Excavation reports

Golden jewellery from a 2nd millennium BC tumulus grave at Ovchartsi, Radnevo district

by Stefan Alexandrov

(4 May 2009)

During the rescue excavations of a tumulus close to the village Ovchartsi, southeastern Bulgaria, a burial of ca. 65-year old woman with rich golden and bronze grave goods and a unique wheel-made vessel of unusual shape and painted decoration was discovered. The tumulus lies in the so-called Maritsa Iztok (Eastern Maritsa) region (Fig. 1). This region is one of the most intensively researched areas in Bulgaria, due to numerous archaeological rescue excavations, necessitated by the fact that whole stretches of landscape and archaeological monuments have been systematically destroyed since the 1960s by open charcoal mines.

The Bronze and Iron Age Site of Dragoyna

by Elena Bozhinova

(14 June 2007)

The excavations carried out till now were all concentrated in the fortified part on the highest peak of Dragoyna where an area of about 450 sq.m. was excavated. The site was inhabited, probably uninterrupted, from the Late Bronze Age till the Early Hellenistic Period. The peak was first occupied at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (17-16th c. BC), as few sherds belong to vessels with a form and decoration typical for the late phases of the Early Bronze Age cultures in Thrace.

Çukuriçi Höyük. A New Excavation Project in the Eastern Aegean

by Barbara Horejs

(4 February 2008)

The aim of this project is to undertake the first systematic scientific research on the prehistory of the Ephesos region. It is precisely the geographical location of Ephesos, in an area with rivers serving as means of communication into the hinterland and with a connection to the Aegean through its coastal location, which presents an immense research potential regarding questions concerning its development in prehistoric times. Furthermore, questions about its cultural and topographical origins are also significant for the micro-region of the area and constitute an important contribution to the understanding of the diachronic development of a settlement from the prehistoric epoch up to modern times.

Necropolis and Ritual Structures from the Early Bronze Age near the Village of Dubene, Karlovo Region

by Martin Hristov

(10 April 2007)

The necropolis and the ritual structures are situated 2 km southeast of the village of Dubene, Karlovo region, between the Stara Planina and the Sredna Gora mountains in southern Bulgaria. The necropolis encompasses at least nine separate mounds, four of which are smaller and lower and five are larger and higher. The larger mounds reach 25 m in diameter and 2.70 m in height. The lower mounds, situated among the high ones, differ in diameter, ranging from 5.50 m to 14.50 m, while their height reaches 25cm above the surrounding terrain. The mounds should be dated to the third stage of the Early Bronze Age (Early Bronze Age III) in Thrace in the Bulgarian periodisation, that is, the late third millennium BC. A settlement was located 400 m southwest of the necropolis and the structures; it was inhabited continuously during the Early Bronze Age. Thus, the necropolis is likely related to it.

Excavations in Okolište and the reconstruction of Late Neolithic settlement processes in the Visoko Basin in Central Bosnia (5200–4500 B.C.)

by Robert Hofmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić, Johannes Müller, Nils Müller-Scheeßel, Knut Rassmann

(11 April 2008)

This paper gives a summary of the aims, strategies and results of an interdisciplinary Bosnian-German research project which has been carrying out intensive fieldwork since 2002. Within the geographically clearly delimited Visoko Basin in central Bosnia it concentrates on questions concerning the development of the settlement system, the economy, the social organisation, the demography as well as the supra-regional exchange and communication network of the Late Neolithic. The fieldwork focuses on large scale excavations within the settlement mound Okolište. The latter comes into question as a central place because of its extraordinary size and the existence of an extensive fortification system. Although the spatial organisation of the settlement indicates a surprisingly high population, the reasons for this concentration of people are not identifiable, yet. However, it is clear that the disintegration of the settlement started soon after its establishment.

Prehistoric Pottery from Lofkënd, Albania: From Bronze to Iron Age in the Balkans

by Seth Pevnick, Esmeralda Agolli

(17 February 2010)

The Lofkënd burial tumulus in the Mallakaster region of Albania, jointly excavated by a team from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA and the Albanian Institute of Archaeology in Tiranë over four seasons (2004-2007), revealed 85 ancient and 15 modern burials, containing a total of over 150 individuals. On the basis of the vertical and horizontal stratification of the tombs, together with secure AMS 14C radiocarbon dates from human bone and charcoal, the Lofkënd burials can be dated to the period from the 14th to the 9th centuries B.C.

Kastro at Neokaisaria: A Bronze and Early Iron Age Settlement in Pieria, Macedonia

by Stefanos Gimatzidis, Reinhard Jung

(3 August 2008)

Information on illegal digging led to the discovery of archaeological sites reported in the present publication. Clandestine and destructive activities left their traces at a number of sites in the vicinity of the city of Kateríni north of Mount Olympus, a region which is characterised by low hills and known to the local population under the name of Adhrianós. Discovered were two cemeteries of historical times, probably of Classical or Hellenistic date, as well as an Early Iron Age cemetery and a settlement site Kastro with EBA, EIA and Late Archaic to Hellenistic occupation. Interesting finds yielded especially the Early Iron Age levels.