Settlement Patterns in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age: The Case of the Prehistoric Settlement of Yunatsite, Bulgaria (original) (raw)
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The settlement at Čepintsi (Sofia), inhabited during the Final Late Bronze Age, was discovered in 2015. It is situated between the Perlovska and Iskar Rivers and located in the northern parts of the Sofia Valley. 157 structures of three types were excavated: dwellings, sunken features and ground features. This contribution presents a general description of these distinctive types of structures. A site plan based on the location and the analysis of the individual structures is proposed, with three distinct sectors of activity identified. Analysis of spatial configuration suggests that the Chepintsi site was a settlement comprised of at least two residential areas with surrounding territory and an area of non-residential character.
Research on the Late Bronze Age in Northeastern Bulgaria
MEMORIA ANTIQUITATIS XXXIX, 2024
During the Late Bronze Age, differences in the type of settlements are noticeable, in contrast to earlier periods. The Black Sea area is characterized by naturally fortified or stone-walled settlements that have apse buildings with stone construction. The buildings are close to each other. This type of construction is characteristic of the Black Sea region. Inland, the settlements are of the open type, covering a larger area; the buildings are of a wattle-and-daub construction, located at a great distance from each other. These settlements are characterized by the presence of not very deep ditches. There is almost no evidence of the burial ritual, in contrast to the previous and subsequent periods. From the information we have, biritualism is present, which probably reflects a direct influence from the Coslogeni, Noua and Sabatinovka culture. There is data for used older burial spaces, burying their dead on the periphery of Early Bronze Age mounds. While cremation in urns, sometimes within the settlement and near settlement structures, is a custom more characteristic of the southern part of the range. The large amount of hoards and stone moulds show that metallurgical activity was developed during the period in the territory of northeastern Bulgaria, and the presence of metallurgical workshops in some settlements speaks of local production. Ceramic vessels and shapes show the closest similarities with the Coslogeni, Noua, and Sabatinovka cultures, and generally fit well into the system of the Late Bronze Age Zimnicea-Plovdiv-Cherkovna group.
Bronze Age Fortified Settlements in Central Europe
Studien zur Archäologie in Ostmitteleuropa/ Studia nad Pradziejami Europy Środkowej, 2016
This volume is yet another publication in the Studien zur Archäologie in Ostmitteleuropa/ Studia nad Pradziejami Europy Środkowej series. It is based on the author’s doctoral dissertation concerning defensive settlements in Central Europe. The latter is one of the major focus areas in the archaeology of the period around 2000 BCE, encompassing numerous issues relating to the key phenomena of the Early Bronze age, such as social stratification, trade and exchange, warfare and metal production. At the same time, the book contributes to the broader discussion on Bronze Age defensive settlements presented as part of the SAO/SPEŚ series, supplementing general studies (volume 5), aspectual monographs (volume 9) and the findings from research conducted at the site in Bruszczewo (volumes 2, 13 and 14). This publication offers a comparative study of four areas in Central Europe: the Alpine region, south-western Wielkopolska, the Middle Danube Basin and Upper Tisza Basin, outlining a comprehensive panorama of the phenomenon and demonstrating regional variations. The author delivers a well-ordered disquisition concerning chief aspects of the functioning of settlements in the aforesaid cultural- -geographical regions, supported by abundant data. Given the shortage of monographic studies on the addressed issue, this book constitutes a significant building block in our knowledge about Bronze Age settlement forms, and compellingly suggests future directions of research.
Iaie Pan Sygn P 244, 1986
Presentation of views on the issue of transition from the Eneolithic (Chalcolithic) to the Early Bronze Age on the territory of Bulgaria. The author assumes that the commencement of the so-called Transition Period, rather vaguely distinctive, should be shifted back to ca 4000 B.C. The closing of the Early Bronze Age can be placed ca 1900 B.C. and is connected with Magura, Coţofeni, Ezero and Pit cultures.
The Late Copper Age building BII-21B at Tell Yunatsite, south central Bulgaria
Studia Praehistorica, 2023
This paper considers the structure investigated at the largest area (labeled as BII-21B) in the Chalcolithic level BII of Tell Yunatsite, located in the western parts of the Upper Thracian Plain. It collapsed during a sudden fire, which did not affect the neighboring house to the west. The debris sealed a large number of fragmented vessels, plant remains, and even some of the inhabitants. Detailed analysis of the materials found allows for a reconstruction of diet and storage practices, research on vessels' function and technology, decoration styles, etc. The plant remains are abundant and demonstrate a diverse species composition. The complex is dominated by lentils, barley, and einkorn wheat. Of particular interest is the evidence on purposeful gathering of grapes for producing a drink, perhaps wine. The investigation of the ceramic assemblage shows that it belongs to a developed-but not final-stage of the Late Copper Age in Upper Thrace. It also provides new information about the contact zone between the Karanovo VI and Krivodol cultures in this area.
Newly discovered Late Bronze Age settlement in the vicinity of Kamenovo, Kubrat...
Be-Ja, 2024
This article presents the preliminary results of several consecutive studies conducted in the period 2021–2024. The area of the Ludogorsko Plateau is characterised by one of the highest concentrations of Late Bronze Age finds discovered in present-day Bulgaria. Unfortunately, more than 100 years after the first discoveries, no large-scale studies focusing on the period of the 2nd millenium BC have been carried out. The fieldwork strategy included combination of various research methods – from remote and non-destructive methods (LiDAR, geophysics, field surveys) to conventional archaeological excavations (trenches and long-term excavations over a larger area) for the sites selected for these studies. The archaeological site in the locality of Yurtluka near the village of Kamenovo was registered during the first campaign (2021). Its identification as promising for future more detailed fieldwork led to the successive implementation of large-scale geomagnetic surveys and the first regular excavations in 2023. The results presented are diverse and allow analyses and interpretations of various research questions relating to the settlement environment, the internal organisation of the site, the characteristics of the pottery assemblage and the main groups of artefacts. Initial hypotheses about chronology, possible supra-regional contacts and interactions in this part of the Ludogorsko Plateau during the Late Bronze Age are also put forward.
Roodenberg, J., Leshtakov, K., Petrova, V. (eds.) Yabalkovo. Volume 1 (Maritsa Project, Volume 2). Sofia: ATE – Ars et Technica Explicatus, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 2014
In "Die Cucuteni-Kultur und ihre südlichen Nachbarn Forschungsgeschichte – Kulturbeziehungen – offene Fragen", edited by George Bodi, Blagoje Govedarica, Svend Hansen, Alexander Rubel, and Constantin-Emil Ursu, 179–199. Suceava: Romstorfer., 2020
In 1979 H. Todorova advanced the hypothesis that the roots of the modular orthogonal settlement plan documented at tell sites in North-eastern Bulgaria during the Early Copper Age was likely influenced by settlement models which originated in Upper Thrace where tell sites developed continuously for a thousand years or more. Todorova effectively saw this influence as a process of colonization. Forty years later this opinion may need reconsideration, as in the supposed territory of Upper Thrace such planning is unequivocally attested only at Late Chalcolithic Dolnoslav and hence postdates the appearance of the earliest Polyanitsa settlement by a few centuries. This paper introduces comparable patterns of settlement organization at several coeval sites in Bulgaria (Suvorov-Koriyata, Lavino-Chakmaka, Ivanovo-Banyata, Petko Karavelovo, Voden, Tandarski Bair) and Moldova (Cealîc and Chioselia Mare) revealed through magnetic prospection mostly carried by the author and partly confirmed by excavations. They are then compared to site plans documented through excavations. The review indicates several possibilities for the origin of the orthogonal planning of the Copper Age settlements in North-eastern Bulgaria – the so-called Polyanitsa model. It may have developed locally during the integration of at least three traditions – (a) partially agglomerated houses around a central court known from the Karanovo IV period in Eastern Thrace (possibly deriving from a form of the “Anatolian village” popular around the Sea of Marmara), (b) regular free-standing rows of houses (so-called “Balkan village”) known from Western Bulgaria and the Central Balkans, and (c) the bipartite division of the settlement using rectangular enclosures to separate a settlement core for which there are indications in the local Vădastra culture as documented in Borovo-Magaritsata. Whether this integration crystallized first in Upper Thrace – so far indicated only by undated features documented in geophysical surveys at Voden and Tandarski bair (Fig. 6; 7) – and influenced the settlement pattern in Northeastern Bulgaria or developed locally is a question that should remain open until tested by the spade.