Upland, is the Globular Amphora settlement in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
Fig. 12. Krzczonowice, site 63, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district.
Semi-finished products of axes with quadrilateral section of banded flint, Globular Amphora culture.
After Jedynak 2009, figs 6, 7
91
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
It is located in the south-eastern part of the city called Górki. It was examined in 1958 by
Janusz Kuczyński during rescue excavations, during which he discovered nine pits of the
GAC (Kuczyński 1960).
RELATIONSHIPS OF NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS
WITH THE BANDED FLINT MINES
IN KRZEMIONKI OPATOWSKIE IN THE LIGHT OF SURFACE
SURVEY, SOUNDING AND RESCUE EXAMINATION
Z. Krzak was a pioneer in conducting systematic surface surveys in the Sandomierz
Upland. He conducted numerous investigatioons in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He also con-
ducted test excavations at selected sites. Z. Krzak conducted mainly research in the Ka-
mienna river basin and in the north-eastern part of the Sandomierz Upland, including
along the right-bank tributaries of the Kamienna and the upper Opatówka rivers (Krzak
1961; 1962; 1993). In 1959, he investigated the areas of banded int mines in Krzemionki
Opatowskie, Borownia, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, and Korycizna, Opatów district,
and recognised many settlement sites. Among the discovered sites, more than 20 were
Neolithic sites, mainly associated with the FBC. Some of the discovered settlements exhi-
bited an industrial character and connections with the nearby Neolithic and Early Bronze
banded int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ruda Kościelna, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
district, Borownia and Korycizna, the “chocolate” int mines in Gliniany, Opatów district,
and the Ożarów int mines in Ożarów, Opatów district (Krzak 1961).
The research carried out by Z. Krzak in the Kamienna river valley has produced inte-
resting results in the form of discoveries of settlements and encampments of the FBC. In
some settlements, including in Grójec and Podgrodzie, both within the Ostrowiec Święto-
krzyski district, Z. Krzak distinguished settlement parts with int processing workshops.
An interesting settlement in Podgrodzie, situated on the Kamienna river on the western
edge of a loess hill, was cut by numerous ravines and created, hard-to-reach promontories.
In one of them, a part of the site with int processing workshops was located. The site
procduced fragments of vessels belonging to the FBC. The int artefacts were made of
several types of raw material. The main compenent was akes of various sizes made of
banded int, which were produced by the nishing of semi-nished products of axe blades
with quadrilateral section. A lot of fragments of repaired polished axes and semi-nished
products of axes with quadrilateral section (some were reused as pestles) and retouched
ake tools were also discovered within the settlement (Krzak 1961; 1962, 32-34).
Another site, discovered during the surface prospecting by Z. Krzak and surveyed, is
located in Skała, now it is part of the town of Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district.
The site is located on the edge of a sandy and rocky ground moraine, on the right bank of
the Kamienna river. Z. Krzak found traces of settlements there: pits and postholes from
92 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
a wooden structure. The obtained pottery fragments represented two cultures – the FBC
and the CWC (Krzak 1962, 37, 38).
In Smyków, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district, Z. Krzak accidentally discovered a FBC
settlement pit located on the dune on the edge of the right terrace of the Kamienna river,
with pottery fragments of FBC together with int artefacts of several raw materials – the
Świeciechów, banded and “chocolate” int (Krzak 1962).
In 1960, in the Kamienna river valley – in Piaski Ćmielowskie and Przepaść (both sites
are now located in the part of the town of Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district),
Z. Krzak discovered camps where banded int was processed on an ad hoc basis (Krzak
1962, 39-44). The collected material was dominated by the production waste from semi-
nished axe blades (Balcer 1975, 185). In Piaski Ćmielowskie, the camp of the FBC was
located on the left, accumulation terrace of the Kamienna river. Z. Krzak located there the
outlines of settlement pits and traces of posts. Among the discovered int artefacts, main-
ly ake tools, banded int was the dominant material (Krzak 1962, 39, 42).
According to B. Balcer, the production camps were the predecessors of the later large
settlements where banded int was processed on a larger scale, and they come from older
periods, when agriculture was not yet dominant. They could also be satellite settlements of
groups periodically remaining outside the area of their mother settlements or they are traces
of settlement after the fall of great upland settlements (Balcer 1975, 185, 186).
In 1960, Z. Krzak conducted research in the area of the alleged route connecting the
industrial settlements of the FBC on the Kamienna river with similar settlements on the
Vistula river. The starting point was, on the one hand, the settlement at the Gawroniec site
in Ćmielów, and, on the other, an analogous settlement: the Zbrza Wielka site in Zawi-
chost, Sandomierz district. The settlement of the FBC on the Gawroniec site in Ćmielów is
one of the largest ones, using banded int from Krzemionki Opatowskie, and the settle-
ment of the FBC at the Zbrza Wielka site in Zawichost is among similar ones, primarily
using the Świeciechów raw material, exploited in Świeciechów, district Kraśnik, from
which artefacts were also found in Ćmielów. The above-mentioned settlements are situ-
ated 25 km apart in a straight line, separated by a loess upland, cut by numerous streams
owing into the Kamienna river on one side, and into the Vistula and Opatówka rivers on
the other. He discovered numerous Neolithic and Early Bronze sites – settlements and
cemeteries of the FBC, including Cieszkówek, Opatów district, of the GAC Podgajcze,
Opatów district (Krzak 1962).
In 1969, Z. Krzak, together with Iwona Kupczyk, also conducted surface survey in the
basin of the upper Opatówka river, from its sources to the village of Nikisiałka Mała. Opa-
tówka ows out of the Holy Cross Mountains Range and is a left tributary of the Vistula.
The study area is adjacent to the Jeleniowskie Range on the south-west. The catalogue at-
tached to the publication contains information on 67 sites, 36 of which were considered
Neolithic, including 17 FBC and 4 GAC sites. Few characteristic forms were distinguished
among the obtained historic materials of the FBC made of banded int, e.g. akes chipped
93
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
from polished axes in Zochcin, Zochcinek, Nikisiałka Mała, all within Opatów district, and
a hammer made of an axe with quadrilateral section from Wąworków, Opatów district.
Artefacts belonging to the GAC, including those made of banded material, are few. In
Nikisiałka Duża, Opatów district, apart from akes, a fragment of a half-product of an axe
with quadrilateral section was discovered in the int inventory (Krzak 1993).
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, further surface surveys in the right-bank tributaries
of the Kamienna river in the analysed part of the Sandomierz Upland were carried out by
K. Kowalski and J. T. Bąbel. In 1969, K. Kowalski carried out a survey in the basin of the
Obręczówka river, which is part of the basin of the Kamienna river. He recorded 43 pre-
viously unknown sites, dated mainly to the Neolithic (Kowalski 1975b). In 1970, J. T. Bąbel
carried out surface research in the Kamionka river basin, focusing on the location of Neo-
lithic and Early Bronze sites. He discovered and veried 125 settlement points (Bąbel
1975). In 1983, J. T. Bąbel carried out surface research in the Gierczanka river basin, in the
area of Mierzanowice and Wojciechowice, both localities in the district of Opatów (Bąbel
1985).
Systematic surface research in the Sandomierz Upland in the 1980s, 1990s and in the
rst decade of the 21st century, as part of the Archaeological Picture of Poland (AZP)
project, was conducted by Barbara Bargieł, Marek Florek, Jerzy Libera, Anna Zakościelna
(Institute of Archaeology, of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), Janusz
Budziszewski (then the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw), Hanna
Kowalewska-Marszałek (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of
Sciences in Warsaw), Sławomir Sałaciński (State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw),
Szymon Orzechowski (then the Provincial Ofce for the Protection of Monuments in
Kielce), Tadeusz Wichman, Ryszard Naglik (Archaeological Museum in Krakow), Urszula
Jedynak and Artur Jedynak, Kamil Kaptur (Archaeological Museum and Reserve “Krze-
mionki”, Branch of the Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski).
The above-mentioned surface studies focused on the area of some districts – Ostrowiec
Świętokrzyski and Opatów, intensively inhabited in the Neolithic period, with a clear pre-
dominance of FBC sites. Each sheet of the Archaeological Picture of Poland survey con-
tains several hundred settlement points, including camps and larger settlements. Their
concentrations were noted especially in the communes of Ćmielów and Opatów, and on
a smaller scale – in the commune of Ożarów. Flint processing workshops of the FBC were
discovered in Opatów district. During his surface research in the 1980s, S. Sałaciński lo-
cated in the vicinity of Ćmielów several settlements of the FBC, quite extensive, with
household materials and a large number of int artefacts similar to those discovered at the
site on Gawroniec Hill in Ćmielów. They formed a settlement network of considerable
importance in spatial and economic systems. B. Balcer treated this information sceptically,
sustaining the uniqueness of the settlement on the Gawroniec Hill in Ćmielów (Balcer
2002, 161). S. Sałaciński’s opinions partially conrm the results of rescue excavations, car-
ried out in 2016-2017, preceding the construction of the Ćmielów ringroad. In the limited
94 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
belt of the development, Edmund Mitrus discovered and explored part of the FBC settle-
ment in Brzóstowa, site 25, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district (31 features, 1,100 pottery
fragments, 141 int artefacts, 134 animal bones), and settlements of the FBC in Ćmielów,
site 80, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district (4 features, 37 pottery fragments, 2 int artefacts,
18 bones).
Sławomir Sałaciński dealt with the settlement base of the banded int mines in Krzemi-
onki Opatowskie in the Stone Age in the Kamienna river basin (Sałaciński 1986). In 1987,
S. Sałaciński with M. Zalewski conducted surface research in the vicinity of the village of
Stodoły, Opatów district. The research covered the edge of the loess hill and its slope fall-
ing towards the narrow valley of Gierczanka river, which is the left tributary of the
Obręczówka river (the right tributary of the Kamienna river). The site, which was the ob-
ject of detailed penetration, was dened as a large, homogeneous settlement of the GAC,
and this is something that is rare on the scale of the entire settlement of this culture. The
issue of the size and the alleged multi-phase nature of the settlement in Stodoły and its
possible connections with banded int mines has been raised many times in the literature.
Their existence was to be proved by nds of artefacts produced of this raw material (among
other works Wiślański 1979b, 278). During the surface research, the focus was on nding
possible processing places of the banded int, determining their character (phases of pro-
duction processes) and possible connections with the mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie.
The historical material was found in a large area, stretching about 600 m along the valley,
in a strip about 100 m wide. Compact clusters of artefacts have been distinguished within
this zone; zones of occurrence of artefacts of the FBC, the GAC and the CWC were high-
lighted. There were also traces of the later settlement of the Mierzanowice, the Lusatian
and the Przeworsk cultures (Zalewski and Sałaciński 1996).
The material discovered during surface studies allow for the determination of two main
settlement phases. The oldest traces of the presence of human groups date back to the
Middle Neolithic and are related to the FBC, they have been discovered over the entire
surface of the site. Artefacts of the MC mark the next phase of settlement. In addition,
material conrming the use of the site by the population of the GAC were also located, but
they were assessed as of short duration. In connection with the above, the opinions func-
tioning in the literature on the homogeneity and the size of the GAC settlement were ques-
tioned. During the described research, no traces of int processing were found on the site’s
surface. The presence of banded int artefacts only conrms the existence of direct or in-
direct contact with the mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie. Moreover, S. Sałaciński and
M. Zalewski stated that in the case of the GAC, the scheme: mines – production settle-
ments and user settlements, formulated for the FBC by B. Balcer, should not be automati-
cally transferred to this period too. The conclusions were based solely on the results of
surface studies, and therefore require further verication (Zalewski and Sałaciński 1996).
In the years 2004-2006, Artur Jedynak, Urszula Jedynak and Kamil Kaptur carried
out surface surveys to identify prehistoric and later settlements north and west of the middle
95
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
and lower reaches of the Kamienna river in the Iłża Forehills, in the context of exploring
the settlement base of the mine complex in Krzemionki Opatowskie. In the studied area,
sites from the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age are quite numerous. In the immediate
vicinity of the exploitation eld in Krzemionki Opatowskie, a large number of int process-
ing workshops were discovered, among other places in the area of the village of Sudół
(Sudół, site 17, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district) and traces of int work (Sudół, sites 11,
15, 19-21, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district), in the area between the village of Magonie and
the Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski – Bałtów highway and the northern arm of the exploitation
eld in Krzemionki Opatowskie. No remains of large settlements have been discovered in
the immediate vicinity of the mines. Settlement related to the FBC was registered in the
Kamienna river valley, below the village of Skarbka, including Skarbka, site 26, Pętkowice,
site 12, Okół, site 20, all in the Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district (Jedynak et al. 2008).
The collection of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw includes loose Neolithic
nds from the Sandomierz Upland and the Iłża Forehills. They were obtained in the pre-
war period of the 20th century, and even from the 19th century. Some of them are made of
banded int and are linked to, among others, the FBC and the GAC. The rich inventory of
the FBC comes from the localities of Grzegorzowice and Grzegorzowice-Zagaje, Ostrowiec
Świętokrzyski district, including numerous polished axes with quadrilateral section and
their fragments. A stone axe with a knobbed shaft-hole and fragments of ceramics, mainly
of the FBC (Kowalski 1975a). The collection of int materials from the collection of the
State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw – 644 artefacts, was created by Aneta Sierosławska
with S. Sałaciński’s substantive consultation (Sierosławska 2012). Some of these materials
come from the Diabli Piec site in Grzegorzowice-Zagaje, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district,
from the FBC settlement (now administratively within the village of Czajęcice), dug up by
amateur Józef Budzisz in 1940-1942. This site is located on a loess headland with heavily
undercut slopes, on the edge of the Dobruchna river valley, separating the Sandomierz
Upland from the Wilkowski Depression in the northern part of the Holy Cross Mountains
mesoregion.
Axeheads of the GAC were distinguished, among other places, in material from Jelenia
Góra, Lemierz, Stoki Stare (2 half-products), all within the Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski dis-
trict, which are located in the immediate vicinity of Krzemionki Opatowskie on the Iłża
Forehills, as well as in the material from Malice, Podgajcze, Tomin, Zawady, all within the
Opatów district, located in the Sandomierz Upland (Kowalski 1975a).
A FEW SYNTHESISING REMARKS
The relationships of the Neolithic int mining, including the production of banded
int, with the settlement have been the subject of research of many prehistorians, some of
them treated this issue briey, for others it constituted a very serious aspect in their analyses.
96 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
Synthetic studies on the Neolithic economic foundations have repeatedly pointed to
the nature of the complex of banded int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie as the central
mining centre, important for the development of int working and mining. The impor-
tance of FBC settlements located in the immediate vicinity of the loess Sandomierz Upland
was also emphasised, especially for the Gawroniec site in Ćmielów, primarily as the
mother-settlements of the miners involved in the exploitation of banded int and as pro-
duction centres of banded int products, which also participated in the development of
long-distance exchange (Tabaczyński 1970, 276-282; Wiślański 1979a, 286-291; 1979b,
249-250; Kruk 1980, 51; 2008, 72).
Janusz Kruk deals with settlement phenomena in the Neolithic period, which were
shaped under the inuence of a number of natural (environmental) and cultural condi-
tions (among others Kruk 1973). According to J. Kruk, the land-take process was based on
the selection of suitable habitats. The main reasons for the development of spatial forms of
settlement should be sought in the set of cultural processes, especially in the structure of
the economy. J. Kruk dealt with the reconstruction of the forms of gaining control over the
environment by the communities of Neolithic cultures. The appearance of the FBC re-
sulted in substantial changes in forms of the mastery of the natural environment. The
studied sites showed a tendency to occupy higher areas. They were located at the fringes of
the high plains, on average 30-60 meters above the plains of the river accumulation (Kruk
1973, 11, 99).
The results of the analysis of the structure of settlement clusters suggest the possibility
of the existence of close connections between permanent central settlements and the traces
of temporary residence deployed in their wide surroundings. The loess areas were taken
over by the FBC tribes probably at the end of the Atlantic period, around 3000 BC (Kruk
1973, 180). The nature of the encampments is different than that of the great loess villages.
Among them are encountered both short-term places of stay and semi-permanent settle-
ments that could have exist for one economic season, for example, in summer (Kruk 1973,
212).
Tadeusz Wiślański was an outstanding researcher of the Neolithic settlement issues.
Among the loess settlements of the FBC he distinguished three categories – large, medium
and small ones. The large ones were established only on highlands, the medium ones also
preferred higher points, but sometimes they were located in valleys. The most common
site type were small camps occupying e.g. high plains. The extensive loess settlements
were multi-phase and they did not always cover the entire area of multi-hectare hills at the
same time. As a rule, they did not exceed 25-40 households. Medium-sized settlements
with 15 homesteads and smaller villages composed of several houses prevailed (Wiślański
1979b, 208-210).
According to T. Wiślański, individual mines in the depression of the terrain on the
north-eastern slopes of the Holy Cross Mountains had connections with extensive mining
and production villages. An open question is how the inhabitants of these villages were
97
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
procuring the necessary half-products. They could wander to the outcrops themselves and
produce them there in situ. The mediation of the inhabitants of large loess production es-
tates or camps associated with them also seems probable (Wiślański 1979b, 249).
Regarding the culture of GAC, the oldest complexes were conned, according to T. Wi-
ślański to the lowland areas, but they quickly took over the loess zone as well. The spread
of settlement of this culture shows some similarities to the FBC. T. Wiślański distinguished
two categories of settlements – seasonal camps and permanent settlements, which, how-
ever, are rare. Extensive late-phase settlements on the loesses of the Sandomierz Upland
(e.g., Mierzanowice, Stodoły, Złota) were multi-phase and showed connections with the
int-bearing basin. Permanent estates were located on the hills, closer to water reservoirs
than the encampments. Various types of pits with different functions were discovered
there – garbage dumps, cellars, granaries, furnaces. The most common form of settlement
were seasonal camps. They occurred both in the lowlands and in loess areas. They were
often short-term staging points (Wiślański 1979a, 277-280).
In common use were axes and chisels with the entire surface carefully polished, made
mainly of banded int material. There was a specialisation in mining and int processing
in the GAC, which started in the Holy Cross Mountains region of the FBC. In the GAC,
banded int products were distributed en masse throughout the basin of the Vistula and
Oder rivers, reaching Moravia and Saxony. During this period, the popularity of this raw
material was at its peak. The GAC developed a far-reaching mining and production spe-
cialisation, bringing significant benefits. Mass export of banded axes took the form of
a far-reaching exchange, especially downstream along the Vistula (Wiślański 1979a, 286,
290-291).
The intensive exploitation of banded int in the middle and late section of the Neo-
lithic and in the Early Bronze Age undoubtedly required the existence of a settlement base
in the close proximity of the mines of this raw material. There is much evidence that this
role was played primarily by the Sandomierz Upland, which was the natural context of the
functioning of the int mines located in the area of Krzemionki Opatowskie (e.g., Kru-
kowski 1939, 84-97; Balcer 1975, 247; Wiślański 1979b, 246-248; Kruk 1980, 105; Kowa-
lewska-Marszałek 2019, 132).
One of the most important analyses for determining the signicance of the FBC and
GAC settlements in the Sandomierz Upland are the studies of the settlements of these
cultures conducted by H. Kowalewska-Marszałek. They showed that the Sandomierz Up-
land is an area of compact, intensive settlement of the FBC. The settlements of the FBC in
the northern and central part of the Sandomierz Upland may be related to the exploitation
and processing of int raw materials: banded and Świeciechów ints, the outcrops of
which are located north and north-east of the Upland (Kowalewska-Marszałek 2018, 320;
2019, 120-127, g. 1: a, 2: a).
The compact range of occurrence of the settlement of the GAC, on the other hand, is
conned to the north-western part of the Sandomierz Upland, from the Kamionka river in
98 Barbara Sałacińska, Sławomir Sałaciński
the west to Gierczanka river in the east, and to the tributaries of the upper and central
Opatówka river in the south. Taking into account all the analysed features of the settle-
ment network of this area, it can be concluded that the relationship with the banded int
mines is more pronounced in the case of the GAC. This is evidenced primarily by the clear
concentration of sites of this culture in the northern part of the Upland, in close proximity
of the raw material’s outcrop, in the absence of similar concentrations in other regions.
There is no such clear accumulation of sites within the FBC, and large settlements of this
culture (e.g., Ćmielów, Gawroniec site, Stryczowice, site 1) show a partial relationship with
the processing of banded int (Balcer 2002, 147; Sałaciński 2013; Kowalewska-Marszałek
2019, 127-130, 132, g. 1: b, 2: b).
CONCLUSIONS
The article outlines the issues related to the settlement base of the Neolithic banded
int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie. The focus was on the central Kamienna river basin
in the region of the Sandomierz Upland and the Iłża Forehills, and on two cultures: the
FBC and the GAC. It is assumed that the population of the rst of them began to exploit the
raw int material by digging shallow pit shafts (up to a depth of approx. 2 m) and pit-niche
shafts (of approx. 4 m in depth), while the communities of the second one dug deeper stall-
pillar mines (depth up to approx. 6 m) and chamber mines (depth up to approx. 9 m). In
the area of the exploitation eld, especially in its north-eastern part and adjacent regions
(clusters at sinkholes), fragments of pottery from both of the above-mentioned cultures
and a few from the Early Bronze MC, which extracted flint in Krzemionki Opatowskie,
occasionally digging Neolithic backdirt heaps were found. They were described as traces of
the on-mine and next-to-mine settlement.
In the article, we have tried to outline the issues related to the settlement base of the
invaluable Neolithic complex of banded int mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie, which was
of great importance in the life of the community, especially those of the FBC and the GAC.
The production of artefacts from this raw int material inuenced the development of in-
ternal and intergroup contacts. These products can be found in Poland’s territory as well
as beyond our border.
The above-mentioned issues have been mentioned in previous publications on Krze-
mionki Opatowskie. This article attempts to integrate the information on the above-men-
tioned topic. The full synthesis of knowledge about the settlement base, against a broad
background, is a task for a separate large study.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Marek Florek from the Delegation in Sandomierz of the
Świętokrzyskie Voivodship Monument Conservator for providing unpublished informa-
99
Settlement base of the Neolithic banded flint mines in Krzemionki Opatowskie…
tion about the results of rescue excavations carried out before the construction of the
Ćmielów ringroad.
We would like to thank Artur Jedynak and Kamil Kaptur for providing illustrative ma-
terials from the collections of the Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec
Świętokrzyski.
We would like to thank Andrzej Leligdowicz for transalting the text.
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Nach der Entdeckung der Anlagen 1922 erfolgten 1923 erste Prospektionen und 1927 die ersten Grabungen mit der Freilegung einiger Schchte. Weitere, sehr intensive Untersuchungen erfolgten 19271937 durch S. Krukowski, der die Ergebnisse 1939 in einer Monographie verffentlichte. Nach der Unterbrechung der Forschungen durch den 2. Weltkrieg wurden die Untersuchungen in mehreren Phasen fortgesetzt, ein Hhenschichtenplan des gesamten Abbaugebietes wurde schon 1949 erstellt. Seit 1984 arbeiten die Autoren im Gebiet von Krzemionki, wobei zu ihren Aufgaben neben der musealen Prsentation des neolithischen Flintbergbaus die Aufarbeitung des bisher geborgenen Fundmaterials, die Durchfhrung neuer Grabungen, geophysikalische Untersuchungen sowie die Erforschung der zugehrigen Siedlungen in nherer und weiterer Umgebung des Abbaugebietes gehren. Das Abbaugebiet hat eine Ausdehnung von etwa 4 km Lnge und 30120 m Breite mit etwa 2800 Abbaustellen, von denen ca. 2500 noch heute an der Erdoberflche zu erkennen sind. Oberflchenkartierung und geoelektrische Tiefensondierungen werden vermutlich zur genaueren Rekonstruktion von Umfang und Organisation des Abbaues fhren.
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