The dynamics of isolation and interaction in Late Bronze Age Thrace
In a period when complex systems of Bronze Age social life and urban communities were well-established in the Aegean and Anatolia, the southeast corner of the Balkans, commonly known as Thrace, appears to have remained largely unaffected. Nevertheless, the presence of a few similar artefacts between the latter and the first two regions during the 2nd millennium BC has provoked scholars to propose various forms of cultural encounter. This has diverted the research focus in Thrace from a thorough examination of local characteristics and, along with the lack of much systematic study, has limited our understanding of internal social patterns of development. Moreover, the existing partition of the area among Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey and repeated amendments to borders throughout the 20th century has further constrained synthetic archaeological investigations. Bearing in mind that modern political divisions do not necessarily coincide with any prehistoric social pattern, this thesis approaches the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in Thrace from an alternative contextual and geographic perspective. More than a hundred LBA sites have now been identified in the area of modern day Bulgaria, and there is a wealth of complementary
Nenova, Denitsa Nikolaeva
The dynamics of isolation and interaction in Late Bronze Age Thrace. In a period when complex systems of Bronze Age social life and urban communities were well-established in the Aegean and Anatolia, the southeast corner of the Balkans, commonly known as Thrace, appears to have remained largely unaffected. Nevertheless, the presence of a few similar artefacts between the latter and the first two regions during the 2nd millennium BC has provoked scholars to propose various forms of cultural encounter. This has diverted the research focus in Thrace from a thorough examination of local characteristics and, along with the lack of much systematic study, has limited our understanding of internal social patterns of development. Moreover, the existing partition of the area among Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey and repeated amendments to borders throughout the 20th century has further constrained synthetic archaeological investigations. Bearing in mind that modern political divisions do not necessarily coincide with any prehistoric social pattern, this thesis approaches the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in Thrace from an alternative contextual and geographic perspective. More than a hundred LBA sites have now been identified in the area of modern day Bulgaria, and there is a wealth of complementary
dynamic isolation interaction thrace period complex_system bronze_age social_life urban_community well_established aegean anatolia southeast corner balkans commonly_know thrace appear remain_largely unaffected nevertheless presence similar artefact latter first_two region millennium provoke scholar propose_various form cultural_encounter focus thrace thorough_examination local characteristic along lack much systematic_study limit internal social pattern development moreover exist partition area among bulgaria greece turkey repeat amendment border throughout constrain synthetic archaeological_investigation bearing mind modern political division necessarily coincide prehistoric social pattern approach lba thrace alternative contextual geographic perspective hundred lba site identify area modern_day bulgaria wealth complementary