IN THE STEPS OF THE UNKNOWN

Radiocarbon dates for the 4^th millenium B. C. are of key significance for the so called Transitional period from the Neolithic to the Bronze age. This long period is still in its initial phase of investigation. Traditional archaelogical methods allow us to determine its nature and territorial scope. Among these methods radiocarbon dating is the most widespread in prehistory and for the time being it produces the best results. We shall compare C-14 dates on the basis of their conventional values and the trends of their development.

Stage 1: …-4300 B.C. The Eneolithic cultures in the eastern part of the Lower Danube and Thrace ended under the pressure of the steppe tribes coming from the northeast from the territory of the Ukraine and related to the Tripoli cultural complex. Its still difficult to identify all climatic and socio-economic causes which prepared and evoked this process as well as its precise beginning. The population that survived withdrew to the south, southwest and west settling in rather inaccessible mountainous regions. The lowermost horizons in the Jagodinska Cave and Haramiiska Dupka Cave in the Rhodope as well as the resumption of the habitation in the Devetashka Cave are dated towards the end of that stage. The elements linking the eastern part of the area under consideration with the Varna and the Karanovo cultures were due to the acceptance, preservation and further development of traditions transferred from a population which survived after the end of the latter cultures rather than to direct contacts and synchronicity.

Stage 2: 4300-4000 B.C. A demographic collapse occurred in the eastern part of the Lower Danube and Thrace. The old population died out or left. The Krivodol culture complex in NW Bulgaria continued to exist and it even expanded to the southwest and northwest. The settlements occupied inaccessible areas and caves. The material culture still lacks elements connected with a steppe population – a fact suggesting the absence of peaceful contacts.

Stage 3: 4000-3800 B.C. Eneolithic population on the territory of Bulgaria was preserved only in the inaccessible mountainous regions mainly in the Rhodope and in SW Bulgaria where first contacts of the new populations have been noticed. The steppe tribes began to lead a more and more sedenary life in the Dobrudja. Further, in the region of the Middle Danube the Eneolithic traditions were preserved by carriers which spread to the west and northwest into territories that had not been occupied previously.

Stage 4: 3800-3500 B.C. The wave of nomadic incursions reached along the Middle Danube. The last cultures of the Eneolithic traditions ended. The tendency towards a more settled life by the steppe tribes in the territories which were new for them gained momentum resulting in the “Scheibenhenkel” horizon. For the time being it seems that this process was earliest in the eastern part of the area and NE Bulgaria where the Pevetz culture developed. A shift to the west was much smaller compared to the retardation of the end of the Eneolithic cultures. This resulted in a considerable chronological and demographic hiatus that lasted at least 200 years in the eastern part of the area /between the end of the Eneolithic Varna and Karanovo cultures and the beginning of Pevetz culture/ whereas this hiatus decreased gradually in a western and northwestern direction. While on the territory of Bulgaria there was a sharp difference between the Eneolithic and the new steppe population in the western part of the Middle Danubian Basin it is possible to speak about a certain continuity. The territory of Bulgaria was very sparsely populated. In addition to being very few, the known settlements were predominantly of the single layer type, with a thin culture layer, suggesting a brief duration. It seems then that these settlements played the role of “stopovers” in the migration of the nomadic steppe tribes to the west and the south, rather than reflecting a lasting settlement of the region.

Stage 5: 3500-… B.C. The classical Pit Grave culture was formed towards the end of this stage on the territory of Ukraine, spreading to southeastern Europe after 3000 B.C. On the territory of Bulgaria it is best represented in its northern and especially in its northeastern parts, reaching both northwestern and southern Bulgaria. Its expansion clearly demonstrates the route of the nomadic steppe people. Thrace was resettled and the Ezero culture in S Bulgaria was formed. It is possible that penetration into the area and its settlement took place in stages, from different centers and along different routes /this possibility is suggested by the differences between the lower Bronze Age horizons in the Ezero and Yunacite tells/. The practice of tell occupation started again in S Bulgaria – a fact suggesting that Thrace was occupied by a population which had adopted /or preserved?/ some of the former Eneolithic traditions, in spite of considerable transformations. On the other hand, after the Eneolithic period the tells became depopulated in northern and northeastern Bulgaria where the influence of cultures connected with the steppe peoples persisted. The Vulchedol culture emerged around 2900 B.C. The Ezero group took shape in the region of the western Black Sea coast. Contacts between the different cultures intensified. Consequently, it can be assumed that the process of the formation of Early Bronze Age cultures was completed over the entire territory of southeastern Europe by this time.