Millstones from Revne at Bukovyna

Abstract

In the article stones from light hand millstones from Revne group of settlements of the 8th — 10th centuries left by the Slavs — bearers of the Raiky archaeological culture are published (fig. 1; 2). The lithological composition of rocks was determined. The millstones were made of two types of rocks: 1 — organogenic-detrital limestone, layered, cavernous, grayish-yellow (fig. 3: 1, 2); 2 —organogenic detrital limestone, massive, finely cavernous, yellowish-gray (fig. 3: 3). Such rocks are typical for the area of Revne agglomeration. This confirms the local origin of the raw materials (fig. 4). The rocks can be easily processed with iron tools. At the same time, they are strong enough and not prone to fracture and small fracturing. An average density of limestone is 2.7 g/cm3. Millstones are widely known from the materials of the Raiky culture sites (fig. 5). Probably, in all cases, local raw materials were used. On this background mention of the finds of grain graters occurs in scientific literature less often. In the materials of Revne agglomeration of the 8th — 10th centuries grain graters are unknown. Discovered millstones are divided into «spoilage» or blank (fig. 3: 1), bed stone (fig. 3: 2) and runner stone (fig. 3: 3). There is a sufficient basis for the general reconstruction of a light hand millstone. It consists of archaeological finds (stones and occasionally other parts made of iron and wood), ethnographic and iconographic data (fig. 6). All these sources were qualitatively analysed by R. S. Minasyan and he proposed his own classification. Today, we consider his work to be the most generalizing and reliable basis for descriptive reconstruction of the millstone. However, the classification itself is not quite user-friendly. Therefore, we offer systematization as a combination of main features. It is presented in a tabular form (fig. 7). According to the proposed systematization, the millstones from Revne can be characterized as ІІ.2.A—B — bed stone with a hole and a wooden pin (not preserved), with runner stone and rind (not preserved), with a hole for a handle of indeterminate length (not preserved).