Skršin-type Quartzite

Sampled sites:
• Skršin, Most district, Czech Republic
• Lužice, Most district, Czech Republic

The Cortex is highly variable too, from very thick (over 5 cm like in the block in the former quarry in Skršin ) to virtually absent. Thicker crusts mostly consist of (very) loosely cemented sand but can also be made up of finer material with a very 'chalky' feel to it, again contributing to possible confusion with flint or chert. Most typical seems to be a cortex of a few millimeters consisting of quartzitic, fine-grained sandstone that grades into the quartzite. In archaeological samples, apart from those in the immediate surroundings of the deposits with workshop character, pieces with cortex are very rare.

For a better understanding of the microstructure we bring two video-stills of thin sections (with special thanks to Marlina Elburg of Adelaide University) of a typical sample. In plane polarized light, the picture on the left hand side, you can see a structure in the lower right hand side that is very probably an animal burrow and in the top left corner a very inhomogeneous patch with a concentration of quartz grains. The rest of the picture shows a more even distribution of grains and a slight vein. The darker roundish thing on the left margin is an artefact, an air-bubble in the mounting mass. The picture in cross polarized light is, due to the amorphous matrix, not very informative, but it gives a good idea of the (size)distribution of the crystalline quartz that shows as lighter points. The field of view in both stills is 4.4 mm.

Until now we have not encountered material that was clearly patinated, but burning seems to darken the colour of the matrix without much effect to the lighter schliers.

There are still several exposures in the region but the quality of the quartzite here is definitely inferior to the prehistorically used material. In one very small exposure between Lužice and Dobrčice (coordinates: 50° 29' 11" N, 13° 45' 38" E, WGS 84) we found material that looks a bit like the real Skršin quartzite still in situ and in a comparable geological setting. Under an enormous quantity (something like seven meters) of basalts there are two banks of quartzite interlinked with/underlain by whitish kaolinic sands. Apparently the same situation is to be found in a nearby quarry, but until now, we have not seen any signs of quartzite here. Revisiting the site with picks and shovels is planned for the near future.


Foto: Rengert Elburg, 1999

The most intensive use of quartzite from Skršin clearly dates to the Neolithic. During the Early Neolithic Linear-pottery culture ( Linearbandkeramik or LBK for short), it is the preferred material in Northern Bohemia and has a widespread distribution in the larger region. In the famous site of Bylany, ca. 120 km to the South-East, it makes up 20% of the lithic industry in the middle and late phases of the settlement ( Popelka 1987a ), and has been found up to 250 kilometers from its source in the region of Znojmo.

Until very recently, no Skršin-type quartzite has been recorded from LBK-sites north of the Ore Mountains ( Krušné hory/Erzgebirge ), but new analyses from Saxony (South-East Germany) show widespread use in the region around Dresden, ca. 60 km to the North of the source-area (unpublished work by the author, fleetingly mentioned in Brestrich & Elburg 1996 ). Here it seems characteristic for the earlier and middle phases of the LBK, with a sharp decline in use towards the end of the LBK as it is being replaced by imports of Tušimice-type quartzite. It is to be expected that Skršin-quartzite will be found in the large Early Neolithic settlements south of Leipzig (ca. 120 kilometres from the source) as two Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age arrowheads made of this material as well as one made from Tušimice-quartzite from Zauschwitz, Borna district (51° 10' 49"N, 12° 15' 34"E), indicate.

In the Eneolithic the significance of all Bohemian quartzites is being reduced to a somewhat more local level, but the finds from Zauschwitz mentioned above prove that more finds in a wider region, probably also in Bavaria and possibly even Austria and Poland, are to be expected.
No traces of mining have been found, but the amount of material found in archaeological context makes some sort of mining seem quite probable. As even today there are still more or less intact outcrops, it will probably have been more a kind of quarrying than real underground mining.

Beware of Most, as this is one of the most depressing places known to man: the old town has vanished into one of the large lignite-mines, leaving only one Gothic church. The newly built Most is gray, ugly, consists mostly of large blocks of concrete and has all the charm of a petrochemical plant. The only older part of town, mostly turn-of-the-century buildings, lies directly below the 'castle' and it is here you can find a small museum and the Institute for research and preservation of archaeological monuments of Northwest-Bohemia.

As you probably will guess after this description, a good map is quite necessary and a GPS receiver quite practical. Good hiking maps are sold in bookshops in all larger towns in the Czech republic. Most widespread are the 1:50 000 maps of the Czech Tourist Club, of which you will need sheet 10. Even after visiting the area a few times, we still find it quite difficult to get our bearings around here.