Pottery production and distribution/movement in Bronze Age in the Balkan peninsula: concerning issues of "urbanization"

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K21589
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Archaeology; History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba (2018); Ancient Orient Museum (2016-2017)
• Principal Investigator: SEMMOTO Masao 筑波大学, 人文社会系, 研究員 (10772105)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 考古学 / 青銅器時代 / ヨーロッパ / ブルガリア / 土器生産 / 移動・流通 / 胎土分析 / 都市

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to reveal implications of “urbanization” in Western Asia for indigenous communities in Early Bronze Age in the Balkan peninsula, by understanding the pottery production and its movement/distribution. Making high-precision chronology, mainly in Bulgaria, it conducts the disciplinary analyses on the pottery. As a main result of the chronological studies in Dyadovo and the other settlements by radiocarbon dating and pottery typological analysis, the chronological framework, spanning from from 3200 to 2000 BCE, was mostly established. Petrographic analysis on the pottery from the flat settlements in southeastern Bulgaria showed local productions in each settlement. While the results didn’t clearly show pottery movement among the settlements and the geographical areas , the red-slipped pottery originating from Anatolia provided clues to understand how people in the settlement in Bulgaria made contacts with ancient Western Asian civilization.

Free Research Field

先史考古学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

バルカン半島は、古代西アジアで起源した都市文明がヨーロッパ地域に拡散していった過程を理解するために重要な地理的位置を占めている。それにもかかわらず、半島の青銅器時代社会の実像については不明な点が多く残されていた。本研究で得られた成果によって、ブルガリアを中心とする青銅器時代の編年研究が大幅に進んだ。また、古代西アジアの都市文明がヨーロッパの在来社会と接触した最初の具体的様相を示すデータが得られた。