P. Ardjanliev,Enlightening identity: reconsidering burial practices in the Lychnidos region from the Iron Age until the end of the Hellenistic period, In Martin Trefný and Benjamin Jennings (eds.) Inter-regional contacts during the first millenium B.C. in Europe, 2017, 132-145. (original) (raw)
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This article is a contribution to the ancient architecture and graves of the upper Vardar (Axios) valley. The gold hoard from Tremnik near Negotino in central Macedonia offers a reason once again to open the discussion about the group of gold jewellery and especially the existence of local élites of that period in the wider Vardar valley region. The development in the period between the reign of Philip II of Macedon and the Celtic penetration into southeastern Europe and the Peloponnese, well-known from antique sources and reference to the sanctuary at Delphi in 279 BC, can be recognised through the monumental fortresses and impressive stone-built tombs and their typical grave goods. All told, this evidence permits recognition of the high level of society of the population in the time of Philip II and Alexander III the Great in the area of the Peones, Enchelees-Dassarates and the other tribes of the region and their dependants in the reign of the mighty Macedonian kings. A number of coin hoards dating to the end of important settlements like Kale Kruševica-Bujanovac and Vardarski Rid, and especially the rich jewellery hoard of Tremnik allow us to classify élites in the valley of the Upper Vardar river during the period at the end of the Archaic as well as later in the Classical period, and allow us to identify the first signs of the Celtic incomers in the Hellenistic period.
PEUCE SN, 2019
The following analysis emerged as an attempt to explain and contextualize a very rich grave, already historiographical notorious, with analogies equally famous, traditionally dated around the middle of the 4th c. BC, discovered in 1970, at Peretu, Romania, 40 km north of the Danube. The main objective of the study was to explore how (and if) this ostentatious display of authority, consumed in the symbolic domain, was linked with other processes of rising collective identities in North Danube Thrace, as suggested to had taken place by a series of neighbouring fortified sites dated approximately in the same period with the grave. These sites stand out through their particular technique of building defences based on using burnt clays in the construction of their enclosure walls. The interpretations will be partially based on recent interdisciplinary investigations (geophysical & aerial) undertaken in several fortified sites of the Teleorman region. In the two-three decades before the Macedonian rule, these fortified sites were already focusing the attention of regional communities around a cultic component. In a broader framework the study examines the processes of social growth, authority centralization and emergence of collective identities occurred during the early Hellenistic period in peripheral territories of the Macedonian rule. North Danube Thrace exhibited after the wars of Philip II and especially during those of Alexander’s Successors a particular vivid demographic development. It is stated that this development, including the wealth visible in several graves, was triggered by the Macedonian coin and political interests of the Diadochi that used North-Eastern Thrace as a secondary stage in their power competition through proxy.
Perspectives on Balkan Archaeology 2, 2024
Abstract The Iron Age, in the case of central Macedonia, spans five centuries, divided into Early (1050–600 BCE) and Late (until 500 BCE). The present paper will attempt a presentation of the hitherto published data concerning the 9th–7th century BCE from the Thermaic Gulf region and the Chalkidiki Peninsula, trying to clarify the existence or not of a hierarchical structure between the boundaries of diverse settlements on mounds dated from the Late Bronze Age, trapezai and hilltops. The emergence of power, based on the archaeological data, is thought to be reflected basically on two factors: (a) the presence of buildings standing out not only typologically (rooms, facilities, etc.) but also due to their spatial organisation and location either inside or outside the boundaries of the settlement and (b) the implementation of major infrastructure projects probably under the guidance of leadership, e.g., enclosures/fortifications, monumental terraces and ditches. Tracing various activities, e.g., metalworking, transport amphorae production, rituals, and feasting indoors/outdoors of each prominent building, enable the disclosure of a hierarchical social order and elite group.
Perspectives on Balkan Archaeology, 2020
Northern Greece is a stimulating area to observe cultural contacts. It is both turn toward sea with the Chalcidic peninsula, the Thermaic Gulf, the Pierian coast, as well as toward the northern hinterland with the mountainous passes as well as with the Axios/Vardar and the Strymona Rivers. Contacts between north and south are visible in the prehistoric period, and especially in the Mycenaean period, as well as during the Early Iron Age and the early archaic period with the Greek colonization. Through the modern literature, scholars have given different roles to this specific region: a corridor north/south, a periphery of the Greek world or of the central Balkans. Since few decades, the many excavations and research programs, have shown that this region is the centre of complex cultural relationships between the central Balkans and southern Greece. These contacts are expressed in varied manners depending on communities and spheres of human activities. In this paper I will focus on the Early Iron Age burial customs between the Pindus and southwestern Rhodopes mountains (11th to the end of the 7th century BCE). A geographical approach of the burial customs at a large scale raises many questions about collective identities and contacts between communities. The result of this study varied if we consider in one hand the spatial distribution of the treatments of the deceased, the architecture, and the organisation of the graves, and on the other hand the funerary ideologies visible through the grave goods, as their regional spatial patterning seems to be different.
Eurydice Kefalidou (Ed.), , 2022
Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, 2018 - Volume 6: The Riverlands of Aegean Thrace / River Valleys and Regional Economies The papers of this volume address topics such as the reconfiguration of ancient river routes, the settlement and exploitation patterns that were formed around them, the boundaries of the chora of various cities, towns, villages and farmsteads, and the communication or the tensions between different groups that moved or expanded beyond their original habitation zone due to environmental and/or economic reasons. Panels 2.4 and 2.7 explore multiple facets of some Central and Eastern Mediterranean riverlands.
“Power Structures and Death Rituals in Archaic Lower Macedonia”
in M. Gavranović, D. Heilmann, M. Verčík & P. Ardjanliev (eds.), The Mechanism of Power. The Bronze and Iron Ages in Southeastern Europe. Proceedings of the 3rd PeBA Conference Held in Ohrid, 25-28 May 2022 (Perspectives on Balkan Archaeology 2), Rahden 2024, 81-104
The close similarities between the highly ostentatious burials that have come to light at different sites of the northern Aegean, especially at Aigai, Archontiko, and Sindos, have been the subject of debate in recent research. A few years ago, I demonstrated that the appearance of such burials at these sites formed part of a broader funerary change that occurred around 570 BCE. I further argued that this funerary change was closely intertwined with the sociopolitical transformation that the local communities underwent after the first Macedonian expansion to the east of the Axios River. Since this interpretation has met with objections, in this paper, I review the extant evidence, and I address the main counterarguments. Beginning from the later date that most scholars accept for the conquest of the region east of the Axios, I stress that this date has been assumed on the basis of literary sources that offer no conclusive information on the matter. Given the complexities involved in the interpretation of funerary evidence from a sociopolitical perspective, I also clarify the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of my approach. Moving to the evidence itself, I then examine burials from the core area of the Temenid kingdom before and after 570 BCE. On the basis of this comparative analysis, I suggest that the funerary change must have followed the coalescence, probably for the first time, of the different communities of Lower Macedonia into a single regional polity. Through an additional comparative analysis of the evidence from the two sides of the Axios, I show that beginning from ca. 570 BCE, the funerary remains from the two regions attest to the same religious beliefs, the same cultural values and the same economic and sociopolitical structures. Relying on the one hand, on post-colonial approaches of cross-cultural interactions and, on the other hand, on the funerary evidence from Greek colonies in the north, from Thracian sites and the Ohrid region, I argue that the funerary remains from the two sides of the Axios could not possibly belong to two ethnically different populations that were organized under separate polities. Finally, I address the question of the identity of the population of the region east of the Axios after its Macedonian conquest. I maintain that while the pre-existing communities must have been incorporated into the kingdom, there can be little doubt that Macedonians also settled this region. Résumé Les fortes similitudes entre les tombes ostentatoires qui ont été mises au jour dans différents sites de l'Égée du Nord, notamment à Aigai, Archontiko et Sindos, ont suscité un débat dans la recherche récente. Il y a quelques années, j'ai démontré que l'apparition de telles sépultures sur ces sites s'est produite dans le cadre d'un changement plus large des pratiques funéraires, qui s'est manifesté vers 570 av. J.-C. J'ai également soutenu que ce changement funéraire fut lié à la transformation sociopolitique des communautés locales, après la première expansion macédonienne à l'est du fleuve Axios. Puisque, entre-temps, cette interprétation a soulevé des objections, dans cet article j'examine de nouveau les données disponibles et j'aborde les principaux contre-arguments. Partant de la chronologie plus tardive que la plupart des spécialistes acceptent pour la conquête de la région à l'est de l'Axios, je souligne que les sources écrites, sur la base desquelles cette chronologie a été retenue, n'offrent aucune information concluante à ce sujet. Étant donné la complexité de l'interprétation des données funéraires d'un point de vue sociopolitique, je précise aussi les fondements théoriques et méthodologiques de mon approche. Ensuite, je me concentre sur les données archéologiques et j'examine les pratiques funéraires dans le noyau du royaume téménide avant et après 570 av. J.-C. Sur la base de cette analyse comparative, je suggère que le changement funéraire doit avoir suivi l'unification, probablement pour la première fois, des différentes communautés de la Basse Macédoine sous une seule entité politique. Grâce à une analyse comparative supplémentaire des données provenant des deux côtés de l'Axios, je montre que, à partir d'environ 570 av. J.-C., les pratiques funéraires des deux régions témoignent des mêmes croyances religieuses, des mêmes valeurs culturelles et des mêmes structures économiques et sociopolitiques. En m'appuyant d'une part sur les approches postcoloniales des interactions interculturelles et d'autre part sur les données funéraires qui proviennent des colonies grecques du nord, des sites thraces et de la région d'Ohrid, je soutiens que les restes funéraires des deux côtés de l'Axios ne pouvaient pas appartenir à deux populations ethniquement différentes qui auraient été organisées sous des entités politiques distinctes. Enfin, j'aborde la question de l'identité de la population de la région à l'est de l'Axios