Use of osseous materials during the Chalcolithic in Northeastern Bulgaria (based on materials of Polyanitsa tell)

Abstract

Many Chalcolithic cultures of the Balkan-Danube region used antler, animal bones, boar tusks and shells as raw materials for tools, household and votive items, as well as jewelry. The unique collection of such objects found in 1973–1974 during the archaeological study of the Polyanitsa tell (Northeastern Bulgaria), is particularly numerous and diverse (266 items). Experimental and traceological studies of part of this collection made it possible to characterize the manufacturing technology of these products, as well as the functional purpose of many of them. Among the industrial equipment, tools were found that were used in agriculture, processing flint, wood, hides and skins, and ceramics. It should be noted that some flint tools, found at the settlement, were used for processing bone/antler. This fact, as well as finds of blanks and unfinished items made of bone/antler, indicate their local production. The quality and the wide range of products of the bone processing industry serve as proof of the high level of its development and demand for such utensils in the economic and domestic activities of the population of the Chalcolithic sites of Northeastern Bulgaria.