Cicer arietinum (chick pea) in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Bulgaria: implications for cultural contacts with the neighbouring regions?

Cicer arietinum (chick pea), is one of the elements of the Neolithic founder crop assemblage. It was spread from the Near East to southeastern Europe during the Neolithic, but until recently it was not thought to have reached further north than the territory of modern Greece. However, the latest finds from the Bulgarian Neolithic (6000–5450 cal B.C.) and late Chalcolithic (4450–3900 cal B.C.) show a distribution of this crop outside the Mediterranean region, to areas with a more temperate climate. It seems, however, that chick pea did not appear in the archaeobotanical record during the first stages of the Bulgarian Neolithic period, but only in its second half, or even later. So far, on the Thracian plain only at one site which from a cultural point of view is strongly related to southwest Bulgaria, have finds of chick pea appeared. These are considered to belong to the second and last third of the early Neolithic and originate from structures dated from 5920–5730 to 5670–5450 cal B.C. During the Chalcolithic of Bulgaria (around 4500 cal B.C.), Cicer appears on the Thracian plain at Yunatzite and also to the north of the Balkan mountains at Hotnitza. The spread of C. arietinum in the prehistoric period in southeast Europe provides insights into some of the patterns of contacts and interactions between today’s Bulgaria with Thessaly and Anatolia.

Publication year:2008

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Authors:International

Authors from:Higher Education

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