Modern flint mining landscapes and flint knapping evidence from the Kraków Gunflint Production Centre – What we know from LiDAR and field survey

We know that on the Polish territories that belonged to Austrian and Russian Empires, from the second partof the 18th till the 19th centuries, gunflint workshops were operating. One of the workshop centres were situatedin the Kraków region (southern Poland) and others were located in the regions of Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine,former Austrian monarchy) and Kremenets (Ukraine, former Russian monarchy). The number of workshops,the quantity of products and their export gave them significance on a European scale. We used several methodsto preliminary investigate the area near Kraków using LiDAR and field verification. We analysis three modernflint mines in this region – Zelków, Karniowice and Mników which have preserved anthropogenic relief andwell-preserved flint workshops on the surface. Flints obtained during field verification (studies included a setof cores and technological blanks) were analyzed. Our efforts allowed us to attempt to recreate the chaîne opératoirefor Polish gunflint workshops as well to determine differences between particular sites.