Neolithic Flint Axes Made from Cretaceous flint of the Bug and Neman Interfluve in the Collection of the Museum of Podlasie in Bialystok

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present and characterize the collection of flint axes made of Cretaceous flint from the interfluve of the Bug River and Neman that morphologically resemble the forms from the Neolithic cultures of the Polish Lowland (the Funnel Beaker Culture, Globular Amphorae Culture and Corded Ware Cultures). This group of objects consists of 10 items found in the Podlasie region. The presented axes are a small part of a large collection (50 flint axes) exhibited in the Museum of Podlasie in Bialystok. A new term for local Cretaceous flint has been introduced for the purpose of this study. Until now, this type of flint was known as Northeastern Flint, and although research to define this term has been done, it has never been fully finalized. Because of that, the author of this study has coined a new and more suitable term: Cretaceous flint from the interfluve of the Bug River and Neman. This includes a group of Cretaceous flints from the Podlasie area and contains all the local variations of it: Mielnik flint, Rybniki flint, flint from the Cretaceous beds and marls and Krasne Siolo flint