ЕНЕОЛИТНИТЕ СЕЛИЩА В СОФИЯ И СОФИЙСКО – ПРОБЛЕМИ НА КУЛТУРНОТО И ХРОНОЛОГИЧЕСКО ОПРЕДЕЛЯНЕ, 2020
The city of Sofia and the Sofia Region are situated on the Struma road and its continuation north... more The city of Sofia and the Sofia Region are situated on the Struma road and its continuation northward through the Iskar Gorge or the Arabakonak Pass toward North-West Bulgaria and the Danube. This is of importance for the directions of the cultural contacts between the communities that inhabited the region and for the formation and the territorial boundaries of various prehistoric cultures. During the Eneolithic this region was within the territorial bounds of the consecutively developing archaeological cultures or cultural complexes Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash, of the Early Eneolithic, and Krivodol–Sălcuţa, of the Late Eneolithic. They are represented by numerous settlements. Besides those, another site belonging to this age was discovered and explored within the modern city limits of Sofia that can be determined culturally as belonging to the western neighbour, the Vinča Culture, but it is not situated in its border zone, being surrounded by settlements of the Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash culture. It is chronologically related to the end of Vinča, which should be contemporaneous with the end of Gradeshnitsa– Slatino–Dikilitash, i.e. the settlement was inhabited by people living in an alien cultural environment. At this stage of exploration this is the only such site and its presence is unusual. The paper offers one possible explanation of its coming into existence, related to the formation and the expansion of the Krivodol–Sălcuţa–Bubanj Hum Ia culture.
internazionale di studi archeologici, storici ed epigrafici CretChron Kretika chronika: Keimena k... more internazionale di studi archeologici, storici ed epigrafici CretChron Kretika chronika: Keimena kai meletai tes kretikes istorias CretStud Cretan Studies CurrAnthr Current Anthropology Dacia Dacia: Revue d'archéologie et d'histoire ancienne DocPraeh Documenta Praehistorica EAE Ephimeris Archaiologikis Etaireias E:CO Emergence: Complexity and Organization EJA European Journal of Archaeology EJM European Journal of Mineralogy Ergon To Ergon tes Archaiologikes Etaireias ÉtCrét Études crétoises
Georgieva P. Early Eneolithic Pottery from a Burnt Dwelling - Kozareva Mogila, a Tell near Kableskovo. – in: M. Stefanovich, H. Todorova, H. Hauptmann (eds.) James Harvey Gaul - in Memoriam, Sofia, 1998,153-160.
Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have... more Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have been discussed in anthropological literature since the nineteenth century during which the discovery of the majority of the known finds from Western Europe, mostly related to the Neolithic, occurred. Unfortunately, the discovery context is known for only a few of them. It is assumed that they were made and used as objects with supernatural properties. They are usually considered together with human skull trepanations. According to one of their interpretations, roundels were made from skulls of people who survived trepanations or other skull traumas, and had a magic and protective function. This paper presents five new finds of skull roundels, as well as a bowl made from a human skull, that were discovered in Late Eneolithic layers of the Kozareva Mogila settlement. Two of the roundels bear marks of survived skull traumas. The round-els were found in two adjacent buildings in a burned layer of the settlement mound. Potter's kilns and other finds in this layer give grounds for the assumption that this part of the settlement had been turned into a potter's workshop at the time. In the necropolis, in a burial dating from approximately the same time, a skeleton was found with a significant part of the skull removed and buried in a separate little pit next to the grave. The fragments are perforated in ways analogous to the roundels while skulls from other burials show marks of cutting, incomplete trepanation, and complete survived trepanation. The possible connections between the finds from the necropolis and the settlement are discussed. Additionally skull rattles and little drums (damaru) known from North America and Tibet, which are analogous to skull roun-dels from Europe, are presented.
The book is devoted to the ceramics of the Late Eneolithic culture Krivodol-Salcuta. The data on... more The book is devoted to the ceramics of the Late Eneolithic culture Krivodol-Salcuta. The data on 393 vessels from the richest museum collections from different settlements of the culture is gathered and analyzed. Presented along with them are 253 vessels from two settlements from the previous stage, the Early Eneolithic, which are used as a basis for tracking the changes in ceramics production within the Eneolithic. Based on the results of the analysis, the chronological position of the various settlements is determined.
An especially interesting result, which supplies information about the changes in the organization of ceramics production, is the determined trend towards standardization of vessels during the Late Eneolithic. Unlike the early period, when there is a large variety of shapes, sizes, and proportions, during the Late Eneolithic variety decreases. The shapes become more and more simple and uniform and in terms of size, three groups of pottery are clearly discerned: large, medium, and small. These changes reflect the general changes in the structure of Eneolithic societies during the Late Eneolithic, occurring under the influence of the development of metallurgy and trade with metal, an early stage in the transformation of ceramics into a traded commodity.
Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory - ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS, Mar 9, 2015
HAEMUS - Center for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture
http://haemus.org.mk
Settlemen... more HAEMUS - Center for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture
http://haemus.org.mk Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory
International Conference
13-14.03.2015
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
General Editor: Vasilka Dimitrovska
Cover Design: Vasilka Dimitrovska, Elka Anastasova
Design: Elka Anastasova
Editing and English proofreading: Mark Branov
In the Varna Eneolithic necropolis three gold applications were found with shapes presenting catt... more In the Varna Eneolithic necropolis three gold applications were found with shapes presenting cattle in profile. They have no clear sexual characteristics. These figures are usually interpreted as bulls. Images with analogous shapes occur rarely on ceramic vessels as well. This paper presents a vessel from the settlement mound Kozareva Mogila (Bulgaria). Two anthropomorphic and two zoomorphic figures are depicted on it. The images are schematic, modeled in relief along the entire middle part, arranged in a horizontal belt and alternating anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. The anthropomorphic ones are presented facing the observer, differing from each other only in that one has embossed female breasts. The zoomorphic ones are presented in profile. In shape they are very close to the gold cattle figures from Varna. Like the human figures, one has a clearly marked sex: a phallus in relief. This indicates that one depicts a bull and the other a cow, a rare example of simultaneous presentation of female and male anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images with clearly marked sex. This scene is a key to identifying the gender of the gold zoomorphic figures from the Varna necropolis, commonly called bulls.
Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have... more Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have been discussed in anthropological literature since the nineteenth century during which the discovery of the majority of the known finds from Western Europe, mostly related to the Neolithic, occurred. Unfortunately, the discovery context is known for only a few of them. It is assumed that they were made and used as objects with supernatural properties. They are usually considered together with human skull trepanations. According to one of their interpretations, roundels were made from skulls of people who survived trepanations or other skull traumas, and had a magic and protective function. This paper presents five new finds of skull roundels, as well as a bowl made from a human skull, that were discovered in Late Eneolithic layers of the Kozareva Mogila settlement. Two of the roundels bear marks of survived skull traumas. The roundels were found in two adjacent buildings in a burned lay...
ЕНЕОЛИТНИТЕ СЕЛИЩА В СОФИЯ И СОФИЙСКО – ПРОБЛЕМИ НА КУЛТУРНОТО И ХРОНОЛОГИЧЕСКО ОПРЕДЕЛЯНЕ, 2020
The city of Sofia and the Sofia Region are situated on the Struma road and its continuation north... more The city of Sofia and the Sofia Region are situated on the Struma road and its continuation northward through the Iskar Gorge or the Arabakonak Pass toward North-West Bulgaria and the Danube. This is of importance for the directions of the cultural contacts between the communities that inhabited the region and for the formation and the territorial boundaries of various prehistoric cultures. During the Eneolithic this region was within the territorial bounds of the consecutively developing archaeological cultures or cultural complexes Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash, of the Early Eneolithic, and Krivodol–Sălcuţa, of the Late Eneolithic. They are represented by numerous settlements. Besides those, another site belonging to this age was discovered and explored within the modern city limits of Sofia that can be determined culturally as belonging to the western neighbour, the Vinča Culture, but it is not situated in its border zone, being surrounded by settlements of the Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash culture. It is chronologically related to the end of Vinča, which should be contemporaneous with the end of Gradeshnitsa– Slatino–Dikilitash, i.e. the settlement was inhabited by people living in an alien cultural environment. At this stage of exploration this is the only such site and its presence is unusual. The paper offers one possible explanation of its coming into existence, related to the formation and the expansion of the Krivodol–Sălcuţa–Bubanj Hum Ia culture.
internazionale di studi archeologici, storici ed epigrafici CretChron Kretika chronika: Keimena k... more internazionale di studi archeologici, storici ed epigrafici CretChron Kretika chronika: Keimena kai meletai tes kretikes istorias CretStud Cretan Studies CurrAnthr Current Anthropology Dacia Dacia: Revue d'archéologie et d'histoire ancienne DocPraeh Documenta Praehistorica EAE Ephimeris Archaiologikis Etaireias E:CO Emergence: Complexity and Organization EJA European Journal of Archaeology EJM European Journal of Mineralogy Ergon To Ergon tes Archaiologikes Etaireias ÉtCrét Études crétoises
Georgieva P. Early Eneolithic Pottery from a Burnt Dwelling - Kozareva Mogila, a Tell near Kableskovo. – in: M. Stefanovich, H. Todorova, H. Hauptmann (eds.) James Harvey Gaul - in Memoriam, Sofia, 1998,153-160.
Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have... more Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have been discussed in anthropological literature since the nineteenth century during which the discovery of the majority of the known finds from Western Europe, mostly related to the Neolithic, occurred. Unfortunately, the discovery context is known for only a few of them. It is assumed that they were made and used as objects with supernatural properties. They are usually considered together with human skull trepanations. According to one of their interpretations, roundels were made from skulls of people who survived trepanations or other skull traumas, and had a magic and protective function. This paper presents five new finds of skull roundels, as well as a bowl made from a human skull, that were discovered in Late Eneolithic layers of the Kozareva Mogila settlement. Two of the roundels bear marks of survived skull traumas. The round-els were found in two adjacent buildings in a burned layer of the settlement mound. Potter's kilns and other finds in this layer give grounds for the assumption that this part of the settlement had been turned into a potter's workshop at the time. In the necropolis, in a burial dating from approximately the same time, a skeleton was found with a significant part of the skull removed and buried in a separate little pit next to the grave. The fragments are perforated in ways analogous to the roundels while skulls from other burials show marks of cutting, incomplete trepanation, and complete survived trepanation. The possible connections between the finds from the necropolis and the settlement are discussed. Additionally skull rattles and little drums (damaru) known from North America and Tibet, which are analogous to skull roun-dels from Europe, are presented.
The book is devoted to the ceramics of the Late Eneolithic culture Krivodol-Salcuta. The data on... more The book is devoted to the ceramics of the Late Eneolithic culture Krivodol-Salcuta. The data on 393 vessels from the richest museum collections from different settlements of the culture is gathered and analyzed. Presented along with them are 253 vessels from two settlements from the previous stage, the Early Eneolithic, which are used as a basis for tracking the changes in ceramics production within the Eneolithic. Based on the results of the analysis, the chronological position of the various settlements is determined.
An especially interesting result, which supplies information about the changes in the organization of ceramics production, is the determined trend towards standardization of vessels during the Late Eneolithic. Unlike the early period, when there is a large variety of shapes, sizes, and proportions, during the Late Eneolithic variety decreases. The shapes become more and more simple and uniform and in terms of size, three groups of pottery are clearly discerned: large, medium, and small. These changes reflect the general changes in the structure of Eneolithic societies during the Late Eneolithic, occurring under the influence of the development of metallurgy and trade with metal, an early stage in the transformation of ceramics into a traded commodity.
Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory - ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS, Mar 9, 2015
HAEMUS - Center for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture
http://haemus.org.mk
Settlemen... more HAEMUS - Center for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture
http://haemus.org.mk Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory
International Conference
13-14.03.2015
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
General Editor: Vasilka Dimitrovska
Cover Design: Vasilka Dimitrovska, Elka Anastasova
Design: Elka Anastasova
Editing and English proofreading: Mark Branov
In the Varna Eneolithic necropolis three gold applications were found with shapes presenting catt... more In the Varna Eneolithic necropolis three gold applications were found with shapes presenting cattle in profile. They have no clear sexual characteristics. These figures are usually interpreted as bulls. Images with analogous shapes occur rarely on ceramic vessels as well. This paper presents a vessel from the settlement mound Kozareva Mogila (Bulgaria). Two anthropomorphic and two zoomorphic figures are depicted on it. The images are schematic, modeled in relief along the entire middle part, arranged in a horizontal belt and alternating anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. The anthropomorphic ones are presented facing the observer, differing from each other only in that one has embossed female breasts. The zoomorphic ones are presented in profile. In shape they are very close to the gold cattle figures from Varna. Like the human figures, one has a clearly marked sex: a phallus in relief. This indicates that one depicts a bull and the other a cow, a rare example of simultaneous presentation of female and male anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images with clearly marked sex. This scene is a key to identifying the gender of the gold zoomorphic figures from the Varna necropolis, commonly called bulls.
Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have... more Human skull artifacts are found relatively rarely and in various cultural environments. They have been discussed in anthropological literature since the nineteenth century during which the discovery of the majority of the known finds from Western Europe, mostly related to the Neolithic, occurred. Unfortunately, the discovery context is known for only a few of them. It is assumed that they were made and used as objects with supernatural properties. They are usually considered together with human skull trepanations. According to one of their interpretations, roundels were made from skulls of people who survived trepanations or other skull traumas, and had a magic and protective function. This paper presents five new finds of skull roundels, as well as a bowl made from a human skull, that were discovered in Late Eneolithic layers of the Kozareva Mogila settlement. Two of the roundels bear marks of survived skull traumas. The roundels were found in two adjacent buildings in a burned lay...
Bulgarian literature on prehistory assumes that the
Varna and Kodjadermen–Gumelnita–Karanovo VI c... more Bulgarian literature on prehistory assumes that the Varna and Kodjadermen–Gumelnita–Karanovo VI cultures of the Late Eneolithic came into existence and developed simultaneously with the Krivodol–Salcuta culture, but abruptly stopped their development before the latter ended. According to this logic, the accidental finds of stone zoo- morphic sceptres from Thrace (Razhevo and Drama) and north-east Bulgaria (Kyulevcha) were related to a period immediately following the Eneolithic and were interpreted as one of the proofs of invasion by stock-breeding tribes from the steppes. Finds from two of the recently explored Late Eneolithic settlements from the region of the Varna culture give grounds to revise this thesis. Two consecutive stages of the end of the development of the culture are represented in those settlements: the earlier one, at tel Kozareva Mogila, and the later one (according to research so far, the final one), at Sozopol. Comparative analysis of a number of characte- ristic features of the pottery from those settlements (vessels with S-shaped profiles; vertical handles protruding above the edge of the rim; decoration painted with coloured pas- tose pigments; stamped decoration; a small number of ves- sels made of clay mixed with clam shells) and the pottery from the late stages of the Krivodol-Salcuta culture (phase IV according to H. Todorova) proves their contemporaneity. Similar elements are found among the pottery of some of the settlements of the end of the Kodjadermen–Gumelnita– Karanovo VI culture, which indicates that it also survived up to that stage. A miniature copy of a stone zoomorphic sceptre of the so-called realistic type, made with precision on the handle of a bone spoon, was found in the Eneolithic settlement at Sozopol. Data about the relative chronology of this find and data about the relative chronology of all known zoomorphic sceptres from their rather wide area of distribution delineate a relatively narrow chronological horizon: the final stages of the Varna, Kodjadermen–Gumelnita–Karanovo VI, and Krivodol–Salcuta cultures, the stages Kukuteni A2/3, A3– Tripolie B1, the Hvalinska culture, and the earliest stage of the mound ochre tombs. The tombs with red ochre from Devnya and Kyulevcha are also related to the same chrono- logical horizon. This means that the penetration of "steppe elements" into the Balkans does not differ significantly from their penetration within the bounds of the Kukuteni–Tripolie culture. It was gradual and did not have a destructive or in- vasive nature.
The settlement is located near the villdge of Rupkiq Chirpan districtq Haskovo regionq Bulgaria. ... more The settlement is located near the villdge of Rupkiq Chirpan districtq Haskovo regionq Bulgaria. It was built on an Eneolithic (by the Bulgarian periodisation) tellq Maritza-Karanovo V and Kodjadermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI cultures.The characteristics of the finds from it show that it belongs to the Ezero and Nova Zagora cultures, The data about the fortification system and the absolute chronology collected during the exploration on this settlement are of particular interest trues in Thrace and the study of the chronological and cultural relations with the Early Bronze Age and Anatolia. This settlement was fortified like most Early Bronze Age settlements in Thraceq the Aegeanq and Anatolia. Unlike the settlements known so far it was fortified with a moat and a rampart with a palisade. Five stages of embankment of the rampart and construction of new palisades were established. Chiefly soil, clayq and wood were used as building materials. Rows of broken stones were used only for reinforcing the external side of the rampart. The interior of the settlement was explored only in relation to the excavations of medieval buildings and the finds collected from ther belong in most cases to mixed strata. Several sherds that possibly belong to the period followingthe Karanovo VI culture and preceding the Ezero culture are of particular interest among those finds; no sites from that period are known so far in Thrace. There are seven radiocarbon dates from the various stages of the rampart and the settlement. Their values do not differ from the values of the dates from other sites belonging to the same cultures. The major characteristics of the cultures of Thrace, the North Aegenq and Anatolia are compared in conclusion. In Thraceq the Early Bronze Age settlements re on top of Neolithic or Eneolithic tells but there ara no settlements at the base of a tell (like Troy or Poliochni). This shows that the structure of these settlements is not of the type of the tell-forming settlements. The fortification systems are different, with massive stone walls not found anywhere in Thrace. The houses have a light construction of thin posts and sticks coated with clayq unlike the massive stone wals of the buildings in the Aegean and Anatolia. They are also different from the combinations of clay and wood, or clay, woodq and stones that are characteristic of the cultures of Uaranovo VI and Varna. It is unclear whether the data about the development of metallurgy are sufficient to claim that Anatolian Early Bronze Age metallurgy is more developed than that of Thrace but it is certain that Thracian Bronze Age metallurgy does not continue the traditions of Eneolithic metallurgy.
The newly found necropolis gives new important information about the
territorial range... more The newly found necropolis gives new important information about the territorial range and the cultural characteristics of both Kodjadermen – Gumelnița – Karanovo VI and Varna. Two of the discovered graves are also interesting for solving the problems regarding the end of the Eneolithic culture and the transition to the Bronze Age. Even though it is too early for generalizations at this stage, it is possible to state that the finds do not support the existing hypothesis about the Varna culture extending territorially to the south of Stara Planina.
The paper presents problems in the internal periodisation of the culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa and the... more The paper presents problems in the internal periodisation of the culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa and the possibilities of the synchronization of their individual stages with neighbouring cultures. The early stages of the development of the culture were known especially from the territory of Western Bulgaria. Only here continuity with chronologically earlier culture Gradešnica-Dikili Tash-Slatino was identified. These early stages are simultaneous with I–III phases of the cultures Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI and Varna. Settlements from the later stages were found in a much larger territory – Western Bulgaria and the Rhodopi mountains, Muntenia Serbia and Macedonia. This is also the maximal territorial range of the Krivodol–Sălcuţa culture, which includes territories of Vinča culture. In the pe- riodisation scheme of H. Todorova later stages are separated generally as phase IV of the Late Eneolithic Period, which developed in stage, chronologically following the final stage of the neighboring cultures Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa- Karanovo VI and Varna. In the later stages of the culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa two stages can be clearly differentiated – the earlier, presented well in Galatin and Sălcuţa IIc, and the later, presented well in Rebărkovo and Sălcuţa III. The pottery complex of the culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa is mainly stable related to the forms and ornamental compositions in its whole stages of development. Only individual formal details were changed, as well as some of the ornamental techniques, but in the latest stages the quality of the vessels got worse. The comparative analysis between pottery complexes from the latest stages of culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa and the pottery from some settlements, presented latest stages of the cultures Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI: Rup- kite, Starozagorski Mineralni Bani, Bikovo; Varna: Kozareva mogila and Sozopol, proves their contemporaneousness. Also the comparison argues for the rejection of a widely spread theory, according to which the cultures Varna and Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI finish their development earlier then culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa.
Remains of a potter's kiln were unearthed
in a Late Chalcolithic burnt down layer at the
settleme... more Remains of a potter's kiln were unearthed in a Late Chalcolithic burnt down layer at the settlement mound of Kozareva Mogila near the town of Kableshkovo, Pomorie municipality, along with numerous items related to the manufacture of pottery: more than three hundred vases found in situ, clay loomweights, lumps of clay prepared for shaping, graphite, pieces of red ochre, and stones for polishing the surface of the vessels. Therefore, it could be concluded that all these remains belonged to a workshop that was destroyed by fire in the process of manufacturing pottery. Considerable part of that layer, including part of the kiln, has been disturbed by later structures dug in the terrain. The kiln’s fuel chamber was dug into the ground and there were one or two firing chambers above it, enclosed in a double wall and separated from the fuel chamber with massive clay wall. This is the fist kiln of this type ever discovered. Its shape has parallels in kilns discovered in settlements of Cucuteni-Tripol’e culture; however, they have a perforated wall between the fuel chamber and the firing chamber/chambers. In the proposed reconstruction, the openings of the fuel and firing chambers are set in the lateral walls of the jacket, for which there is no direct evidence. Having in mind that the kiln was used for baking of vases painted with graphite, which burns when exposed to air at temperatures of about 400oC, and that the vases were initially black, i.e. they were baked in low oxygen environment, it could be assumed that the openings were covered with slabs and plastered with clay. They were broken open after finishing the backing process. The heating of the vases was achieved through the floor of the kiln and its hollow walls that led the hot gases from the fuel chamber to the vent. An experimental downsized model of the kiln was built. On the grounds of the presented evidence of the ceramic workshop, other similar finds, and the general characteristics of the Late Chalcolithic pottery in the settlements and the necropoleis, some observations are offered on the organization of the manufacture of pottery in Late Chalcolithic times. The appearance in that period of pottery kilns that were built inside the fortified part of the settlements and produced quantities that surpassed by far the needs of the given settlement, as well as the quality of the vases in the necropoleis and the evidence of imported ceramics reveal the gradual transformation of pottery into article of trade. This process was a result of changes in the organisation of the economy, prompted by the developments in mining, working, and trading of metals.
Call for papers for the International Doctoral Student Conference on Balkan Archaeology, Sofia, B... more Call for papers for the International Doctoral Student Conference on Balkan Archaeology, Sofia, Bulgaria, November 2017.
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Books by Petya Georgieva
the Iskar Gorge or the Arabakonak Pass toward North-West Bulgaria and the Danube. This is of importance for the
directions of the cultural contacts between the communities that inhabited the region and for the formation and the
territorial boundaries of various prehistoric cultures. During the Eneolithic this region was within the territorial bounds of the consecutively developing archaeological cultures or cultural complexes Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash,
of the Early Eneolithic, and Krivodol–Sălcuţa, of the Late Eneolithic. They are represented by numerous
settlements. Besides those, another site belonging to this age was discovered and explored within the modern city
limits of Sofia that can be determined culturally as belonging to the western neighbour, the Vinča Culture, but it
is not situated in its border zone, being surrounded by settlements of the Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash culture.
It is chronologically related to the end of Vinča, which should be contemporaneous with the end of Gradeshnitsa–
Slatino–Dikilitash, i.e. the settlement was inhabited by people living in an alien cultural environment. At this stage
of exploration this is the only such site and its presence is unusual. The paper offers one possible explanation of its
coming into existence, related to the formation and the expansion of the Krivodol–Sălcuţa–Bubanj Hum Ia culture.
https://www.archaeologia-bulgarica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/Georgieva_Danov%20text%20SITE.pdf
An especially interesting result, which supplies information about the changes in the organization of ceramics production, is the determined trend towards standardization of vessels during the Late Eneolithic. Unlike the early period, when there is a large variety of shapes, sizes, and proportions, during the Late Eneolithic variety decreases. The shapes become more and more simple and uniform and in terms of size, three groups of pottery are clearly discerned: large, medium, and small. These changes reflect the general changes in the structure of Eneolithic societies during the Late Eneolithic, occurring under the influence of the development of metallurgy and trade with metal, an early stage in the transformation of ceramics into a traded commodity.
http://haemus.org.mk
Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory
International Conference
13-14.03.2015
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
General Editor: Vasilka Dimitrovska
Cover Design: Vasilka Dimitrovska, Elka Anastasova
Design: Elka Anastasova
Editing and English proofreading: Mark Branov
Papers by Petya Georgieva
the Iskar Gorge or the Arabakonak Pass toward North-West Bulgaria and the Danube. This is of importance for the
directions of the cultural contacts between the communities that inhabited the region and for the formation and the
territorial boundaries of various prehistoric cultures. During the Eneolithic this region was within the territorial bounds of the consecutively developing archaeological cultures or cultural complexes Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash,
of the Early Eneolithic, and Krivodol–Sălcuţa, of the Late Eneolithic. They are represented by numerous
settlements. Besides those, another site belonging to this age was discovered and explored within the modern city
limits of Sofia that can be determined culturally as belonging to the western neighbour, the Vinča Culture, but it
is not situated in its border zone, being surrounded by settlements of the Gradeshnitsa–Slatino–Dikilitash culture.
It is chronologically related to the end of Vinča, which should be contemporaneous with the end of Gradeshnitsa–
Slatino–Dikilitash, i.e. the settlement was inhabited by people living in an alien cultural environment. At this stage
of exploration this is the only such site and its presence is unusual. The paper offers one possible explanation of its
coming into existence, related to the formation and the expansion of the Krivodol–Sălcuţa–Bubanj Hum Ia culture.
https://www.archaeologia-bulgarica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/Georgieva_Danov%20text%20SITE.pdf
An especially interesting result, which supplies information about the changes in the organization of ceramics production, is the determined trend towards standardization of vessels during the Late Eneolithic. Unlike the early period, when there is a large variety of shapes, sizes, and proportions, during the Late Eneolithic variety decreases. The shapes become more and more simple and uniform and in terms of size, three groups of pottery are clearly discerned: large, medium, and small. These changes reflect the general changes in the structure of Eneolithic societies during the Late Eneolithic, occurring under the influence of the development of metallurgy and trade with metal, an early stage in the transformation of ceramics into a traded commodity.
http://haemus.org.mk
Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory
International Conference
13-14.03.2015
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
General Editor: Vasilka Dimitrovska
Cover Design: Vasilka Dimitrovska, Elka Anastasova
Design: Elka Anastasova
Editing and English proofreading: Mark Branov
Varna and Kodjadermen–Gumelnita–Karanovo VI cultures
of the Late Eneolithic came into existence and developed
simultaneously with the Krivodol–Salcuta culture, but
abruptly stopped their development before the latter ended.
According to this logic, the accidental finds of stone zoo-
morphic sceptres from Thrace (Razhevo and Drama) and
north-east Bulgaria (Kyulevcha) were related to a period
immediately following the Eneolithic and were interpreted
as one of the proofs of invasion by stock-breeding tribes
from the steppes.
Finds from two of the recently explored Late
Eneolithic settlements from the region of the Varna culture
give grounds to revise this thesis. Two consecutive stages
of the end of the development of the culture are represented
in those settlements: the earlier one, at tel Kozareva Mogila,
and the later one (according to research so far, the final one),
at Sozopol. Comparative analysis of a number of characte-
ristic features of the pottery from those settlements (vessels
with S-shaped profiles; vertical handles protruding above
the edge of the rim; decoration painted with coloured pas-
tose pigments; stamped decoration; a small number of ves-
sels made of clay mixed with clam shells) and the pottery
from the late stages of the Krivodol-Salcuta culture (phase
IV according to H. Todorova) proves their contemporaneity.
Similar elements are found among the pottery of some of
the settlements of the end of the Kodjadermen–Gumelnita–
Karanovo VI culture, which indicates that it also survived
up to that stage.
A miniature copy of a stone zoomorphic sceptre of the
so-called realistic type, made with precision on the handle
of a bone spoon, was found in the Eneolithic settlement at
Sozopol. Data about the relative chronology of this find and
data about the relative chronology of all known zoomorphic
sceptres from their rather wide area of distribution delineate
a relatively narrow chronological horizon: the final stages
of the Varna, Kodjadermen–Gumelnita–Karanovo VI, and
Krivodol–Salcuta cultures, the stages Kukuteni A2/3, A3–
Tripolie B1, the Hvalinska culture, and the earliest stage of
the mound ochre tombs. The tombs with red ochre from
Devnya and Kyulevcha are also related to the same chrono-
logical horizon. This means that the penetration of "steppe
elements" into the Balkans does not differ significantly from
their penetration within the bounds of the Kukuteni–Tripolie
culture. It was gradual and did not have a destructive or in-
vasive nature.
This settlement was fortified like most Early Bronze Age settlements in Thraceq the Aegeanq and Anatolia. Unlike the settlements known so far it was fortified with a moat and a rampart with a palisade. Five stages of embankment of the rampart and construction of new palisades were established. Chiefly soil, clayq and wood were used as building materials. Rows of broken stones were used only for reinforcing the external side of the rampart.
The interior of the settlement was explored only in relation to the excavations of medieval buildings and the finds collected from ther belong in most cases to mixed strata. Several sherds that possibly belong to the period followingthe Karanovo VI culture and preceding the Ezero culture are of particular interest among those finds; no sites from that period are known so far in Thrace.
There are seven radiocarbon dates from the various stages of the rampart and the settlement. Their values do not differ from the values of the dates from other sites belonging to the same cultures.
The major characteristics of the cultures of Thrace, the North Aegenq and Anatolia are compared in conclusion. In Thraceq the Early Bronze Age settlements re on top of Neolithic or Eneolithic tells but there ara no settlements at the base of a tell (like Troy or Poliochni). This shows that the structure of these settlements is not of the type of the tell-forming settlements. The fortification systems are different, with massive stone walls not found anywhere in Thrace. The houses have a light construction of thin posts and sticks coated with clayq unlike the massive stone wals of the buildings in the Aegean and Anatolia. They are also different from the combinations of clay and wood, or clay, woodq and stones that are characteristic of the cultures of Uaranovo VI and Varna.
It is unclear whether the data about the development of metallurgy are sufficient to claim that Anatolian Early Bronze Age metallurgy is more developed than that of Thrace but it is certain that Thracian Bronze Age metallurgy does not continue the traditions of Eneolithic metallurgy.
territorial range and the cultural characteristics of both Kodjadermen – Gumelnița –
Karanovo VI and Varna. Two of the discovered graves are also interesting for solving the
problems regarding the end of the Eneolithic culture and the transition to the Bronze Age.
Even though it is too early for generalizations at this stage, it is possible to state that the
finds do not support the existing hypothesis about the Varna culture extending
territorially to the south of Stara Planina.
of the synchronization of their individual stages with neighbouring cultures. The early stages of the development of
the culture were known especially from the territory of Western Bulgaria. Only here continuity with chronologically
earlier culture Gradešnica-Dikili Tash-Slatino was identified. These early stages are simultaneous with I–III phases
of the cultures Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI and Varna. Settlements from the later stages were found in a
much larger territory – Western Bulgaria and the Rhodopi mountains, Muntenia Serbia and Macedonia. This is also
the maximal territorial range of the Krivodol–Sălcuţa culture, which includes territories of Vinča culture. In the pe-
riodisation scheme of H. Todorova later stages are separated generally as phase IV of the Late Eneolithic Period, which
developed in stage, chronologically following the final stage of the neighboring cultures Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-
Karanovo VI and Varna.
In the later stages of the culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa two stages can be clearly differentiated – the earlier, presented
well in Galatin and Sălcuţa IIc, and the later, presented well in Rebărkovo and Sălcuţa III. The pottery complex of
the culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa is mainly stable related to the forms and ornamental compositions in its whole stages of
development. Only individual formal details were changed, as well as some of the ornamental techniques, but in the
latest stages the quality of the vessels got worse.
The comparative analysis between pottery complexes from the latest stages of culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa and the
pottery from some settlements, presented latest stages of the cultures Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI: Rup-
kite, Starozagorski Mineralni Bani, Bikovo; Varna: Kozareva mogila and Sozopol, proves their contemporaneousness.
Also the comparison argues for the rejection of a widely spread theory, according to which the cultures Varna and
Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI finish their development earlier then culture Krivodol–Sălcuţa.
in a Late Chalcolithic burnt down layer at the
settlement mound of Kozareva Mogila near the town
of Kableshkovo, Pomorie municipality, along with
numerous items related to the manufacture of pottery:
more than three hundred vases found in situ, clay loomweights, lumps of clay prepared for shaping, graphite,
pieces of red ochre, and stones for polishing the
surface of the vessels. Therefore, it could be concluded
that all these remains belonged to a workshop that was
destroyed by fire in the process of manufacturing
pottery. Considerable part of that layer, including part
of the kiln, has been disturbed by later structures dug
in the terrain.
The kiln’s fuel chamber was dug into the ground
and there were one or two firing chambers above it,
enclosed in a double wall and separated from the fuel
chamber with massive clay wall. This is the fist kiln
of this type ever discovered. Its shape has parallels in
kilns discovered in settlements of Cucuteni-Tripol’e
culture; however, they have a perforated wall between
the fuel chamber and the firing chamber/chambers. In
the proposed reconstruction, the openings of the fuel
and firing chambers are set in the lateral walls of the
jacket, for which there is no direct evidence. Having
in mind that the kiln was used for baking of vases
painted with graphite, which burns when exposed to
air at temperatures of about 400oC, and that the vases
were initially black, i.e. they were baked in low oxygen
environment, it could be assumed that the openings
were covered with slabs and plastered with clay. They
were broken open after finishing the backing process.
The heating of the vases was achieved through the floor
of the kiln and its hollow walls that led the hot gases
from the fuel chamber to the vent. An experimental
downsized model of the kiln was built.
On the grounds of the presented evidence of the
ceramic workshop, other similar finds, and the general
characteristics of the Late Chalcolithic pottery in the
settlements and the necropoleis, some observations
are offered on the organization of the manufacture of
pottery in Late Chalcolithic times. The appearance
in that period of pottery kilns that were built inside
the fortified part of the settlements and produced
quantities that surpassed by far the needs of the given
settlement, as well as the quality of the vases in the
necropoleis and the evidence of imported ceramics
reveal the gradual transformation of pottery into
article of trade. This process was a result of changes
in the organisation of the economy, prompted by the
developments in mining, working, and trading of
metals.