Overview

This volume presents the results of diachronic archaeological and palaeoecological research conducted in two study areas: the intermontane Kazanlak Valley along the Upper Tundzha River of central Bulgaria, and the Thracian Plain along the Middle Tundzha River south of the city of Yambol in southeastern Bulgaria. The Tundzha Regional Archaeology Project (TRAP), a cooperative effort including Australian, Bulgarian, and Czech investigators, undertook archaeological survey and environmental sampling between 2009-2011. Major field activities of the project included over 100 sq km of systematic pedestrian survey, legacy data verification and mapping, trial excavations, artefact processing, and environmental sampling in and around the study areas. Through this research, TRAP inventoried over 100 surface artefact concentrations and 800 burial mounds. At the heart of the volume is a geospatial analysis of settlement patterns derived from the survey dataset, which relates the footprint of past human activities to environmental and sociocultural drivers. We also present a range of associated studies conducted between 2009-2015: histories of archaeological research in both study areas, soil erosion and productivity modelling in the Kazanlak Valley, reconstruction of a 30,000-year environmental history based on samples from a wetland in the Thracian Plain north of Yambol, investigation of palaeodiet using isotope analysis of human remains from Bronze Age burials in the Yambol study area, exploration of shifting Roman occupation patterns based on trial excavations in the Yambol area, research into subsistence strategies based on palaeobotanical evidence recovered from one of the Yambol area trial excavations, analysis of trade and exchange based on the transport amphorae fragments recovered during Yambol-area survey, and epigraphic comparison and synthesis of Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman inscriptions from the two study areas. Finally, TRAP has produced a granular digital dataset of surface artefacts and features unparalleled in Bulgaria to promote reinterpretation of our results, encourage secondary studies, and foster comparative research.

Full Product Details

Author:   Shawn A. Ross ,  Adela Sobotkova ,  Julia Tzvetkova ,  Georgi Nekhrizov
Publisher:   Oxbow Books
Imprint:   Oxbow Books
ISBN:  

9781789250541

ISBN 10:   1789250544
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   26 October 2018
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of figures List of tables List of colour figures Links to digital resources List of Contributors List of Participants Absolute chronology Acknowledgements Abstract Part I: Background and Methods 1. The Tundzha Regional Archaeology Project: history, aims, and outcomes Shawn Ross, Adela Sobotkova, and Simon Connor 2. Surface surveys and the archaeological map of Bulgaria Georgi Nekhrizov 3. Survey methodology Adela Sobotkova and Shawn Ross 4. Archaeological sciences: approaches and methods Simon Connor and Robbi Bishop-Taylor Part II: Kazanlak Valley 5. Kazanlak Valley: topography and environment Adela Sobotkova and Shawn Ross 6. A history of archaeological research in the Kazanlak Valley Julia Tzvetkova, Nadezhda Kecheva, and Yulia Dimitrova 7. Surface soil survey in an archaeological context: the Kazanlak Geoscience Project Robbi Bishop-Taylor, Karina L. Judd, Lauren Clear, and Lennard Martin 8. Kazanlak survey results Adela Sobotkova and Shawn Ross 9. Assessing contemporaneity and uncertainty in the Kazanlak Valley survey datasets Adela Sobotkova 10. Spatial variability in surface artefact distributions in the Kazanlak Valley Adela Sobotkova Part III: Yambol Study Areas 11. Yambol: topography and environment Adela Sobotkova and Shawn Ross 12. A history of archaeological research in the Yambol province Todor Valchev 13. Palaeoecology of the middle Tundzha Plain Simon Connor, Andy Herries, and Scott Mooney 14 Yambol survey results Adela Sobotkova, Shawn Ross, and Ilija K. Iliev 15. Assessing contemporaneity and uncertainty in the Yambol province datasets Adela Sobotkova 16. Spatial variability in surface artefact distributions in the Yambol study areas Adela Sobotkova Part IV: Associated Studies 17 Excavation and palaeodietary analysis of Bronze Age human remains from Boyanovo, Yambol province Karen Privat, Adela Sobotkova, Stefan Bakardzhiev, and Victoria Russeva 18. Excavations at the Roman site of Stroyno-Yurta, Yambol province (2014–2015): an interim report Petra Tušlová, Barbora Weissová, and Stefan Bakardzhiev 19. Excavations at Dodoparon, Yambol province Adela Sobotkova, Catherine Longford, and Stefan Bakardzhiev 20. Classical and Hellenistic transport amphorae from the Yambol province Petra Tušlová and Barbora Weissová 21. Greek and Latin inscriptions from the Kazanlak and Yambol regions c. 500 BC to AD 300 Petra Janouchová Bibliography Index

Reviews

If reviews had to be completed in a single line, like a PhD in mathematics, the line for the present volume would be ‘This has never been done before in Bulgaria’… This is a milestone in Bulgarian field survey that hopefully will inspire many future applications. * Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society *

If reviews had to be completed in a single line, like a PhD in mathematics, the line for the present volume would be `This has never been done before in Bulgaria'... This is a milestone in Bulgarian field survey that hopefully will inspire many future applications. * Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society *

Author Information

"Shawn Ross is a Professor in the Department of Ancient History, Maquarie University, Sydney. His research interests include the history and archaeology of pre-Classical Greece, oral tradition as history (especially Homer and Hesiod), the archaeology of prehistoric and ancient Thrace, Greece in its wider Mediterranean and Balkan context, and the application of information technology to the humanities. Adela Sobotkova is a Research Fellow in the Department of Ancient History, Maquarie University, Sydney researching socio-cultural evolution among the Ancient Thracians. Her research interests include the archaeology and history (both environmental and socio-cultural) of the Black Sea region and northern Balkans, with a special focus on local trajectories of (non-)state formation Julia Tzvetkova, of the Department of Ancient History, Thracian Studies and Medieval History, Sofia University ""St. Kliment Ohridski"" researches in the History of Geography, Cultural History and Historiography. Her research interests include the history of Ancient Greece and Thrace, ancient the Early Iron age and Classical archaeology and GIS in Archaeology and Ancient History Georgi Nekhrizov is an archaeologist at the National Archaeological Institute and Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria. His main scientific interests are in the field of Thracian culture. Dr Simon Connor is a research fellow and Academic Programs Manager at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the long-term interactions between humans and environments in the world's biodiversity hotspots."

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