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New perspectives on the Varna cemetery (Bulgaria) – AMS dates and social implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Tom Higham ,
John Chapman ,
Vladimir Slavchev ,
Bisserka Gaydarska ,
Noah Honch ,
Yordan Yordanov  and
Branimira Dimitrova
Tom Higham
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
John Chapman
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Vladimir Slavchev
Affiliation:
Regional Museum of History – Varna, 41 Maria Louiza Blvd., 9000 Varna, Bulgaria
Bisserka Gaydarska
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Noah Honch
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Yordan Yordanov
Affiliation:
Institute of Experimental Morphology and Anthropology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, bl. 25, Acad. Bonchev Str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Branimira Dimitrova
Affiliation:
Institute of Experimental Morphology and Anthropology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, bl. 25, Acad. Bonchev Str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Extract

The research team of this new project has begun the precision radiocarbon dating of the super-important Copper Age cemetery at Varna. These first dates show the cemetery in use from 4560-4450 BC, with the possibility that the richer burials are earlier and the poor burials later in the sequence. The limited number of lavish graves at Varna, representing no more than a handful of paramount chiefs, buried over 50-60 years, suggests a stabilisation of the new social structure by the early part of the Late Copper Age.

Keywords

Copper AgeEneolithicBulgariaVarnamortuary practice
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 313 , 1 September 2007 , pp. 640 - 654
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

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