Tušimice-type Quartzite

Sampled sites:
• Tušimice, Chomutov district, Czech Republic

The whiteish variety is, apart from the lack of colouring, characterised by the irregular distribution of cement and quartz grains, as can be seen in the thin section at the left hand side below (field of view 13 mm, unpolarized light). This results in denser patches that are macroscopic clearly visible, like in the archaeological sample and in the specimen below .
The 'classic' type is yellowish, has a very even distribution of cement and shows occasional rusty spots, of which the other thin section below is a typical example (field of view 13 mm, unpolarized light).

As there are no exposures with this type of quartzite, or even natural occurences of eroded blocks, exist, no reliable information on cortex or crust can be given either. In the very few blocks we found on the location of the former mining area (see below ) we found some patches of silicified sandstone, while other fragments showed gradual grading into much coarser (conglomerate-like) material.

The mines, of which 19 could be recorded, were located on a low hill along the Lužický stream, a tribituary of the Ohře (Eger) river. They were cut through the loamy cover (argilized Tertiary tuffites) into a layer of sandstone in which the quartzite occurs as large nodules. The depth of the shafts, several of which had side workings in the form of niches or even galleries, varied in depth between two and four meters. After reaching the sandstone, the quartzites were extracted by cutting a deep groove around the nodule, which was then broken by a blow from the side. The mining field, part of which seems to be still intact but covered by a road and a small park, was extremely small: about 0.2 hectare ( Neustupný 1966 , Lech & Mateiciucová 1995a , Malkovský & Vencl 1995 ).
The only available ¹⁴ C date of 2818 + 100 bc (Bln-239) indicates contemporaneaty with a nearby TRB (Funnel Beaker/Trichterbecher) settlement, but the widespread use of Tušimice quartzite during the Early Neolithic (LBK) makes a late 6th millenium date for the first workings likely.

In the Mesolithic its use is a bit more widespread (e.g. Ďáblice near Prague), but due to the very regionalized and diversified raw material use in this period in the region ( Vencl 1990 ), it is nowhere predominant.
No use outside the Czech Republic is known previous to the Neolithic, but as the finds of other Bohemian quartzites like Skršin at distances up to 140 kilometers show, it is quite possible this will change in the (near) future as this type of material becomes more widely known.

The most widespread use of quartzite of the Tušimice-type clearly dates to the Neolithic, but only in the immediate surroundings of the mining site is it the predominant material. Even within Northern Bohemia it is nearly always less abundant than quartzite of the Skršin-type .
The best illustration for differential use and with it probably restricted acces to the raw material comes from South-East Germany, from Early Neolithic (Linear Pottery/LBK) settlements around Dresden (unpublished work by the author). Here, about 65 kilometers from the sources of both Skršin and Tušimice quartzite, the latter is characteristic of the youngest (Šárka) phase of the LBK, whereas the former is clearly more abundant during the earlier phases. Even more remarkable are the differences in use of both materials: Skršin-type quartzite has clearly entered the sites as raw material and was worked on the spot, Tušimice quartzite is nearly exclusively present as blades/bladelike flakes with a very high incidence of tools.

Finds of Tušimice quartzite in Neolithic contexts are known up to 240 kilometers from its source near Kramolín in Moravia (Oliva 1990, cited in Malkovský & Vencl 1995 ) and is regularily found in all of Bohemia, reaching the well known site of Bylany, over 140 kilometres to the South-East.

Outside the Czech Republic there are hardly any finds of this well sourceable quartzite published. Apparently it has been noticed in the LBK material from Zwenkau-Harth, south of Leipzig in the former GDR, which agrees well with the (unpublished) find of a bifacially retouched Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age arrowhead from Zauschwitz near Borna, also south of Leipzig. On the other hand, Tušimice quartzite is probably much more abundant in the regions adjacent to Bohemia, but it is either not noticed, confused with other raw materials, or worse, downright ignored like in Pratsch 1999 .
From this last publication comes our favourite quote on sourcing lithics: "From the settlement come 10 artifacts (..) which are made on light gray, fine-grained quartzites. This raw material probably comes from deposits" ( translation by the author )

During the Bronze Age the distribution of this raw material is more restricted and no finds outside Bohemia are known, although a few pieces from Saxony (South-East Germany) could date from this period.