ENIGMATIC STONE SPHEROIDS FROM SCYTHIAN BURIAL AT KRASNYI PODOL OF UKRAINE: PETROGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTIC, PLACE OF MINING AND PROCESSING METHODS

The results of a petrographic investigation of 80 stone spheroids from a Scythian burial near the village of Krasnyi Podol are presented. The results indicate that all the stone spheroids were made from the same type of metamorphic rocks, namely actinolitites. The petrographic characteristics of the actinolitites indicate that the initial raw material was obtained from a single deposit. The Middle-Dnieper Region of the Ukrainian Precambrian Shield is considered as the probable place for their mining. The authors do not exclude that the natural outcrops of actinolitites could initially have had spherical jointing due to the processes of physical weathering. This jointing provided an opportunity to obtain roughly spherical blanks directly at the mining site. But most of the studied stone spheroids have got their spherical shape by artificial firing. The latter manifests itself in the surface desquamation and oxidation of the outer parts of the stone blanks. At least some of the stone blanks were ground to varying degrees after the firing. Stone abrasive materials were used for this purpose. The listed facts allow us to postulate that stone spheroids found in the Krasnyi Podol burial illustrate the successive stages of their processing. The owner of the stone spheroids likely possessed special knowledge regarding their mining, production and use.

5th-Century BC Himera and the Campanian Connection: Petrographic and Archaeological Studies on Western Greek Amphorae from Poseidonia and Elea Unearthed in the Necropolis of Himera

Within the frame of an in-depth study of the corpus of about 560 western Greek transport amphorae (6th–5th century BC) yielded from excavations at the necropolis of the Dorian-Chalcidian colony of Himera in North-western Sicily, one of the most interesting issues consists in the determination of their provenance. Based on archaeological considerations, nearly 100 items have been attributed to southern Campania, specifically to Poseidonia and Elea. The present paper proposes a detailed combined archaeological-archaeometric investigation of 16 samples discovered at Himera and one at Jerba (Tunisia), of presumed Campanian provenance, compared with 4 local reference samples from Poseidonia and 6 samples of western Greek amphorae found at Pithekoussai and Elea, attributed to Poseidonia by previous archaeometric analysis. All samples have been submitted to a macroscopic fabric examination according to the standard methods of FACEM (Fabrics of the Central Mediterranean) and to petrographic investigation (polarised light microscopy) and digital image analyses of microstructures. Our study points to a Campanian provenance of the investigated amphorae and their distinction in a large group from Poseidonia and a small group from Elea. The identification of a numerous assemblage of 5th century BC Poseidonian transport vessels at Himera substantially underlines an earlier hypothesis about its ‘Campanian connection’ and allows for the reconstruction of an important Tyrrhenian commercial axis.

Petrographic Characterization of Selected Sidewall Core Samples from NG-1 Well, Niger Delta, Nigeria: Palaeoclimatic Implication

Petrographic investigation of sandstones from Agbada Formation in NG-1 well was undertaken in order to petrographically characterize the sandstones. Petrographic examination of the sandstone shows that the sandstones are mineralogically mature and poorly to moderately sorted quartz arenite. Compositionally, made up of monocrystalline quartz (90-96%), polycrystalline quartz (7-2%), feldspar (2-5%), rock fragments < 3%, silica, hematite cement and clay matrix. Abundant of monocrystalline quartz with marginal undulose extinction over polycrystalline quartz suggest igneous source derivatives. Presence of close packing, point and concavo – convex contacts, weathered plagioclase feldspar, grain dissolution, and fabric imprints indicates intermediate diagenesis. Consideration of petrographic attributes and paleoclimatic discrimination plot inferred semi-humid to humid palaeoclimates.

20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN CATHODOLUMINESCENCE RESEARCH AT THE PGI-NRI

The use of catholuminescence analysis in scientific research at the PGI-NRI has a 20-year history. The method, combined with other analytical techniques, has become an effective tool in widely understood mineralogical and petrographic investigation reported in numerous publications.