Ground obsidian artefacts from an Early Eneolithic site in Nitra-Selenec (Slovakia)

Obsidian was an important lithic raw material in the prehistory of the Western Carpathians. Whereas the use of knapped obsidian in this region is well known, the production of polished artefacts remains undocumented. Two obsidian finds were unearthed in 2009–2010 during the excavation of an Early Eneolithic (4300–4000 BP) site in Nitra-Selenec. Grinding was combined with pressure knapping, and the purpose and position of grinding in the operational chain were the focus of our research. Based on the petrographic characteristics and the statistical analysis of its chemical composition, we identified the raw material as originating from sources in present-day northeastern Hungary, ruling out their import from other centres where ground obsidians are found in abundance. The most likely interpretation of the artefacts is that they were ground for a practical reason during the preparation of the core. Our results re-open the debate about the practical, economic or social purposes of obsidian knapping in the prehistory of Western Carpathians and surrounding territories.