The Early and Middle Bronze Age in the Central Balkans

This book presents a detailed assessment of the chronological, cultural, economic and social relations in the territory of the central Balkans (today's Serbia without Voivodina, western Bulgaria and the northern part of North Macedonia) in the period from the beginning of the 3rd to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. It is the first comprehensive study of the region at this period, in English, for over 40 years, in spite of the considerable amount of research and excavation that has been conducted in the intervening years. The natural-geographic features, topographic openness, social impacts and other factors that could influence the genesis, development and, ultimately, the demise of Bronze Age cultures in this territory are analysed. Several vegetation zones are represented in Serbia, from steppes, lowland forests, hilly and mountainous areas, sub-Mediterranean forests, and low-growing vegetation, to Boreal forests and formations of moorlands. These have played an important role in soil formation, especially vertisol, and their development and change are closely related to archaeology and changing land use. The book brings a lot of new information regarding absolute dates, including a full list of available radiocarbon dates for Bronze Age Serbia, some results of analysis of tin and copper isotope analyses, as well as the results of unpublished excavations of Bronze Age sites in the central Balkans. New thoughts about cultural interconnections within the central Balkans and beyond are presented, which are based on the remains of material and spiritual culture, as well as absolute dates.

Following an introduction to the physical landscape of the study region, a summary is presented of the history of archaeological research and the chronology of the Bronze Age in the central Balkans. Subsequent chapters review evidence for settlement, burial and ritual, and material culture by region with a discussion on chronology, characterisation and wider cultural contacts within the European Bronze Age.

A more detailed analysis of the revised absolute chronology of the central Balkan Bronze Age is then presented, together with a consideration of its implications for understanding developments in the region in the wider European context.