Върхари и Орлица: две халколитни селища от източните Родопи

Varhari and Orlitsa: two Chalcolithic settlements in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains

Abstract

This volume includes publications on two sites – the settlements of Varhari and Orlitsa. They are closely related to each other in a number of ways. First of all, they present two chronologically consecutive stages of the Chalcolithic (also known as the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic): the transition between the Early and Late Chalcolithic and the developed Late Chalcolithic. Both settlements are located in the watershed of the Varbitsa River, on the most convenient route connecting the Eastern Rhodopes with the Aegean coast. They differ in their location from most mountain sites, the existence of which is mainly associated with the last stage of the Chalcolithic in today's Bulgarian lands. In this sense, the two publications represent parts of the same study – on the development of the Chalcolithic in the Eastern Rhodopes.