Hammering the past: The experimental (re)construction and usage of prehistoric mining hammerstones from the Prljusa-Mali Sturac site, Rudnik Mountain

Abstract

The locality of Prljusa-Mali Sturac on Rudnik Mountain is one of the richest prehistoric mining sites in Europe, taking into account the number of recorded, collected and analysed mining hammerstones. The reasonably estimated number of these tools of 2,000 and more clearly depicts the intensity of prehistoric mining activities at this locality as well as the conspicuousness of the mining potential which this mountain possessed. During the archaeological research conducted so far, 688 hammerstones have been collected and analysed (of which 478 are from recent excavation campaigns), thus producing results based on which hypotheses were made regarding their manufacture and use. Consequently, in the summer of 2017, an experimental (re)construction was undertaken on three basic types of these tools, as a complementary segment to a set of functional and typological analyses. The goal of the experimental research was to enable and gather as much as possible data that would serve as a comparative filter for testing previously set hypotheses and research questions related to the manufacture and usage modes of this category of mining tools. The mining hammerstones made for the purpose of this experiment proved to be extensively efficient in practice. The obtained results enabled a more complete understanding of the prehistoric mining technology on this site, but also raised some new questions.