László Vértes had an encyclopaedical knowledge on natural history, especially earth sciences. Consequently, he could initiate and achieve important progress in the study of raw materials of prehistoric stone artefacts as well. He was perfectly aware of the significance of provenance studies in tracing prehistoric connections and structure of society. Together with several co-authors, he published a number of important sites with detailed description of the raw material used. Together with Lajos Tóth, performed and published the first instance of high-tech analysis with archaeometrical purposes, locating and fingerprinting a specific regional lithic raw material, Szeletian felsitic porphyry.