April 2011, Daily News

Archaeologists Explore Site for Answers About First European Farmers

Fri, Apr 22, 2011

It is a small, quiet village in Bulgaria. Before now, few people knew of its existence. It sits adjacent to mountains in a river valley and any photographer might say that, from a distance and at the proper elevation, viewing it from afar would be a scenic experience. What may place this little village on the map, however, has nothing to do with scenery. In the coming months, it will be the focus of a group of archaeologists who hope to find some answers to questions about the first farmers of Europe.

Nestled in the small Middle Struma River Valley in southwestern Bulgaria, a site near the town of Ilindentsi is one of six early Neolithic settlements that have been mapped by scientists as archaeological sites that contain evidence left behind by some of Europe's earliest agriculturalists. Initial excavation probes were conducted at the site from 2004 to 2009 by archaeologists from the Blagoevgrad Regional Museum of History. There they unearthed early Neolithic settlement structures with floor construction and drainage systems, as well as artifacts such as anthropomorphic figurines, stone and bone tools, jewels and white-on-red painted pottery. They were dated to the 6th millenium B.C. The site is purported to correspond chronologically to other major Neolithic sites and cultures in Europe, Anatolia (modern day Turkey) and the Near East, such as Karanovo 1 in the Eastern Balkans, Achilleon in the Southern Balkans, Hacilar VI-I in Anatolia, and Tel Hassuna, Tel Samarra, and Amuq A and B in the Middle East. In Bulgaria, perhaps the best-known site associated with the Neolithic is Karanovo, a hill-top settlement that contained 18 structures and an estimated 100 inhabitants. It was dated to the 62nd-55th centuries B.C. and was continuously occupied until the 2nd millenium, B.C. The chronological system developed from the excavation layers or stratigraphy of Karanovo will be used as a standard for study and comparison at Ilindentsi, as it has for other sites in Balkan prehistory.

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The location of Ilindentsi in southwestern Bulgaria. It ranks among other Neolithic sites in Bulgaria as having been settled in the 6th millenium B.C. Inset shows its geographic relationship within the European context.  Credit: Kimberly Munro.  

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A hallmark of the Neolithic Revolution (as it is penned in the academic literature) was the development of subsistence agriculture, which made it possible for permanent stationary settlements, population growth, social specialization and hierarchy and the birth of cities and city-states as the foundation for well-known early civilizations such as ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The first Neolithic settlements were uncovered in the Middle East and date back as early as about 9500 B.C. Neolithic culture was then carried west to Anatolia and then into prehistoric Europe in later periods, presumably by migrating groups of people. Land area now contained within modern-day Bulgaria has been considered an early corridor for Neolithic settlers who brought their agriculture with them, establishing the first farm communities in present-day Europe.

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Neolithic cutlery and foodstuffs of Europe. Items include: millstones, charred bread, grains and small apples, a clay cooking pot, and containers made of antlers and wood. Courtesy Sandstein and the Historical Museum of Bern, Switzerland.

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Findings from Karanovo mound, near village of Karanovo, Bulgaria. Courtesy Anton Lefterov.

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Says Dr. Malgorzata Grebska-Kulova (Blagoevgrad Regional Museum of History) and Ivan Vasilev (Balkan Heritage):  "Scholars assume that the settlement near Ilindentsi was established by groups of people coming from the earliest and the largest early Neolithic settlement in the valley, found near the village of Kovachevo. Thanks to the results of a 20-year Bulgarian-French excavation project in Kovachevo there are many evidences showing that the first inhabitants of that settlement were people of Anatolian origin, culture Hacilar VI-I. These migrations tracing the routes of European Neolithization had various and complex reasons: increased population, limited environmental resources, climate change, etc. The excavation project at Ilindentsi that will be restarted in 2011 aims to seek more detailed answers.....[for example] Who were the first farmers? What made them migrate to Europe? Did they find indigenous populations in the Balkans? Did they keep connections with their Anatolian homeland?"

The renewed excavations are set to begin June 12, 2011. For more information about the site and excavations, go to http://bhfieldschool.org/bh2011ilindenexc.html.  

Top Cover Photo: Neolithic white-on-red pottery. Courtesy Balkan Heritage.