NEOLITHIC FLINT ASSEMBLAGES FROM BULGARIA: AN OVERVIEW


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Abstract

This paper offers a brief overview of the flint assemblages from the Neolithic period in Bulgaria (VI mill. cal BC) by following their ‘evolution’ that depending on the context could also be called innovation, retardation or simply modification. Some significant changes occur during the Neolithic who reflected to all aspects of the flint industry - from the raw material acquisition via techno-typological parameters until the functional connotations of different artefacts categories. The empirical corpus of the study contains assemblages coming from 18 different sites. Expectedly whatever changes are attested as occurring alongside the evolution on the Tell settlements, there is no striking rupture and discontinuity in the flint industry as claimed on the basis of fragmentary assemblages coming from other sites belonging to different cultural stages/periods of the Neolithic. The paper ends with a series of challenging questions referring to different level of our knowledge and understanding of the gradual changes of the Neolithic lifeway.

About the authors

Maria Gurova

National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, BAS

Author for correspondence.
Email: gurovam@yahoo.fr

Senior Research Fellow, Prehistory Department Scientific Secretary, National Institute of Archaeology and Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

2 Saborna Str. 1000 Sofia

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