| Abstract [eng] |
The Lake Titnas (Citnas) flint mining sites and workshops are at the E end of the Lake Titnas tunnel valley in South Lithuania (Varėna District) and on both sides of the Varėna-Rudnia gravel road and Žvirgždynė stream. In respect to geomorphology, the object is in the contact zone of landscapes with two different origins, i.e. at the juncture of the hilly relief of the ice marginal zone affected by the periglacial processes of the second to last (Medininkai/ Warthe) glaciation and the glaciolacustrine plain created by the melting of the last (Nemunas/Weichsel) glacier. Thus the site's W edge is a sandy plain while the central and E parts are significantly hilly and scored by various ravines (Fig. 1). The flint mining sites and workshops are situated on two of the tunnel valley's upper terrace treads but isolated finds can also be found at lower sites. During earlier glaciations (probably the Warthe) gigantic cretaceous blocks with abundant flint raw materiai boulders were transported here and buried. Many places were severely eroded by meltwater during the retreat of the last (Nemunas/Weichsel) glacier, thereby exposing a large number of flint boulders in the neighbouring area. The name, Lake Titnas (dialectical- Iy Citnas) probably comes from the abundant surface flint yields. According to the author 's data, only several place/ water names in Lithuania are connected with the word, 'flint' (Lith. titnagas). The relief of the archaeological property, which occupies roughly 900x700 m offorested land, is badly scored by various gullies, ravines, and thermokarstic collapses (Fig. 2-3). Nearby are the surviving remains of two probably Mesolithic sites: the first on an adjacent island in the Lake Titnas tunnel valley and the second 400 m to the SW on the N shore of Lake Titnas. The latter has been significantly damaged by erosionai processes at which time some of the finds were transported to the lake's shoreline. The object was discovered by the author in 1996. In later years (1998-2008), field evaluations were conducted using field walking and test pit excavation at the nine production sites that were located: at five flint was only processed (using brought in raw materiais ), and at four it was mined and knapped. All of them date to the final Palaeolithic (traces of earlier and later human economic activities having been found in places). Five ofthem are ascribed to the Swiderian (second half of the Younger Dryas period, first half of the 10th millennium BC) and three to the Brommian (second half of the Allered period, first half of the 11th millennium BC) cultures. All of the sites contained abundant flint finds and the production sites ascribed to the Brommian culture appear especially impressive... |
