The origin, production and use of quartz crystals in the Neolithic of Serbia: Vinča-Belo Brdo

The scope and importance of utilisation of quartz crystals in the prehistoric period of Serbia were smaller in comparison with cherts, and the reasons for their manufacture and purpose are not sufficiently known. Definition of the origin of quartz crystals from the Grivac site, outside the assumed mine at Mali Šturac, and artefacts from Vinča-Belo Brdo from the mine on Avala, as well as definition of working operations carried out using quartz crystal tools represent the initial framework of a systematic approach to the investigation of this group of raw materials. Precise determination of the main components and the character of lithic organization of quartz crystals is one of the important markers of the exchange of raw materials and artefacts in the network of Neolithic settlements in the territory of Serbia. This paper opens up new questions of interrelationships among Vinča settlements of large and small areas and different demographic capacities in the Final Neolithic and during the Chalcolithic.