Bulgaria: Ovčarovo-gorata

Ovčarovo-gorata: description of the excavation

Assessment and evaluation of previous excavations at the early Neolithic settlement Ovčarovo-gorata

Location

Fig. 1. Location of Ovčarovo-gorata in southeastern Europe.

The lower course of the Danube river represents the southwestern most extension of the Eurasian steppe. There the natural course of the river divides the Romanian Wallachia from the Danube lowlands of northern Bulgaria. In the direction of the Black Sea coast the loess plateau of the Dobrudja can be distinguished as a separate landscape, the southern area of which belongs to Bulgaria and the northern to Romania. The eastern part of the north Bulgarian Danube lowlands together with karst massif of the Ludogorije form the transition between the foothills of the Balkan mountains and the broad plateau of Dobrudja. It is an area that due to its favourable natural conditions was settled by early farmers and stock-raisers. The land is drained to the east into the Black Sea by the Goljama Kamčija, in whose upper course a large settlement area developed in prehistoric times. Archaeological research in this area brought several aeneolithic settlement mounds to light, among them the sites of Poljanica, Tărgovishte, Kodzhadermen (in the town of Shumen) and Ovčarovo.

The early Neolithic settlement of Ovčarovo-gorata is located only a short distance from this copper-age site, about halfway between the villages of Ruec and eponymic Ovčarovo. The settlement lies in a small side valley to the Kamčija valley at a height of 290 m, some 100 km due from the Black Sea and the Danube.

Objectives

	Fig. 2. Original drawing of a find context from an excavation.

In the course of two years the documentation that was made during excavations in 1974-1979 should be evaluated and the archaeological material studied. This research should conclude with the publication of the excavations' results. Thereby, this work will represent the first comprehensive inventory published on early Neolithic finds in the area between the southern Carpathian mountains and the Balkan range. In addition to the archaeological evaluation, 14C analyses of the zoological material, archaeometric investigations on selected ceramic samples and surveys of the settlement surroundings should lead to independent recognitions concerning the chronological position of the site, its function and, finally, its association with the countryside.  

History of Research

	Fig. 3. Finds from Ovčarovo-gorata.

Publication of the stratigraphy of the tell settlement at Karanovo in Thrace by G.I. Georgiev (1961) was the first to make an early developmental stage of the Neolithic in the Balkans known to the scholastic world of archaeology, two phases which thenceforth were designated Karanovo I and II. By contrast, the development of the early Neolithic in areas north of the Balkans remained comparatively less known for a long time and was generally considered as dependent upon regions to the south (cp. Vajsova 1966, 8 ff.). Therefore, special attention was focused upon investigations in 1974-1979 at the site of Ovčarovo-gorata, directed by Ilka Angelova of the Museum of History in Tărgoviste. A fundamental aim of the excavations was to gain a stratigraphic sequence that would be independent of Thrace. Although documentation of the excavations was comprehensive, evaluation of the results was interrupted at the very onset. Solely the zoological material was published extensively by G. Nobis (1986) as was the majority of flint artefacts by Angelova and N. Bin (1988). Otherwise, Angelova published a short preliminary report with very schematic contextual plans of the settlement and few finds (1992). She was able to distinguish four different building horizons in the mound, the oldest of which differed distinctly from the three succeeding ones, yet which is viewed by H. Todorova and I. Vajsov (1993, Fig. 13) as merely the substructure of the overlying horizon.

Despite its inappropriate publication, the site has become synonymous for the early Neolithic period in northeastern Bulgaria and has since been designated the "Ovčarovo-Samovodene group" (in Bulgarian research generally "Ovčarovo-Samovodene culture") after a further site near Veliko Tărnovo. Until its recent publication by the excavator P. Stanev (2002a; 2002b), the settlement at Samovodene was only known in preliminary reports (Stanev 1976; 1977; 1981; 1982; 1985; 1988; 1989; Elenski 2002). Contrary to Ovčarovo-gorata, where the settlement could be excavated completely, at Samovodene the early Neolithic was revealed in only two sondages (Stanev 2002a, Fig. 25; 2002b, Fig. 1).

Hence, the settlement of Ovčarovo-gorata is the only site in the lowlands of the lower Danube that has been uncovered in its entirety. Even the settlement at Cîcea, the most important site on the Romanian side, was excavated only in part (Nica 1976). Equivalent to its significance, Ovčarovo-gorata is mentioned in important works on the Neolithic in this region (cp. Parzinger 1993, 105; Todorova and Vajsov 1993, 148 ff.; Lichardus-Itten et al. 2002, 91), although all of the authors are acquainted with the archaeological material either only through the preliminary report (Angelova 1992) or through study of the material in the Tărgovishte Museum.

In recent years numerous other early Neolithic settlements have been discovered in the area of Hotnica and Dzhuljunica (both sites in the district of Tărnovo) as well as the hills around the town of Veliko Tărnovo itself (Čohadzhiev/Elenski 2002; Elenski 2000), providing a picture of the distribution of the early Neolithic in the region. However, the general picture about the archaeological material of the early Neolithic between the Balkan mountains and the Danube river as presented in publications thus far is by no means satisfactory. 

Cooperation

Dipl. Hist. Magdalena Zečeva,
Dipl. Hist. Ilka Angelova
(Historical Museum, bul. "Mitropolit Andrej" 2, BG-7700 Tărgoviste)

PhD. Ivan Vajsov
(Bulgarian Archaeological Institute of the Bulg. Academy of Science with museum, ul. "Săborna" 2, BG-1000 Sofia)

Prof. Dr. Ivan Gazov
(New Bulgarian University, Department of Archaeology, ul. "Montevideo" 21, BG-1000 Sofia)

The project is supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.  

Contact

Dr. phil. Raiko Krauß

Ur- und Frühgeschichte
Telefon: 01888-7711-305
Telefax: 01888-7711-313
Email: rak@dainst.de

Bibliography

Angelova 1992
И. Ангелова, Предварительные резултаты раскопок неолитического поселения Овчарово-гората. Studia Praehistorica 11-12, 1992, 41-50.

Angelova, Bin 1988
И. Ангелова, Н.В. Бин, Кремневы артефакты из неолитического поселения Овчарово-гората, Studia Praehistorica 9, 1988, 16-33.

Čohadziev/Elenski 2002
С. Чохаджиев, Н. Еленски, Нови проучвания на селищната могоила край село Хотница, Великотърновска област през 2000 г. In: Юбилеен Сборник посетен на проф. Димитър Овчаров (Veliko Tărnovo 2002) 27-38.

Elenski 2000
H. Еленски, Раннонеолитни селища по средното течение на Янтра. In: Карановски конференции за праисторията на Балканите 1. Тракия и съседните райони през неолита и халколита (Sofia 2000) 21-31.

Elenski 2002
H. Еленски, Cтратиграфският профил на неолитното селище Самоводене, Великотърновско, от археологическите проувания през 2000 година. In: Юбилеен Сборник посетен на проф. Димитър Овчаров (Veliko Tărnovo 2002) 17-25.

Georgiev 1961
G.I. Georgiev, Kulturgruppen der Jungstein- und Kupferzeit in der Ebene von Thrazien (Südbulgarien). In: L´Europe à la fin de l´âge de la pierre. Symp. Prague-Liblice-Brno 1959 (Prag 1961) 45-100.

Görsdorf/Bojadziev 1996
J. Görsdorf, J. Bojadziev, Zur absoluten Chronologie der bulgarischen Urgeschichte. Eurasia Antiqua 2, 1996, 105-173.

Krauß 2006
R. Krauß, Ovčarovo-gorata: Aufarbeitung der Altgrabung auf einer frühneolithischen Siedlung in Nordbulgarien. In: S. Hansen/M. Wagner (Hrsg.), Forschungsprojekte der Eurasien-Abteilung (Berlin 2006) 26-27.

Krauß 2007
R. Krauß, Ovčarovo-gorata, Kreis Tărgoviste (Bulgarien). In: Jahresbericht 2006 des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (Berlin 2007) 227-229.

Lichardus-Itten et al. 2002
M. Lichardus-Itten, J. Lichardus, V. Nikolov, Beiträge zu jungsteinzeitlichen Forschungen in Bulgarien. Saarbr. Beitr. Altertumskunde 74 (Bonn 2002).

Nica 1976
M. Nica, Cîrcea, cea mai veche aşezare neolitică de la sud de Carpaţi, SCIVA 27.4, 1976, 435-463.

Nobis (1986)
G. Nobis, Zur Fauna der frühneolithischen Siedlung Ovčarovo gorata, Bez. Târgoviste (NO-Bulgarien), Bonn. zool. Beitr. 37, 1986, 1-22.

Parzinger 1993
H. Parzinger, Studien zur Chronologie und Kulturgeschichte der Jungstein-, Kupfer- und Frühbronzezeit zwischen Karpaten und mittlerem Taurus. RGF 52 (Mainz 1993).

Stanev 1976
П. Cтанев, Hеолитни и раннохалколитни селища по средното течение на река Янтра. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 2, 1976, 7-15.

Stanev 1977
П. Cтанев, Състояние на проучванията на праисторическите култури в централна северна България. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 3, 1977, 5-29.

Stanev 1981
П. Cтанев, Поселищен живот през неолита по басейна на река Янтра. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 6, 1981, 1-10.

Stanev 1982
П. Cтанев, Cтратиграфия и периодизация на неолитните обекти и култури по басейна на река Янтра. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 8, 1982, 1-15.

Stanev 1985
П. Cтанев, Културни връзки и взаимоотношения, произход, релативна и абсолютна хронология на неолитните култури в централна северна България. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 11, 1985, 15-29.

Stanev 1988
П. Cтанев, Археологически данни за духовния живот през неолита в басейна на река Янтра. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 14, 1988, 5-20.

Stanev 1989
П. Cтанев, Палеоикономика и обществени структури през неолита в басейна на река Янтра. God. Muz. Severna Bălg. 15, 1989, 27-39.

Stanev 2002a
П. Станев, Самоводене. Неолитна селищна могила (V. Tarnovo 2002).

Stanev 2002b
P. Stanev, Der neolithische Siedlungshügel Samovodene: Einige Ergebnisse der bisherigen Forschungen. In: Lichardus-Itten et al. 2002, 411-436.

Todorova/Vajsov 1993
Х. Тодорова, Hовокаменната епоха в България (Sofia 1993).

Vajsova 1966
H. Vajsova, Stand der Jungsteinzeitforschung in Bulgarien. Slovenska Arch. 14, 1966, 15-48.