Encrusted Pottery Culture ceramic imports in northwest Bulgaria

Abstract

This paper discusses the Encrusted Pottery Culture ceramics discovered outside the Danube River strip in northwest Bulgaria. These imports, coming from 15 sites, cover the whole spectrum of the ceramic production: pottery, figurines, small finds, etc. Geographically, they are spread across the entire territory of northwest Bulgaria, reaching a distance of 40 km south of the Danube River. The imports appear in both settlements (dwellings, pits) and cemeteries. Chronologically, these finds date to the second half of the fifteenth–thirteenth century cal. BC period that corresponds to the Orsoya/Baley phase of the Encrusted Pottery Culture. Similar material north of the Danube is discussed as well. While in northwest Bulgaria, the Encrusted Pottery Culture ‘imports’ appear in Gamzigrad–Gramada or Zimnicea–Plovdiv milieu, north of the river they are related to Late Verbicioara sites. The nature of these intensive contacts between the ‘Danubian’ Encrusted Pottery Culture and ‘inland’ communities is also considered.