Search

The article presents the pottery from the early phase of the Neolithic settlement near the town of Varbitsa, which has the characteristics of the Koprivets cultural group. The pottery assemblage originates from sondage 1, stratigraphic layers XI–XV. The information of 1,113 fragments has been statistically analyzed. There are three technological groups: brown (68.4%); beige (21.4%) and grey-black (10.2%). A distinctive feature of the assemblage are the vessels with red engobe (9.8%). Among the indicative features of the pottery from Varbitsa are 14 red-engobe fragments with traces of white painted decoration. Decoration was found on 9.34% of the fragments. The pottery shapes are classified into six functional types: dishes (I), pots (II), bowls (III), cups (IV), tulip-like vessels (V) and storage vessels (VI). The assemblage was analysed by stratigraphic layers. In terms of formative and technological features, the pottery from the early phase of the Neolithic settlement near the town of Varbitsa has the basic characteristics of the Koprivets cultural group, similar to the late-phase assemblages of the so-called ‘painted period’. In terms of shape, the vessels from Varbitsa find numerous analogies with the pottery from the sites of Orlovets and Belyakovets–Plochite in central northern Bulgaria, and Kapitan Dimitrievo in Thrace.

The paper presents two types of small artefacts: anthropomorphic figurines and miniature beads, all of which were acquired during the excavations of the Early Neolithic settlement at Ilindentsi during 2011–2018. The anthropomorphic clay figurines are arranged in three groups: Group 1 – figurines with enlarged hips and buttocks (steatopygia); Group 2 – prism/parallelepiped shaped figurines and Group 3 – figurines with plastic projections on the head (buns or horns). One partially preserved marble figurine was also found. All of these objects show an interesting spatial distribution while being concentrated in two distant houses. All figurines confirm a general trend in the development of these objects in the central Balkans and northern Greece but also emphasise the supraregional contacts with the Pannonian Plain. Miniature beads are very characterisic of the Early Neolithic settlement at Ilindentsi. Forty-one beads have been found, most of them within the boundaries of house № 2. Thirty-six beads were made of clay and only five beads from other raw materials: shell, rock and mother-of-pearl. The collection of miniature clay beads from Ilindnetsi is unique, with no parallels from other contemporary sites in the Balkans. In terms of importance it places Ilindentsi right after emblematic Anatolian sites such as Çatalhöyük and Çukuriçi. The clay beads from Ilindentsi pose a number of questions about their place and role in the so-called Neolithic package; their function, social dimension and last but not least their expression of people’s specialized skills.

This paper offers a general overview of the chipped stone assemblages from Bulgaria during the Neolithic period (6th millennium BC). Based on numerous flint assemblages belonging to different phases of the Neolithic (many of them studied by the author), some general observations on the key features and trends are presented in a diachronic perspective. Following a long phase characterized by distinctive formal toolkits and uniform raw material use that served as the hallmark of a major Early Neolithic cultural alliance represented by the Karanovo I and II cultures, a shift in all aspects of the flint industry occurred around 5500 cal BC. The Balkan flint raw material distribution network declined, and there appeared chipped stone industries based mainly on local resources and expedient production. Strong evidence of microlithization – represented both by cores and tools with small dimensions and by the presence of geometric microliths – is reflected clearly in the morpho-metric parameters and typological repertoire of the flint industry, and can be regarded as a diagnostic feature of the Late Neolithic assemblages.

Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry was used to obtain source determinations for 11 obsidian artefacts from five archaeological sites in Bulgaria. The results show that all the archaeological specimens can be linked to obsidian sources in the Carpathian Mountains in the border region between Hungary and Slovakia. Obsidian from the C2E source in Hungary occurred in very early Neolithic contexts at Dzhulyunitsa, while the majority of samples from later contexts at Ohoden, Dzherman and Varna came mainly from the Slovakian (C1) source. The data hint at a shift from the use of C2 obsidian in the Neolithic before 5900 cal BC, to a preference for C1 obsidian in later periods – however, more finds and better contextual and chronological data are required to verify this trend.

The article presents the pottery from the early phase of the Neolithic settlement near the town of Varbitsa, which has the characteristics of the Koprivets cultural group. The pottery assemblage originates from sondage 1, stratigraphic layers XI-XV. The information of 1,113 fragments has been statistically analyzed. There are three technological groups: brown (68.4%); beige (21.4%) and grey-black (10.2%). A distinctive feature of the assemblage are the vessels with red engobe (9.8%). Among the indicative features of the pottery from Varbitsa are 14 redengobe fragments with traces of white painted decoration. Decoration was found on 9.34% of the fragments. The pottery shapes are classified into six functional types: dishes (I), pots (II), bowls (III), cups (IV), tulip-like vessels (V) and storage vessels (VI). The assemblage was analysed by stratigraphic layers. In terms of formative and technological features, the pottery from the early phase of the Neolithic settlement near the town of Varbitsa has the basic characteristics of the Koprivets cultural group, similar to the late-phase assemblages of the so-called 'painted period'. In terms of shape, the vessels from Varbitsa find numerous analogies with the pottery from the sites of Orlovets and Belyakovets-Plochite in central northern Bulgaria, and Kapitan Dimitrievo in Thrace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five fired clay structures from the Northeast sector of the Early Neolithic settlement of Yabalkovo in the Maritsa valley, Bulgaria were a subject of an archaeomagnetic investigation. The results of the detailed rock-magnetic experiments carried out show that the collected materials are suitable for archaeomagnetic study and reliable determinations for past geomagnetic field elements can be obtained. According to the mean values calculated for the ancient geomagnetic field direction and intensity, two different periods of time can be undoubtedly distinguished for the investigated structures. This coincides exactly with the two chronological horizons suggested by the excavators. The archaeological observations point that the oven in sq. K36, the hearth in sq. F16 and the hearth in sq. H31 are related to Horizon II, while the hearths in sq. I31 and sq. F18 are connected with Horizon I. Based on the Bulgarian reference curves (latest version), the following archaeomagnetic dating intervals are received: Yabalkovo – Horizon II – (5685–5489 BC) and Yabalkovo – Horizon I – (5472–5427 BC). These results agree well with the archaeological data that structures from Horizon II are older than structures from Horizon I. The existing 14C dates (for materials taken mainly from the Southwest sector of the settlement) show considerably older dating intervals but they are not able to differentiate chronologically the different structures. The obtained archaeomagnetic determinations for Yabalkovo are compared with these available for other archaeomagnetically studied Early Neolithic sites from Bulgaria and Northern Greece. This comparison indicates that Horizon II of Yabalkovo can be synchronised with the younger layers of Kovatchevo (Karanovo I), Stara Zagora (Karanovo II) and Dobriniste. Horizon I of Yabalkovo is chronologically comparable with Horizons VII+VIII of Samovodene and Avgi (Nortern Greece).

This paper presents the somewhat unexpected findings of a preliminary archaeometric study of ‘painted’ early Neolithic pottery from the site of Dzhulyunitsa, north central Bulgaria. While there is still no consensus on the actual model of Neolithisation of this region, expectations are that there would have been a transfer of pottery technology and possible small quantities of painted pottery from the West Anatolian homeland to early Neolithic sites in Bulgaria. However, our findings confound these expectations. Pottery from the earliest levels of the site are all based on local materials: there are no imported wares. There is no evidence of the experimental phase that would be expected as migrant potters learned to adjust to local clays. Instead the pottery is of a very high quality from the outset, using naturally fine clays that do not require temper: though organic material is sometimes added, albeit often in non-functional quantities. What were thought to be dark-painted layers are shown to be simply the high-quality burnishes that can be developed using these micaceous local clays: in some cases with outer surfaces enhanced with ochre. White-slipped and white-on red decorated sherds from the second layer of the site continue to showcase a mastery of local materials, with white pigments base on nearby limestones and marls. But here, petrographic analysis identifies some white-painted wares which are clearly not local, with both bodies and paint compositions pointing to a different provenance and technology. As it continues, this project aims to establish the full range of Dzhulyunitsa pottery fabrics to reconstruct manufacturing technologies and raw material sourcing patterns, for comparison with contemporary sites across the region.