Complexes of Gunflints of the 18th ? 19th Centuries from the Crimea

The authors address the problem of identification of the gunflints in the Modern Time complexes. Gunflints are a specific type of historical and archaeological sources. Distribution of these products is entirely connected with distribution of firearms with flintlock ignition mechanisms. The typology of gunflints is essentially similar to the typology of Stone Age microlith inserts. In both cases fragments of blades and lamellar flakes served as workpieces. The authors describe three small complexes of gunflints from the Crimea. Flints have been found on the eighteenth-century Russian military camps in Bakhchisarai and Belogorsk, also in Sevastopol. The complex from Sevastopol is connected with the Eastern War (1853?1856). The published gunflint inserts fully meet the standards of West European gunflints. A large share of flints has a lead shell which was intended to fix the flint in the hammer of ignition mechanism. Parameters of flints suggest application of guns of various calibers in the Russian army. The place of production of gunflints is still uncertain.