Settlement mound Burgas
Head of archaeological research Miroslav Klasnakov
Settlement mound on the 10th kilometer in the area Solna niva
Archaeological excavations of tell Burgas started in 2008 with financial support of Burgas Municipality. Miroslav Klasnakov (Regional Historical Museum – Burgas) is leader of investigations and numerous recognized scientists from Bulgaria and abroad took part in terrain works and interdisciplinary analysis.
The earliest settlement was established in Late Neolithic (end of 6th mill.BC). Settlement life continued through Neolithic age (whole 5th mill.BC – beginning of 4th mill. BC).
Various archaeological materials, connected with economics and beliefs of prehistoric population, were found in excavated dwellings and open spaces between them. Stone, flint, bone and antler tools testify for an advanced degree of construction activities, ceramic production, tanning, spinning, weaving and other crafts. Investigated plant (archaeobotanical assemblage) and animal (archaeozoological assemblage) remains outline stable economical development with century traditions in selection and growing of cereals as well as domestication and breeding of animals. Gathering of wild fruits and hunting of wild animals and birds played secondary role in population subsistence. The ceramic vessels found are also quite various. Part of them were used in domestic activities, and others – with more specific forms and decoration, had strictly specified functions in religious life and were used in different rituals. Mother Goddess – The Earth had the main place in prehistoric pantheon. Her cult is testified by numerous findings of ceramic anthropomorphic figurines and different objects with semantic meaning, connected with her honoring and commemorating.
Material culture of tell Burgas outlines it as a key site for investigation of prehistoric ages along Bulgarian Black Sea coast and connects Burgas Lowland with synchronously developing prehistoric cultures along Western Black Sea, inland parts of Balkan peninsula and Northwest Asia Minor.
1. Settlement mound Burgas
Settlement mound Burgas
Season 2009
Archaeological excavations of settlement mound Burgas have been conducted in the period 01.06-30.06.2009, with the financial support of Burgas.
The settlement mound is located 7.5 km from the Black Sea coast near Lake Atanasovsko. The average height is 2.70 meters above the surrounding terrain and the average diameter - 80.35 m. The small Banevska River comes down from North collecting its water from the mineral springs between the villages Vetren and Banevo (Mineralni bani Burgas).
The deposits registered here belong to two prehistoric periods - Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Materials found in the Neolithic layer date with the latter stages of the age, synchronous with the periods Karanovo III-IV and probably Karanovo IV in Thrace. The Chalcolithic period is represented by pottery and artefacts from early and late stages of this age. Part of another house was registered during season`09. The pottery shapes and decoration found there relate to the middle Chalcolithic.
Structures in the early and middle Chalcolithic were built of poles and wattle plastered with clay, and in the living area there were free-standing poles supporting the roof. The furnaces are horseshoe shaped with a pit in south or west. The registered residences of that period were destroyed due to severe fires. Among the destruction and around them there was various archaeological material. Restored are 25 ceramic vessels and lids, with embossed, incised and inlaid decoration, and patterns with white paint and graphite. Widespread are anthropomorphic vessels – storage with rich decoration, their tops and lotus shaped vessels, some of which are on high conical seats. Found were also many tools used in the prehistoric household: scrapers, blades and knives of flint, adze and axes of stone, needles, awls, digging tools made out of bone and horn, ceramic adds for spindle, chromium, etc. crushers. Findings of bracelets made from the shell of Spondylus deserve attention, because they show more about the existence of contacts with the Mediterranean coast. There are interesting fragmented anthropomorphic and zoomorphic ceramic figurines associated with the religious beliefs of the Chalcolithic people.
The excavations of settlement mound Burgas provide new information on the material and spiritual culture of the prehistoric societies that inhabited the western Black Sea coast as well as the relative chronology of Neolithic and Chalcolithic Ages in this region.
2. Anthropomorphic pot and top from season’09 - Middle Chalcolithic
3. Ceramic vessel – Ancient Chalcolithic
4. Pottery from season’09 – Ancient Chalcolithic
5. Ceramic vessel with lid from season’09 – Ancient and Middle Chalcolithic
