Period(s) of Occupation:

Season Dates: Field school session 1: 17 June - 1 July, 2012 Field school session 2: 2 - 16 July, 2012
Application Deadline: May 1, 2012

Website: http://www.bhfieldschool.org/bh2011ilindenexc.html

Affiliation: Balkan Heritage Field School/Foundation (BH) - Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad Regional Museum of History - Bulgaria, New Bulgarian University (NBU) - Bulgaria and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Nanterre - France

Project Description: In the seventh millenium BC the Balkan Peninsula was a gate through which farming, animal husbandry and generally Neolithisation spread to Europe from Anatolia and the Near East. Central parts of the Balkans were among the most important migration routes during that period. There, in the small Middle Struma River Valley, on the natural road that connects the Eastern Mediterranean with the Central Europe, are mapped 6 Early Neolithic settlements. One of them is the prehistoric site near Ilindentsi. In 2004-2009, during the small-scale excavation project archaeologists from Blagoevgrad Regional Museum of History (Bulgaria) unearthed there Early Neolithic settlement structures and features (esp. dwellings with specific floor construction and under-floor drainage system). The culture layer (app. 0,70-1.00 m thick all over the excavated surface)  was rich on artifacts such as white on red painted pottery, anthropomorphic clay figurines, stone and bone tools and jewels - all dated to the first half of 6th millenium BC. Scholars assume that the settlement near Ilindentsi was established by groups of people, coming from the earliest and the largest Early Neolithic settlement in the Valley, found near the village of Kovachevo. Thank to the results of a 20-year long Bulgarian-French Excavation Project in Kovachevo there are many evidences showing that the first inhabitants of that settlement were people of Anatolian origin (culture Hacilar VI-I). These migrations tracing the routes of European Neolithisation had various and complex reasons: increased population, limited environmental sources, climate changes etc. The excavation project at Ilindentsi was restarted in 2011. It aims to seek more detailed answers of the following important for Balkan and European Prehistory questions:

• who were the first European farmers?
• what made them migrate to Europe?
• did they find indigenous population in the Balkans?
• how did their societies function and develop?
• how did their every-day life look like?
• did they keep the connections with their Anatolian homeland?

The BIRTH OF EUROPE 2012 Project envisions excavations of at least two Neolithic dwellings (dating from the Early and Middle Balkan Neolithic) and their surrounding. Two field school sessions are available in 2012, each includes following three modules: fieldwork; educational course (lectures, workshops and field trainings in Prehistoric and Field Archaeology) and excursions to various cultural and archaeological sites in the region: Blagoevgrad Regional Museum of History, medieval town of Melnik and Rila Monastery (UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Participants, who join all the two project sessions are going to have a different schedule during the second session, including:

1. (at the weekends) Visits of the towns of Blagoevgrad and Sandanski (a popular Bulgarian SPA resort)/or optional visit to the Aegean coast (Greece);

2. (in the afternoons) Extra lab work related to the finds' processing and documentation and special workshops for: