Varna culture

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gold jewelry from the Varna burial ground . Varna Archaeological Museum
Reconstruction of tomb 43 in the Varna Archaeological Museum . Male burial with additions made of pure gold

The Varna culture (also written Varna culture , Bulgarian Варненска култура / Warnenska kultura ) is a cultural form in northern Bulgaria from the end of the Copper Age (4400 to 4100 BC - corresponds to the Karanowo culture VI ), named after the burial ground in West of the Bulgarian city of Varna . In the Varna culture is most likely a local variant of the prehistoric Karanowo culture (Bulgarian: Карановска култура ), named after the settlement mounds near the village Karanowo (Bulgarian Караново ), District Sliven in southern Bulgaria.

particularities

Typical of the Varna culture are rich grave goods , as well as fine ceramics with a shiny, polished surface, which was probably made with a potter's wheel . The most impressive testimony to the Varna culture is the Varna burial ground with its rich grave goods from the Copper Age. There is also a complex of archaeological finds of this culture in Durankulak , which consists mainly of a Neolithic village and also includes 1200 tombs. These graves represent the greatest prehistoric treasure in Southeast Europe. It is remarkable that the houses there were built on high stone foundations. The inhabitants of the northwestern Black Sea region were a highly developed community, whose traditions may have influenced the cultural heritage of the Thracian culture.

For the people of the Varna culture, the Black Sea was the main route of trade. The sea enabled them to maintain relationships with populations in more remote areas. The proximity to the sea played a role in the economic and social development of the inhabitants from the era of the Varna culture. Contacts to southern Bessarabia and to the tribes between the Prut and Dniester rivers were made possible via the Black Sea . All indications suggest that the Varna culture was one of the earliest civilizations in Europe. It disappears around the same time as the collapse of the Gumeniţa-Kodžadermen-Karanovo-VI complex with its artistic ceramics and the appearance of barrows, simple ceramics, bronze technology, etc. a. All of this strongly suggests the immigration of steppe nomads, possibly the later Indo-European Balkan group.

Importance of the Varna culture

The Varna culture is important for science insofar as it is considered to be the earliest form of culture in the world, which was so well developed socially and technically in the Copper Age that it could mine and process gold. On the other hand, the fact that the cemetery of Varna contains the oldest known references to a clearly pronounced social differentiation (vertical differentiation) as well as to the existence of a male upper class has enormous consequences .

The dating of the graves in the Copper Age between 4600 and 4200 BC Was reconfirmed in 2004 by AMS radiocarbon dating .

exhibition

Some of the archaeological artifacts of the Varna culture are part of the permanent exhibitions at the Varna Archaeological Museum and the Sofia National Historical Museum .

literature

  • Khenrieta Todorova: The eneolithic period in Bulgaria in the fifth millennium BC Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1978. BAR supplementary series 49.
  • Henrieta Todorova: Copper Age Settlements in Northeast Bulgaria. Munich: Beck 1982. Materials for general and comparative archeology 13.
  • Henrieta Todorova, Ivan Vajsov: The copper age jewelry of Bulgaria . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Elke Kaiser, Katja Winger: Pit graves in Bulgaria and the Yamnaya Culture. Prehistoric Journal; 2015; 90 (1-2): 114-140. DOI 10.1515 / pz-2015-0001
  2. ^ Mehmet Özdoğan: Eastern Thrace: The contact zone between Anatolia and the Balkans. Chapter 29 in: Sh. Steadman & G. McMahon, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia, p. 671