The origin of the trough retouch in the Lublin-Volhynian culture

The technique of trough retouch played a key role in the Lublin-Volhynia culture as the most expressive technology of co-shaping the edges of flint tools. An important role is played by the so-called retouched blade-daggers, produced using this retouching technique. They werepart of the equipment for the graves of men considered to be members of the local elite.They appeared in a similar context only in the early Eneolithic Skelya culture in the Black Sea steppes and are dated from at least 4500 to 4100 BC. Specimens from the steppes must have been a source and act as a model for imitation in the production of analogous artefacts in the latter culture. The lack of retouched blade-daggers in Trypillia and Malice culture proves that the Lublin-Volhynia culture population took them directly from the Skelya culture. This adaptation took place no later than 4100 BC, when the Lublin-Volhynia culture population already had their own elite, ready to use retouched blade-daggers.