On the provenance of raw materials of stone artefacts collection from thefunds of the institute of archaeology

Purpose. Based on the results of petrographic analysis, to determine the probable provenance of raw materials of stone artefacts from excavation materials of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the Lower Dnipro region, dated to the Eneolithic-Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. Methods. The raw materials of the stone products were studied using petrographic analysis in thin transparent sections using a polarizing microscope. The provenance of the raw material of the artefacts was determined by comparing the petrographic features of the studied samples with similar rocks from different regions of Ukraine. Findings. The studied samples were represented by a stone grain grinder of the Eneolithic-Bronze Age, made of oolitic limestone, and four sandstone products: a stone block and a slab of the Bronze Age and two fragments of sharpeners of the Scythian period. It was established that the limestone most likely originates from the lower part of the section of the Pontic horizon of the Black Sea aulacogen, which is exposed near the place where the artifact was found. Similar varieties of sandstones, containing many fragments of rocks and feldspars and having polymineral cement, are common in the steppe zone of Ukraine in the Donbas, in the Crimea, along the Dniester and Prut rivers. However, the rocks of Crimea and the valleys of Dniester and Prut have a different cement and clastic material composition, and the Crimean rocks do not form natural outcrops. Analogues of the studied sandstones are characteristic of the deposits of the Donets coal basin, where they crop out to the surface and are mined in the central and eastern parts of the Donetsk region, as well as the southern part of the Luhansk region, and, mainly, belong to the deposits of the Middle and Upper Carboniferous. The originality. Regarding the ancient history of the use of the mineral raw material base, the systematic supply of sandstones of the Carboniferoussystem to the Lower Dnipro region from the territory of the Donets basin, as well as the presence of local mining on the left bank of the Zaporizhzhia region, has been proven for the first time. The data obtained can be used in the future search for ancient centres of mining. Practical implementation. The data obtained can be used in the work of archaeological and museum organizations, as well as for the popularization of science.