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The mineral composition of two axes from the collection of the Regional Historical Museum in the town of Pernik, discovered in the Early Neolithic settlement of Galabnik, Pernik region, was identified by means of Raman spectroscopy (Faculty of Physics, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”). The two axes were found together with nephrite artefacts in horizons from the first phase of the settlement (early 6th millennium BC). They are coloured in white to pale green and pale brown. The first artefact is represented by a non-homogeneous aggregate of omphacite (Ca,Na)(Mg,Fe,Al)Si2O6 and garnet with almandine Fe3Al2(SiO4)3 composition. The second artefact is represented by a cream-white dense aggregate with small areas coloured in green and brown, all corresponding according to the Raman spectra (with the specific intensive peaks at 672-677 cm-1 and 1014 cm-1) also to omphacite. These are the earliest in age reported prehistoric axes in the country with оmphacite-jade composition, and such type of artefacts in the system jadeite-omphacite became widely distributed later in the period 5-4th millennium BC mainly on the territory of Western Europe. The origin of the raw material is related to exposures of high-pressure metamorphic complexes, most likely located in SW Bulgaria or in the adjacent Balkan countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we intend to present the petrographic and geochemical analysis results for the ground stone industry discovered in an Early Neolithic settlement placed in the South-West of Transylvania (Hunedoara County, Romania). The artefacts we will refer in to the following lines, from an archaeological and geological perspective, were unearthed during the salvage archaeological research on the Deva -- Orăştie highway in the year 2011, in the south-eastern part of the Şoimuş village. After proceeding to the macroscopic, microscopic and physico-chemical analysis, some important issues were revealed concerning the supply with raw materials of the Starcevo-Criş Neolithic community from Şoimuş, respectively the use of natural resources from the vicinity of the site. A confirmation of this aspect is the fact that the geology of the raw materials discovered in the Starcevo-Criş settlement from Şoimuş is similar with the geology of the perimeter where the site is located, in the contact area of the Apuseni and Poiana Ruscă Mountains. In conclusion, we can assume that the inhabitants of the Early Neolithic community from Şoimuş did not cover long distances for the supply of raw materials for making ground stone tools, their geology being linked mainly to volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]