On the so-called “Kriva Reka type” of Ludogorie chert: a petrographic perspective from the Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Giurgiu-Călăraşi area (southern Romania)
On the so-called “Kriva Reka type” of Ludogorie chert: a petrographic perspective from the Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Giurgiu-Călăraşi area (southern Romania)

Summary/Abstract: The Southern Carpathians and the Balkan Mountains define a broad physiographic area, placed at the centre of current debates on the emergence of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic and the Aurignacian technocomplex, the migration and dispersal routes of Anatomically Modern Humans in Europe, and the pre- Neolithic and the neolithization of the Balkan area. In this archaeological context and state of research, the Upper Palaeolithic sites from the Lower Danube Valley represent a relevant piece in the jigsaw puzzle of past human land use and mobility patterns. The aim of this article is to investigate the similarity between intraclastic- bioclastic cherts from Giurgiu-Călăraşi area and “Kriva Reka” type of Ludogorie chert from NE Bulgaria, by focusing on their macroscopic and microscopic traits and their geological contexts. The distribution of eluvial and primary deposits of Ludogorie chert types from NE Bulgaria reflects the sedimentary facies belts of the Lower Cretaceous Sea. Also, the alluvial deposits reveal the role played by rivers in the erosion, transport, and redeposition further and further away of the Ludogorie cherts, thus generating an extended area abundant in such materials. The geological distribution of Kriva Reka type similar cherts in Romania was confirmed in alluvial deposits around Giurgiu (Frăteşti Formation, Lower Pleistocene, and Danube’s lower terrace deposits, Upper Pleistocene). The archaeological distribution was confirmed in the Upper Palaeolithic open-air sites from Giurgiu-Malu Roşu, Slobozia-Râpa Bulgarilor, and Nicolae Bălcescu-La Vii. Their use by Boian and Gumelniţa Neolithic communities from southern Romania suggests a long time exploitation of local available cherts.

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