New evidence on the Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in northeast Bulgaria

Authors

  • Rositsa Manova Independent researcher, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • Stefan Alexandrov National Archaeological Institute and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Daniela Kovacheva Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Stela Atanassova-Vladimirova Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53250/stprae19.89-102

Keywords:

Early Bronze Age, Yamnaya culture, mortuary practices, secondary burial, pigments

Abstract

This paper discusses the interdisciplinary analyses of an Early Bronze Age secondary barrow grave related to the Yamnaya culture in northeast Bulgaria. The analytical results produced firm evidence of ritual practices in Yamnaya communities aiming at the preservation of skeletons by coating them with CaCO3 and/or by additionally painting certain skeletal elements with hematite. This practice could have been related to the preservation of ancestral memory associated with social power.

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Published

2025-12-14

How to Cite

Manova, R., Alexandrov, S., Kovacheva, D., & Atanassova-Vladimirova, S. (2025). New evidence on the Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in northeast Bulgaria. Studia Praehistorica, 19, 89–102. https://doi.org/10.53250/stprae19.89-102

Issue

Vol. 19 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.