Archeometric Investigation of the Stone Tools of the Vatya Culture (Pest County, Hungary)

With the analysis of the middle Bronze Age (2000–1350 BC) Vatya culture findings in Pest county (Central Hungary) comprising of more than 400 polished stone tools and instrument tools this is the first archaeometric study with such scale in Hungary. In order to characterize petrographically the raw-material of the stone tools macroscopic and microscopic stone analyses were made together with mineralogical and geochemical analyses. In the course of the work a new digital database the Archaeometric Stone Tool Database was established. Based on the results, the material of the instrument stones is mainly sandstone and quartzite that were easy to collect from their source areas. Local volcanics, mostly amphibole containing andesite variations dominated among the material of the polished stone tools. Ophiolites (metamorphic basic rocks, serpentinized basic and ultrabasic rocks) were the raw-material of stone axes that indicate either more distant travels for raw-material or exchange import

Origin of red clays around Miskolc (North Hungary)

During the geological mapping of the northern foreland of the Biikk Mountains red clay occurrences were identified by the Department of Mineralogy and Geology, University of Debrecen. Red clays are underlain by Triassic limestone and Miocene, mainly Sarmatian siliciclastic sediments containing tuffaceous bentonites. Based on the sedimentological (grain-size distribution), mineralogical (micromineralogy, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis) and major element geochemical (ICP-OES) examinations, it can be established that the studied red clays belong to the less weathered, so-called „reddish clay" type. Montmorillonite prevails among clay minerals, while kaolinite is subordinate. Considering the strong sedimentological and mineralogical similarity with the underlying Miocene sediments, the red clays were probably originated by the weathering of the Miocene sediments under a moderately warm and dry climate. Taking lithostratigraphic features into account, the examined red clays can be classified as members of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Tengelic or Kerecsend Red Clay Formation

Preparation and structure's analyses of lanthanide (Ln) -exchanged bentonites

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