“Chemical and physical characterization and provenance study of oolitic hematites found both in early Neo-lithic sites of Hesbaye (Province of Liège, Belgium) and Neolithic sites from the Dendre... Show more“Chemical and physical characterization and provenance study of oolitic hematites found both in early Neo-lithic sites of Hesbaye (Province of Liège, Belgium) and Neolithic sites from the Dendre River springs (Hainaut province, Belgium)”.Oolitic ironstones (OIS) are red raw materials producing a strong red pigment that are frequently encountered on LBK (Linearbandkeramic culture or Linienbandkeramische Kultur) sites from the Hesbaye (Liège province, Belgium), the Maastricht region (Limburg province, The Netherlands) and the Dendre springs area (Hainaut province, Belgium). Macroscopical, mesoscopical and microscopical investigations show a genetic relationship between all of the studied sam-ples. The latter consist mainly of Clinton-type OIS with fine-grained hematitic ooids and a red clayey-sandy matrix, rarely enclosing carbonates within the cement or in the fossils. The observed variation inside the geological outcrops results from differences in the proportions of the detrital matrix and the carbonate content in comparison with the richness in hematitic ooids. The geochemical analyses carried out with HH-XRF and PIXE, also show strong analogies between all of the studied archaeological objects discovered in both of the studied areas. The diffractometric analysis resulted in poor information except for the mineralogical composition of the major phases. We do not observe differences between the pioneer sites and the older occupation sites. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed between the OIS from one village to another. A comparison of geological samples from Belgium and Germany allowed to link archaeological samples to Lower Famennian OIS of the southern border of the Namur Synclinorium. The latter spots are most probably located between the towns of Loyable and Amay, along the Meuse river valley. We may therefore conclude that the early Neolithic people looked at the same spots (in a geographic area of about three kilometers along the Meuse river axis). Moreover, they have selected their primary raw materials using the richness in iron ooids and the scarcity in quartz and calcite as main selection criteria. This study is still in progress, now taking into account other types of (non-oolitic) red rocks from LBK sites in the Hesbaye area, The Netherlands and Lorraine, in order to trace the geographical and geological provenances of the raw materials. So far, we can already suggest that the sources are local to regional for the red sandstones and of German origin for the non-oolitic hematitic ores. Show less
