Preliminary Report on the Salvage Archaeological Excavations at the Early Neolithic Site Yabalkovo in the Maritsa Valley

Leshtakov, Krassimir; Todorova, Nadezda; Petrova, Vanya; Zlateva-Uzunova, Radka; Özbek, Onur; Popova, Tzetana; Spassov, Nikolay; Iliev, Nikolay

doi:10.2143/ana.33.0.2021759

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…comm.). The millet grains (over 20 in total) were found in a pit together with other crops, principally wheat and barley (Leshtakov et al 2007;Popova 2010).…”

Section: Broomcorn Millet Records From West Eurasian Neolithic Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The early chronology of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Europe

Matuzevičiūtė¹,

Staff²,

Hunt³

et al. 2013

Antiquity

174

110

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The majority of the early crops grown in Europe had their origins in south-west Asia, and were part of a package of domestic plants and animals that were introduced by the first farmers. Broomcorn millet, however, offers a very different narrative, being domesticated first in China, but present in Eastern Europe apparently as early as the sixth millennium BC. Might this be evidence of long-distance contact between east and west, long before there is any other evidence for such connections? Or is the existing chronology faulty in some way? To resolve that question, 10 grains of broomcorn millet were directly dated by AMS, taking advantage of the increasing ability to date smaller and smaller samples.These showed that the millet grains were significantly younger than the contexts in which they had been found, and that the hypothesis of an early transmission of the crop from east to west could not be sustained. The importance of direct dating of crop remains such as these is underlined.

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“…comm.). The millet grains (over 20 in total) were found in a pit together with other crops, principally wheat and barley (Leshtakov et al 2007;Popova 2010).…”

Section: Broomcorn Millet Records From West Eurasian Neolithic Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The early chronology of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Europe

Matuzevičiūtė¹,

Staff²,

Hunt³

et al. 2013

Antiquity

174

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…It was one of the main routes by which agriculture made its way into Europe from Western Asia, and was home to Europe's earliest metalworking cultures (Renfrew, 1978;Bailey, 2000;Bocquet-Appel et al, 2009;Haak et al, 2010). Archaeobotanically, six Neolithic sites on the Thracian Plain and adjacent foothills have been analysed, showing that the full range of Near Eastern crops was cultivated here (Marinova 2006;Leshtakov et al 2007).…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental conditions in the SE Balkans since the Last Glacial Maximum and their influence on the spread of agriculture into Europe

Connor

Ross

Sobotková

et al. 2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

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The Thracian Plain in the SE Balkans was one of the main corridors through which Neolithic agriculture spread into continental Europe. Previous studies have invoked rapid sea-level and climatic changes to explain the timing of agricultural expansion. We present a new record of vegetation, fire and lacustrine sedimentation from Bulgarian Thrace to examine environmental change in this region since the Last Glacial Maximum. Our record indicates the persistence of cold steppe vegetation from ~37,500 to 17,900 cal. a BP, semidesert vegetation from ~17,900 to 10,300 cal. a BP, forest-steppe vegetation from ~10,300 to 8900 cal. a BP, and mixed oak woods from ~8900 to 4000 cal. a BP, followed by widespread deforestation, burning and grazing. Early-Holocene forest expansion in Bulgarian Thrace closely followed changes in the Black Sea's regional moisture balance and appears to have been influenced by solar-forced changes in seasonality. We suggest that climatic aridity and/or enhanced seasonality -lasting until at least ~8900 cal. a BP -could have delayed the spread of early agriculture from the Aegean coast into the continental lowlands of the Balkans and thence into the rest of Europe.

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“…There, however no chick pea has been found until now. Also in the early Neolithic site of Yabalkovo in southeastern Bulgaria where about 123 flotation samples were taken, no chick pea was found (Leshtakov et al 2007). This poses the following question: was chick pea cultivated just in particular areas of cultural influence?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cicer arietinum (chick pea) in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Bulgaria: implications for cultural contacts with the neighbouring regions?

Marinova

Popova

2008

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Cicer arietinum (chick pea), is one of the elements of the Neolithic founder crop assemblage. It was spread from the Near East to southeastern Europe during the Neolithic, but until recently it was not thought to have reached further north than the territory of modern Greece. However, the latest finds from the Bulgarian Neolithic (6000-5450 cal B.C.) and late Chalcolithic (4450-3900 cal B.C.) show a distribution of this crop outside the Mediterranean region, to areas with a more temperate climate. It seems, however, that chick pea did not appear in the archaeobotanical record during the first stages of the Bulgarian Neolithic period, but only in its second half, or even later. So far, on the Thracian plain only at one site which from a cultural point of view is strongly related to southwest Bulgaria, have finds of chick pea appeared. These are considered to belong to the second and last third of the early Neolithic and originate from structures dated from 5920-5730 to 5670-5450 cal B.C. During the Chalcolithic of Bulgaria (around 4500 cal B.C.), Cicer appears on the Thracian plain at Yunatzite and also to the north of the Balkan mountains at Hotnitza. The spread of C. arietinum in the prehistoric period in southeast Europe provides insights into some of the patterns of contacts and interactions between today's Bulgaria with Thessaly and Anatolia.

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Preliminary Report on the Salvage Archaeological Excavations at the Early Neolithic Site Yabalkovo in the Maritsa Valley

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

The early chronology of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Europe

The early chronology of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Europe

Environmental conditions in the SE Balkans since the Last Glacial Maximum and their influence on the spread of agriculture into Europe

Cicer arietinum (chick pea) in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Bulgaria: implications for cultural contacts with the neighbouring regions?

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