Tracing the source of obsidian from prehistoric sites in Bulgaria

Установяване произхода на обсидиана от праисторически обекти в България

Authors

  • Clive Bonsall School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG
  • Maria Gurova National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Saborna Str., 1000 Sofia
  • Nedko Elenski Regional Museum of History, 6 Nikola Pikolo Str., 5000 Veliko Tarnovo
  • Georgi Ivanov National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Saborna Str., 1000 Sofia
  • Aneta Bakamska Regional Museum of History, 2 Fizkulturna Str., 2300 Pernik
  • Georgi Ganetsovski Regional Museum of History, 2 Hristo Botev Sq., 3000 Vratsa
  • Radka Zlateva-Uzunova Earth and Man National Museum, 4 Cherni vrah Bld., 1421 Sofia
  • Vladimir Slavchev Museum of Archaeology, 41 Maria Louisa Blvd., 9000 Varna

Keywords:

Obsidian, Bulgaria, source determination, pXRF, Early Neolithic, Late Chalcolithic

Abstract

Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry was used to obtain source determinations for 11 obsidian artefacts from five archaeological sites in Bulgaria. The results show that all the archaeological specimens can be linked to obsidian sources in the Carpathian Mountains in the border region between Hungary and Slovakia. Obsidian from the C2E source in Hungary occurred in very early Neolithic contexts at Dzhulyunitsa, while the majority of samples from later contexts at Ohoden, Dzherman and Varna came mainly from the Slovakian (C1) source. The data hint at a shift from the use of C2 obsidian in the Neolithic before 5900 cal BC, to a preference for C1 obsidian in later periods – however, more finds and better contextual and chronological data are required to verify this trend.

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Published

2017-06-26

How to Cite

Bonsall, C., Gurova, M., Elenski, N., Ivanov, G., Bakamska, A., Ganetsovski, G., Zlateva-Uzunova, R. and Slavchev, V. (2017) “Tracing the source of obsidian from prehistoric sites in Bulgaria: Установяване произхода на обсидиана от праисторически обекти в България”, Bulgarian e-Journal of Archaeology | Българско е-Списание за Археология, 7(1), pp. 37–59. Available at: https://be-ja.org/index.php/journal/article/view/be-ja-7-1-2017-37-59 (Accessed: 1 April 2023).

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Clive Bonsall, Maria Gurova, Nedko Elenski, Georgi Ivanov, Aneta Bakamska, Georgi Ganetsovski, Radka Zlateva-Uzunova, Vladimir Slavchev

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