Rasho Rashev Introduction Рашо Рашев Увод н и дум и Christina Angelova, Mark. Stefanovich Henrieta Todorova Христина Ангелова, Марк Стефанович Хенриета Тодорова Кратка биография

Cerealia pollen evidence from pollen diagrams and palaeoethnobotany in Bulgaria

The identification of Cerealia pollen types and macroremains at archaeological sites pro­vides opportunities for showing which cereals were cultivated in Bulgaria in former times. The archaeological and palaeoethnobotanical finds indicate that Western Bulgaria and Thra-cia were populated earlier, around the end of 7th millennium B.C. In Neolithic times not only the valleys but also the foothills of the moun­tains were populated and the settlements lo­cated around 800 m a.s.l. (Rakitovo, Kremenik, Gäläbnik, Sedlare etc.) practised both animal husbandry and agriculture.

In the primary centre of agriculture - Asia Minor, since 7000 B.C. (Djarmo) were cultivated Trilicum топососсит, Hordeum, Pisum (Helbaek 1959). Since 6500 B.C. the variety ofthe cultivat­ed cereals increased (Ali-Kosh) with T dicoccum (Hf.i.baf.k 1969) and later after 5000 B.C. this variety became even greater. If we move to the Balkan Peninsula we could trace out the most ancient culture in Greece which dates back to 6000 B.C. or about 1000 years later than in Asia Minor, but showing much greater variety (Ren­frew 1973), as Trilicum, Hordeum, Avena, Pisum, Panicum. During the same period in Bulgaria the presence of hulled species of wheat and bar­ley was constant (Slatina, Gäläbnik, Rakitovo, Kremenik - all Neolithic settlements).

Palynological data for these settlements are still lacking but palaeoethnobotanical and ar­chaeological investigations are quite numer­ous (Arnaldov 1949; Hopf 1973; Den nel 1975; 1978). Trilicum топососсит, T.dicoccum, T. aesti­vum, Hordeum and //. vulgare vai: nudum were cultivated in the Thracian valley in Neolithic times. The transitional forms between Т. топо­соссит and T. boeticum identified at the Early Neolithic settlement of Kremenik (Ciiakalova/ SáRBiNSKA 1987) lead us to assume that in the-Balkan Peninsula the cultivation of Т. топосос­сит mixed with the wildwred T. boeticum origi­nated in a secondary manner. The small dimen­sions of the seeds found at Kremenik are most probably due to the poor soils and the com­paratively low level of production. The closest palynological site investigated is the Lake Suho Ezero (1900 m a.s.l., Rila Mts.). Cerealia pollen is lacking in the sediments related to the Neo­lithic time in both profiles (Fig. 2) probably con­nected with the long distance (Bozhilova/Tonk-ov 1990). An indication of agricultural activity for that period is seen in the pollen diagrams from Kupena Mire (1300m a.s.l., Western Rho-dopes Mts.), but it should be borne in mind that part of the Cerealia pollen could also represent wild species (Ни i tunen et al. 1992). Some of it must originate from cultivated cereals, however, as evidenced by macroremains from the settle­ments in some of the valleys in the Rhodopes

Mts. and in caves from Neolithic times (Todoro­va 1979; Boziiilova etal. 1989). Macroremains from a settlement near Rakitovo (Chakalova/ Bozhii.ova 1984) show that the cereal crops cultivated were mainly Hordeum vulgare mixed with II.vulgare var nudum and smaller quantities of 71 monococcum, 71 dicoccum, and T. aestivum.

Larger quantities of Cerealia pollen dating from Neolithic times were identified in the pol­len diagrams from the Black Sea coastal lakes. The lowest amounts are found in the diagrams from Lake Arkutino on the southern coast (Bo/.hii.ova/Bf.ug 1992), a fact which can be explained by the relief, soils and small human populations. In comparison with these, the dia­grams from Lake Varna and Lake Durankulak contain more than 1% Cerealia pollen (Fig. 2). Charred seeds of Triticum sp. and Hordeum sp. were found in the Neolithic layers of the settle­ment Durankulak (BOEVA, unpubl.) (Fig. 1).

In Lake Varna near to the village Povel­janovo the beginning of settlement period I is dated to ca. 6200 B.C. (Boziiilova/Belg 1994) or it belongs to the early Neolithic. Triticum-type pollen during this period is accompanied by Centaurea jacea-iype, C. cyanus. Sécale, P. lanceolata, Polygonum aviculare, Urtica, Scabio-sa, Sanguisorba minor and by higher values for Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia.

During Eneolithic times the productivity in­creased due to ploughing of the soils (Todorova 1979) and improvements in the agricultural tools which allowed the use of land at higher el­evations (Vf.i.kov 1979). This explains the con­stant presence oí Cerealia pollen in the Kupena I diagram (Fig. 4) and the appearance of Triti­cum pollen in the diagrams from the Lake Suho Ezero (Fig. 3).

The quantity of Cerealia pollen increases in the diagrams from the coastal area, and the high proportions of 'Triticum (above 5%) and Hordeum are explained by the number of Eneolithic set-