Neolithic mortuary practices: Intramural burials in Bulgaria in their Southeast European and Anatolian context
Неолитни погребални обреди. Интрамурални гробове от българските земи в контекста на Югоизточна Европа и Анатолия
Language: Bulgarian with a summary in English. Category: Neolithic

     Introduction

     ... The data analysis of 108 Neolithic intramural burials from 17 Bulgarian settlements and of burials in 75 settlements in south-east Europe, western and central Anatolia has allowed me to build up a general classification of mortuary practices in this region, to follow their chronological development, to determine their zones of distribution and to make an attempt to establish their possible origin. Three classes of mortuary practices are distributed in this territory: formal inhumation, secondary inhumation and cremation burial. In the first class the period between the biological death and the burial was relatively short, the body of the dead individual was buried in a contracted or an extended position and the archaeological result is a grave, containing more or less articulated skeleton. In the second class this period is longer, the body of the dead individual was subjected to excarnation or other treatment with the aim of detaching the soft tissues, and the archaeological result is a grave containing skeletal remains not in anatomical order. In the third class the duration of the period is archaeologically unknown, but the remains were subjected to cremation and the archaeological result is a grave containing cremated human remains in or not in anatomical order.

     The formal inhumation includes 3 groups: individual, group, and collective, which are subdivided into types and sometimes into variants.

     The formal individual inhumation in a dwelling space is distributed in a comparatively compact zone, mainly in the southern parts of the territory under study, encompassing western Anatolia, Thrace, eastern Thessaly, the Vardar Valley, north-central Bulgaria and northeast Bulgaria. It borders on Moldavia to the east, and reaches Banat to the west, but the latter two regions are comparatively isolated from the "nuclear distributional area" of the mortuary practice.

     The dead were buried in a contracted position on their sides or on the abdomen under house floors, at times under or near ovens, but this refers only to the central part of the zone. Individuals from all sex-and-age groups were buried in the Anatolian settlements, whereas in Thrace only the groups of adult women and children are to be found. Except for the instance from Banat, where adult men were buried, the rest of the graves confirm — or at least do not contradict — this observation. In most cases grave inventory was found.

     The formal individual inhumation in a dwelling space appears at the very beginning of the Neolithic: in southwest and central Anatolia it is registered in the Prepottery Neolithic, in Thrace - in the Karanovo I culture. In the northwestern and northeastern parts of the zone its appearance is connected with the last phases of the Starcevo culture and the end of the Cris culture. It continued to be practiced also during the Late Neolithic and the Anatolian Early Chalcolithic, but then again "shrank" only within the most southeastern part of its zone of distribution: western Anatolia, the Marmara region and Thrace. This "pulsation" is one of the arguments in favor of the conclusion that the formal individual inhumation in a dwelling space originated in the Levantine and Anatolian region, and was not a development of the epipaleolithic tradition of burials under open hearths, as P. Raczky supposed. And while in the Levant and Anatolia the burial under house floors included all sex-and-age groups, in Thrace, where it appeared at quite a later time, the mortuary practice underwent specific evolution and can be associated only with adult women, children and babies.

     The most widely practiced type of mortuary practices in the region under study is undoubtedly the formal individual inhumation in an interdwelling space. Its zone of distribution spans the Marmara Sea, western Anatolia, Peloponnesus, Thessaly, western Macedonia and the Vardar Valley, Thrace, southwest Bulgaria, the Sofia Basin, north-central Bulgaria, southern Albania, Shumadia, Srem, Dalmatia, the Iron Gates, Bachka, Banat, the Tisza Valley, Transilvania, Muntenia and Moldavia. Yet regions of more intensive or less intensive practicing are also to be witnessed there. In Catalhoyuk the formal individual inhumation in an interdwelling space refers to a single burial. The practice has two variants: formal individual inhumation in an interdwelling space in a contracted or in an extended position, the second variant having been registered only in Peloponnesus, Thrace and Shumadia. All sex-and-age groups are represented, as well as all kinds of grave inventory. This type existed throughout the whole of the Neolithic and with such a mass distribution it is very difficult to make suppositions as to its origin, but it is evident that it is more closely related to southeast Europe and the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara, especially to the northern parts of the region, rather than to Anatolia and the Levant.

     The formal individual inhumation in the settlement's periphery has a limited zone of distribution, mainly in the eastern parts of the territory under study: the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara, Thrace, northeast Bulgaria, Shumadia, Srem, the Iron gates area, Banat and Transilvania. Particularly characteristic is the concentration of a large number of graves on a relatively small area, as are the cases in the area of the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara, northeast Bulgaria, Srem and the Iron Gates. Although the level of research does not yet allow having the space aspect of this type of practice elucidated to a sufficient degree, obviously it refers to the isolation of the graves within a certain section of the settlement. The dead were buried in a contracted position on their side, often with grave inventory. All sex-and age groups are represented.

     This type of mortuary practice found distribution mainly in the Early Neolithic. The earliest burial of this type is a grave from Tell Azmak, which is referred to the Karanovo I culture. The burials from Ilıpınar ІХ, followed by the Starcevo and Cris burials may be of a slightly later origin. The data about Botos is too incomplete, but on the basis of the clay vessels M. Garasanin relates the site to the early Turdas phase of the Late Neolithic Vinca culture.

     Whatever the reasons for the separation of the mortuary space from the living space might have been, it is obvious that the connection between them was preserved, at least until the end of the Neolithic. As with the case of the formal individual inhumation in an interdwelling space, it is clear that the origin of this type of practice should not be sought in the East.

     The formal group inhumation in a dwelling space is represented only in central and western Anatolia. It relates to double burials of women with children under house floors in a contracted position on their sides and with grave inventory. The burials date back to the Anatolian Late Neolithic.

     The zone of distribution of the formal group inhumation in an interdwelling space comprises Thrace, western Bulgaria, western Macedonia and the Vardar Valley, Srem, Shumadia, the Tisza Valley and Moldavia, the latter having remained to a certain extent isolated from the more compact southern and western parts of the zone. Two variants are represented. The first is registered in Thrace, western Bulgaria, western Macedonia, Srem, the Tisza Valley, and Moldavia. Adults with one or two children, two children or up to three adults were buried. The dead were buried in a contracted position on their sides one next to the other, most often with an inventory. The second variant is related to burials from western Bulgaria, the Vardar Valley, and Shumadia. Each grave contains skeletons of two adults, buried in a contracted position on their sides one on top of the other, obviously not at one and the same time but one after the other over a short period of time. Both variants appear in the Early Neolithic, but in Thrace the first is represented only in the Late Neolithic Karanovo III period, whereas in the rest of the zone the formal group inhumation in an interdwelling space is not registered in the second half of the Neolithic...

Table of contents

Предговор

Въведение

I. Проучвания на неолитните погребални обреди от българските земи

1. Публикации на неолитни гробове

2. Терминологична дискусия

II. Неолитни гробни комплекси от българските земи

1. Тракия и Родопите

2. Югозападна България

3. Софийско и Пирдопско-Златишко поле

4. Северозападна България

5. Централа Северна България

6. Североизточна България

7. Каталог на неолитните гробни комплекси от българските земи

III. Анализ на неолитните гробни комплекси от българските земи

1. Структурен анализ на гробния комплекс

2. Корелативен анализ на елементите на гробния комплекс

IV. Реконструкция на неолитните погребални обреди

V. Класификация на неолитните погребални обреди

VI. Гробни комплекси от Анатолия и Югоизточна Европа

1. Югоизточен район

2. Югозападен район

3. Северозападен район

4. Североизточен район

VII. Неолитнитете погребални обреди от българските земи в контекста на Анатолия и Югоизточна Европа

1. Югоизточен район

2. Югозападен район

3. Северозападен район

4. Североизточен район

Заключение

Списък на съкращенията

Библиография

Neolithic mortuary practices: Intramural burials in Bulgaria in their Southeast European and Anatolian context

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