Rescue Excavations of Bronze Age Barrows in Vetrino Region, northeast Bulgaria

Abstract

The aim of this study is to present the results of the rescue excavations of three Bronze Age barrows in Vetrino region, Northeast Bulgaria. Fourteen Early Bronze Age graves (4th– 3rd millennium BC), two of Middle Bronze Age date (first half of the 2nd millennium BC) and one Late Bronze Age grave (second half of the 2nd millennium BC) were excavated in the region in 2020. The majority of the Early Bronze Age graves were relaxed hocker inhumations dating to the periods 3100– 2900 calBC and 2900– 2600 calBC. Their nature, characteristics and relationship to contemporary burials in other regions to the north and west are discussed. The dating of 2000– 1500 calBC period of the tightly-contracted hocker inhumations from Northeast Bulgaria is argued as well.