1. The social context of the emergence, development and abandonment of the Varna cemetery, Bulgaria
- Author
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Thomas Higham, Noah V. Honch, John Chapman, Bisserka Gaydarska, and Vladimir Slavchev
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,Archeology ,Grave goods ,060102 archaeology ,Climax ,Abandonment (legal) ,Social environment ,06 humanities and the arts ,Chalcolithic ,Demise ,Ancient history ,01 natural sciences ,Archaeology ,language.human_language ,law.invention ,Geography ,law ,language ,0601 history and archaeology ,Bulgarian ,Radiocarbon dating ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
In this article we outline some of the key characteristics of the social structure of the Climax Copper Age in the eastern Balkans and the contributions of the Varna cemetery to those developments. We continue by examining the implications of the new series of 21 AMS dates from the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory, which represent the first dates for the Varna Eneolithic cemetery on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Representing the first phase of the AMS dating project for the Varna I cemetery, these dates have been selected to provide a range of different grave locations, ranges of grave goods, and age/gender associations. We conclude by addressing the question of the unexpectedly early start of the cemetery, as well as its apparently short duration and relatively rapid demise.
- Published
- 2006
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