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 "The World of Mimi - Friendship Overland!" Neolithic Dwellings in STARA ZAGORA One
of the earliest settlements in the vicinity of Stara Zagora
dating back to this period is in the area of the District
Hospital. Its first inhabitants came to live he beginning of the
New Stone Age (6th millennium B.C.) and the last ones left
it in the time of the late Iron Age (the end of the 2nd millennium
B.C.). During
some archaeological excavations in 1968, in the layer dating back
to the early Neolithic culture Karanovo II in Thrace (the
middle of the 6th millennium B.C.) the specialists found remains
of two dwellings: The settlement they belonged to had suddenly
been burned down (destroyed by fire). Almost everything belonging
to these dwellings had been burned under the burned walls: This is
the reason they are not best preserved among all the European
dwellings dating back to this age. These
dwellings had been built at one and the same time. They consist of
only one room having an irregular rectangular shape with a common
partition wall between each of the rooms. The dimensions of the
bigger one (the southern) are 6 x 5.2 m and those of the smaller
one 5.2 x 3 m. The walls had been built of wooden stakes fixed
into the ground and thin poles entwined into them. Then a mixture
of clay and straw had been spread over tins construction. They had
a two-deck roof made of straw, rush and others. The bigger
dwelling had a southern entrance. The floor is rammed and covered
with a thick layer of clay: The oven that served to heat the dwelling and to cook the meals is at the northern wall. It has an arch opening. Some crooked earthen fittings were found in front of the oven. They comprised parts of some equipment serving to lead the smoke out of the dwelling. There is a rectangular earthen platform to the south of the oven: It had been a kind of couch. Two stone grinders were found at the west side of the oven. They had served for grinding corn. They consist of upper and lower millstones: The lower millstone has got an earthen edge that had prevented the corn from falling. You can see some large earthenware used for grain stores. Charred wheat, barley, vetch and others were found in some of the vessels. In the southeastern corner of the dwelling you can see three earthen supports bifurcated in their upper ends. There are almost the same supports in the other premises. It is most probable that the family living in the dwelling had used them for some cult rites. Very impressive is the quantity and variety of earthenware scattered round the dwelling. Most of the vessels had not been on the places where we see them now. They had been arranged on some shelves put up round the walls but they had fallen down during the fire. The entrance of the smaller dwelling was to the east. We see here the same fittings and equipment that we saw in the larger one. There is no special place for a couch here. All the equipment and fittings speak of the rational usage of the space. Perhaps modern people coming to visit the remains of these early Neolithic dwellings preserved up to now will find them somewhat simple and imperfect. But if the people living nowadays having all the knowledge and culture piled up throughout the ages would try to build these dwellings using the unknown ancient instruments of production they would hardly manage to do it. The prehistoric inhabitants of our lands had made all this not knowing how to work out the metal. All their instruments were made of stone and flint axels, adzes, chisels, scraper, angers and so on. As the excavated dwellings showed great archaeological and scientific importance it was decided to preserve these remains. A special preservation building with an exhibition hall was raised round the remains. One can see here the best pieces of prehistoric art found during the archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Stara Zagora earthenware, religious pieces of plastic art, ornaments and others. Among the early Neolithic earthenware (6th millennium B.C.) prevail those of cylindrical and hemispheric shape. They are handmade, not using a potter’s wheel. They have thin walls and are well baked. Some of them have white geometrical ornaments drawn on the red bottom of the vessel in several zones. Others have grey black or brown polished surface most often decorated by carved “fish-bone” ornaments. Characteristic for the late neolith (5th millennium B.C.) are the two-conic vessels with well-expressed central fringe. Very impressive is the variety of ornaments - carved and incrusted with some white stuff fluting, paintings in white and so on. At the end of the 5th millennium B.C. the prehistoric man who was living in our lands found the first metal: copper. Seven kilometers northwest of Stara Zagora specialists were made their research work through one of the largest and most ancient heliolithic copper mines in South-eastern Europe. Ore output, production of copper articles and their trade stimulated the development of the society in those days. During that period the prehistoric art reached some particular peak that had nothing to he compared with in the previous ages. The ceramics of
the early Heliolithic (the end of the 5th and the beginning of the
4th millennium B.C.) were characterized by its fine round forms.
The tulip-formed vessels have a most aesthetic effect. They are
decorated with polished zones and geometrical ornament incrusted
in white paint. Together with this technique the prehistoric
artist began to use the graphite ornament. The decoration is very
florid - triangular, concentric circles, spirals, meanders and
other geometrical forms. This decoration covers the whole surface
of the vessel. This silver glitter of the graphite on the black
polished surface of the vessels gives an unforgettable artistic
impression. Impressive are
also the variety and the complexity of the pottery forms, at the
end of the Heliolithic. The graphite ornaments were used very
frugally and they are found only in the upper part of the vessel.
All the ornaments of the Heliolithic pottery are geometrical and
styled. There are no scenes of the real life of the people.
The Bronze Age
(3rd millennium B.C.) brought changes in the pottery style: The
graphite ornaments disappeared. The earthen "ascos" of
the necropolis near the settlement hill of
Bereketska. The ancient animal
breeding and agricultural tribes showed their concept of the
world, the idea of giving birth and fertility, the cult of the
earth through modeling of human and animal earthen, bone and
marble figures. In tile period of early neolith the sculpture
images are very schematic. In the late neolith the ancient artist
together with the reality of the basic idea strived to give more
details of the human face, body, clothes and ornaments. Some masterpieces dating back to this period are the marble human figure found in Stara Zagora Spa, the head of an earthen human figure found in the village of Dinya, an anthrop zoomorphic earthen figure found in the dwellings round the District Hospital in Stara Zagora and some others. A lot of ornaments
made of marble, copper, bone, clay, shells and others, show great
taste of their masters. Very famous were the ornaments made of
the
Mediterranean mussel "Spondulus". A golden children's
bracelet was found in the settlement hill of Bereketska near Stara
Zagora. It dates back to the 5th millennium B.C. It is one of the
most ancient golden ornaments found in the world. Leaving the
display called "Prehistoric Art In The Vicinity Of Stara
Zagora", we feel the intransient value of all that people
living in our lands created ages ago. This art shows the level of
development reached by this ancient civilization.
For being information and photos about Neolithic Dwellings I would like to thank to Mrs. Stoika Kairakova - keeper of the museum in Stara Zagora. If you would like to visit and see this incredible ancient place you could phone her for visit: ++359 42 22 109. Spoken languages: French, English, Russian, Czech and Slovakian.
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