Potential raw material sources for the production of lithic artefacts in western Central Europe – GIS-data for the Rhineland, Westphalia, and the Benelux countries

The GIS dataset contains 19 recent geological formation/ deposit shape files that keep lithic raw material used during the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. The geological data was gained from published digital maps (Carte géologique du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg 1998, GÜK200 2007, NRW: IS GK 100 DS 2009, Surface lithology (INSPIRE) 2016) whereas the data for 3 datasets on single outcrops, extraction sites and mining sites was collected during the D4 project phase (CRC 806). Further, out of the D4 project database 3 additive datasets where created describing the location of a singular Meuse gravel flint deposit close to Hambach, former tertiary quartzite (tertiary silcrete) and chalcedony sources (Floss 1994). The spatial analysis of lithic raw material sources is a valuable tool to identify Stone Age communication areas and regions of economic activities through different stages. Based on the combination of geological data and the D4 sites database potential Palaeolithic and Mesolithic foraging areas have been calculated for the D4 study area located in western Germany (NRW, Hessen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland), and neighbouring Luxembourg, Belgium (Wallonia), and the southern Netherlands (Limburg) (Gehlen et al. submitted; Schmidt et al., in prep.). References Birgit Gehlen, Mirijam Zickel, Jehanne Affolter, Kai Vogl, Christian Willmes, submitted, Potential raw material sources for the production of lithic artefacts in western Central Europe – GIS-data for the Rhineland, Westphalia, and the Benelux countries. Submitted for Quaternary International, Special Issue “Rockview. Raw material sourcing of the prehistoric flint artefacts”. Isabell Schmidt, Jehanne Affolter, Alvaro Arrizabalaga, Nico Arts, Nuno Bicho, Philippe Crombé, Birgit Gehlen, Sonja B. Grimm, Andreas Maier, Nicholas Naudinot, Marcel Niekus, Mathieu Langlais, Marco Peresani, Florian Sauer, Werner Schön, Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka, Hans Vandendriesche, Mara-Julia Weber, Katja Winkler, Annabell Zander, Andreas Zimmermann, Final Palaeolithic demographic estimates. In prep.