ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BOROVAN (Georgi Ganetsovski – ganecovski_ar@abv.bg) The site covers an area of 12 000 sq. m. An area of 35 sq. m was explored. Sondage No. 1 measures 5 m by 2 m, but it was widened. Architectural remains and finds from a house that was burned during the Early Chalcolithic period (in the beginning of the 5th millennium BC) were discovered. Piles of burned plaster from the collapsed clay walls of the house, several post-holes and part of an oven were uncovered. Millstones and fragmentary dolia were found. Sondage also 2 measured 5 m by 2 m. Three cultural layers were documented. Layer 1 is badly destroyed. A pile of burned pottery, animal bones and ash was discovered. The pottery predominantly includes pots and is decorated with bands in relief, nail impressions, shallow-cut or scratched lines, and the so called “shell ornaments”. It comes from the Transition period between the Chalcolithic period and the Early Bronze Age and dates to the mid 4th millennium BC. Layer 2 is c. 40 cm in thickness. Plaster from an oven, 1.10 m in diameter, Early Chalcolithic pottery and burned clay plaster, probably represent remains from a burned house. A ritual pit filled with ash, sherds and animal bones, probably from ox, was explored in Layer 3. The pit dates to the Early Chalcolithic period. The Early Chalcolithic pottery from sondages 1 and 2 includes pots, dishes, bowls and dolia, decorated with incised geometric ornaments, often with white incrustation, cannelures, buds in relief and nail impressions. It is related to the developed phases of the Early Chalcolithic Gradeshnitsa Culture. The finds include an anthropomorphic figurine with incised decoration, a stone cylindrical nucleus, a terracotta model of oven, a zoomorphic figurine, fragments from bottoms of ceramic vessels with pictograms, bone astragals for gaming, stone and flint tools (flint scrapers and cutting plates from sickles, a stone spatula-smoothing tool, etc.).

EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BOROVAN (Georgi Ganetsovski – ganecovski_ar@abv.bg) The Early Chalcolithic settlement covered an area of c. 1.2 ha. It was fortified with a ditch and a palisade from its three accessible sides. A stratum, synchronous to the upper Early Chalcolithic stratum in Sector Center, and a stratum from the Proto-Bronze Age, situated above it, were documented in Sondage 1 in Sector South. Part of an Early Chalcolithic house, 60 – 70 sq. m in size, was explored. Floor plaster and a clay wall with an entrance were discovered. The house was destroyed by a fire. Early Chalcolithic pottery of the Gradeshnitsa Culture, flint flakes from sickles, a small terracotta cult table, a small terracotta chair, anthropomorphic figurines, bone awls and knucklebones were found in the debris of the house. Two strata from the Early Chalcolithic period (first half of the 5th millennium BC) and a stratum from the Proto-Bronze Age (first half of the 4th millennium BC) were documented in Sondage 2 in Sector Center. A ritual pit, containing ash, fragmentary ceramic vessels, animal bones, flint blades and tools, was discovered in the lower Early Chalcolithic stratum. A domestic oven and a floor plaster, covered with debris from the walls and roof, were explored in the upper Early Chalcolithic stratum. Fragmentary ceramic vessels, flint scrapers, small terracotta chairs, loom weights, a bone awl and a spatula were found. The building was destroyed by a fire. A pot containing bones, mainly parts from the skull of herbivore, was found in the house. Pottery of the Galatin Culture, animal bones, burned clay plasters from walls, flint arrowheads, a copper wedge, an anthropomorphic terracotta figurine, terracotta weights and flint artifacts were found in the stratum from the Proto-Bronze Age. A clay structure, probably from the palisade, and the fortification ditch, 7 m wide and over 3 m deep, were documented in Sector East. The ditch contained Early Chalcolithic sherds, animal bones, charcoal and fragmentary clay plasters.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BOROVAN (Georgi Ganetsovski – ganecovski_ar@abv.bg) The area of the settlement was c. 12,000 sq. m. Two Early Chalcolithic strata and one stratum from the Transition (Proto-Bronze) period were documented and a defensive ditch with a palisade, surrounding the settlement from three sides, was discovered during the previous excavations. In 2010, a burned clay wall of structure No. 1 was explored in Sector South. The finds included ceramic vessels from the Early Chalcolithic period (Gradeshnitsa Culture), fragments from a zoomorphic terracotta figurine and an anthropomorphic terracotta figurine, knucklebones, a bone awl, a bone spatula, bone jewelry, retouched flint plates and combined flint tools. The Early Chalcolithic structures were demolished by constructions from the Transition (Proto-Bronze) period. Probably, during the construction of the settlement in the first half of the 4 millennium BC, the new inhabitants cleaned up and leveled the terrain, partly destroying the remains from the Early Chalcolithic period. The stratum from the Transition (Proto-Bronze) period was 40 – 90 cm thick. Three ovens and pit No. 2 were explored. The finds included sherds (Galatin Culture), terracotta loom weights, retouched flint plates and flint arrowheads, knucklebones, bone awls, a sea shell, an amulet from a tooth, a copper awl, stone pestles, animal bones and an occasional Roman denarius of the 2nd century BC. Remains from a burned building were discovered in trench P21: a pile of burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub, six postholes, a clay construction with a quern and carbonized grain, a dolium and a pile of carbonized grain. The finds included two terracotta loom weights, a bone shuttle, bone tools, flint scrapers, a bead from marbleized limestone, three small ceramic vessels, sherds and animal bones. Two radiocarbon dates from the site provided the following chronology: 3891 – 3666 BC and 3959 – 3776 BC, corresponding to the Transition (Proto-Bronze) period.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BOROVAN (Georgi Ganetsovski – ganecovski_ar@abv.bg) An area of 100 sq. m was explored in Trenches M12, N12, O12 and P12 in the southern part of the site. The exploration of the burned and destroyed structure discovered in 2010 continued in the Early Chalcolithic stratum. A dolium and a quern were discovered and a floor plaster was explored below them. The finds included small ceramic vessels, an anthropomorphic terracotta figurine, flint artifacts and bone artifacts (awls, spatulae, arrowheads, astragals, an amulet from a tooth of predator, a flat amulet and figurines with three edges). The Early Chalcolithic pottery belonged to Gradeshnitsa Culture. Midden Pit No. 2 was explored in the stratum of the end of the Chalcolithic period. The pit cut the Early Chalcolithic stratum. Two stone structures plastered with clay were documented in Trench M12. A domestic Oven No. 2 was documented in Trench O12. The Late Chalcolithic pottery belonged to Galatin Culture. A stratum of the Early Bronze Age was documented, containing fragmentary wattle-and-daub and sherds. The Early Bronze Age pottery belonged to Magura – Coțofeni Culture.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BOROVAN (Georgi Ganetsovski – ganecovski_ar@abv.bg) Two Early Chalcolithic strata, one stratum of the end of the Chalcolithic period and one stratum of the Early Bronze Age were documented on the site and a fortification (a ditch with a palisade) was discovered, surrounding the settlement from the three sides. No hiatus between the three occupation periods was documented so far. Structure 2 of the Early Chalcolithic period was situated in Trenches M12 – N12. Four dolia were explored, covered with burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub and debris from stone structure. Fragmentary dishes were found as well. Pit 3 of the Early Chalcolithic period was situated to the south of Structure 2 and under the debris of Structure 1. The pit was 1.05 – 1.45 m in diameter and 60 cm in depth, containing ash, an antler, bone awls, a bone appliqué, a knucklebone, flint artifacts, fragments from anthropomorphic terracotta figurines, sherds, ceramic vessels and an appliqué from Spondylus. The Early Chalcolithic pottery belonged to Gradeshnitsa Culture. Disturbed strata containing material from the end of the Chalcolithic period and the Early Bronze Age were documented. The pottery of the end of the Chalcolithic period belonged to Galatin Culture and the pottery of the Early Bronze Age to Magura – Coţofeni Culture.