Boian-Giulești culture
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The Boian culture (dated to 4300–3500 BC), also known as the Giulești–Marița culture or Marița culture, is a Neolithic
archaeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...
of Southeast Europe. It is primarily found along the lower course of the Danube in what is now Romania and Bulgaria, and thus may be considered a Danubian culture.


Geography

The Boian culture originated on the Wallachian Plain north of the Danube River in southeastern Romania. At its peak, the culture expanded to include settlements in the
Bărăgan Plain The Bărăgan Plain ( ro, Câmpia Bărăganului ) is a steppe plain in south-eastern Romania. It makes up much of the eastern part of the Wallachian Plain. The region is known for its black soil and a rich humus, and is mostly a cereal-growing are ...
and the
Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...
in Romania, Dobruja in eastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria, and the Danubian Plain and the
Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...
in Bulgaria. The culture's geographical extent went as far west as the Jiu River on the border of Transylvania in south-central Romania, as far north as the
Chilia branch The Chilia branch (; ) is one of three main distributary channels of the river Danube that contributes to forming the Danube Delta. Lying at the northernmost area of the delta, the distributary creates a natural border between Romania and Ukra ...
of the
Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...
along the Romanian border with Ukraine and the coast of the Black Sea, and as far south as the
Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in ...
and the Aegean Sea in Greece. The type site of the Boian culture is located on an island on
Lake Boian A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
in the region of
Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...
, on the Wallachian Plain north of the Danube River.


Chronology

The Boian culture emerged from two earlier Neolithic groups: the Dudeşti culture that originated in Anatolia (present-day Turkey); and the Musical note culture (also known as the Middle Linear Pottery culture or LBK) from the northern Subcarpathian region of southeastern Poland and western Ukraine.


Periodization

The Boian culture is divided traditionally into four phases, each of which is given a name of one of the archaeological sites that are associated with it: * Phase I – Bolintineanu Phase, 4300–4200 BC. * Phase II – Giulești Phase (also known as the Giulești-Boian culture), 4200–4100 BC. * Phase III – Vidra Phase, 4100–4000 BC. * Phase IV – Spanțov Phase (also known as the Boian-Gumelnița culture), 4000–3500 BC.


Decline

The Boian culture ended through a smooth transition into the Gumelnița culture, which also borrowed from the
Vădastra culture Vădastra is a commune in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to ...
. However, a segment of the Boian society ventured to the northeast along the Black Sea coast, encountering the late
Hamangia culture The Hamangia culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of Dobruja (Romania and Bulgaria) between the Danube and the Black Sea and Muntenia in the south. It is named after the site of Baia-Hamangia, discovered in 1952 along Golovița Lak ...
, which they eventually merged with to form the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. The time when the Boian culture developed into the Gumelnița culture is referred to as a ''transitional period'', during which there are commonalities found on both sides of the chronological divide between the two cultures; as such, Boian Phase IV and Gumelnița Phase A1 may be considered as a single, uninterrupted, transitional phase.''Coincidentally, the Gumelnița culture is also divided into four separate phases, A1, A2, B1 and B2. (See Boardman reference.)'' As a result, there are frequent references to this by scholars, who use the term ''Boian-Gumelnița culture'' to describe this specific period. Sometimes, though, this term is mis-used by some to include both the entire Boian culture and Gumelnița culture periods, not just the transitional period overlapping the two cultures. Since each culture is distinct from the other during its main phases, they should each be considered and named separately, with the exception (as just mentioned) of the transitional phases of their development.


Settlements

Boian archaeological sites have tended to be found next to rivers and lakes that had rich floodplains that provided fertile soil for agriculture. There were three different types of structures found in Boian sites. During Boian phases I and II the dwellings of this culture were thrown-together, oval-shaped
lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...
or dugout
pit-house A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larder ...
shelters built into river banks and ledges. In Boian phases III and IV the dwellings became more sophisticated, resulting in structures that were small with raised wooden platform floors. The third type of houses were larger, rectangular (up to 7 by 3.5 meters, or 23 by 11.5 feet) wattle and daub structures with wooden platform floors covered in clay, and roughly-thatched roofs, built at ground level. During phases III and IV the first settlements began to appear, resulting in the first of this region's archaeological tells. These settlements were typically built on high, steep terraces or
headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...
s above the floodplain of the rivers or lakes that were always nearby. At this time the houses began to incorporate more sophisticated elements, such as raised platform floors, painted interior walls exhibiting geographic designs in red and white patterns, painted clay furniture, and indoor clay ovens. Later settlements also sometimes showed signs of possible fortification in the form of deep, wide defensive ditches. The settlements in Phase III showed indications of having intersettlement and intrasettlement hierarchy, based on the sizes and locations of the residential buildings, which were built in nucleated rows around a central location. In Phase IV surface houses became dominant over subterranean, and the settlements grew to include up to 150 people.


Economy

Their economy was characterized by the practice of agriculture,
animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...
,
hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
,
gathering Gather, gatherer, or gathering may refer to: Anthropology and sociology *Hunter-gatherer, a person or a society whose subsistence depends on hunting and gathering of wild foods *Intensive gathering, the practice of cultivating wild plants as a st ...
and fishing. The proximity of their settlements to deciduous forests and steppe vegetation provided a good supply of wild game for their diet and fuel for their fires, tools, and homes. In addition, their nearness to rivers, lakes, and marshes provided a good source of game fowl and fish, as well as a source of lithic materials (stone and clay) from the banks. Archaeological evidence indicates that members of the Boian culture included the following animals in their diet, or used their furs, bones, or flesh for making tools and clothes: * ''Bos primigenius'' (
aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocen ...
) * ''Bos taurus'' ( cattle) * ''Canis lupus'' (
gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...
) * ''Canis lupus familiaris'' ( domestic dog) * ''Capra hircus'' ( goat) * ''Capreolus capreolus'' ( roe deer) * ''Castor fiber'' ( European beaver) * ''Cervus elaphus'' ( red deer) * ''Equus ferus'' ( wild horse) * ''Lepus europaeus'' ( European hare) * ''Meles meles'' ( European badger) * ''Ovis aries'' ( domestic sheep) * ''Sus domesticus'' ( domestic pig) * ''Sus scrofa'' ( wild boar) * ''Unio'' ssp ( freshwater mussel) * ''Vulpes vulpes'' (
red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
)


Material culture

Boian pottery exhibited influences from the earlier cultures from which it arose: chequers and flutings from the Dudești culture, and small triangles bordering the lines it inherited from the Musical Note Linear culture. The pottery was polished after firing, and was decorated with carved or raised geometric designs, often with white clay used as an
inlaid Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...
relief to offset the charcoal grey or black clay used in the rest of the work. In addition to the black/grey and white pottery, a few localized examples of red-inlaid clay decoration were found. Beginning in Phase III, they began to use graphite paint to decorate their pottery, a method probably borrowed from the south Balkan Marica culture.''The Marica culture (also known as Maritsa or Maritza) is now equated with the Karanovo V culture, and considered by Todorova to be early and middle Eneolithic (see Ehrich reference)''. The Boian culture continued to improve its ceramic technology until it reached its height during Phase III, after which it began to decline in quality and workmanship. The use of lithic technology occurred throughout this culture's existence, attested to by the presence of debitage found next to various types of shaped flint and polished stone
tools A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
. Towards the end of its existence copper artifacts began to be found, made from the high-grade copper found in the Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria. There is evidence that the Boian culture acquired the technology for copper
metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
; as a result, this culture bridged the change from the Neolithic to the
Copper Age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and  ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
. Unlike later cultures that followed, there have not been many artifacts found in Boian culture sites of sculptures or figurines. However, the oldest bone figurine in Romania was found at the
Cernica Cernica is a commune in the southeast part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, with a population of 9,425 as of 2002. It is composed of five villages: Bălăceanca, Căldăraru, Cernica, Poșta and Tânganu. The commune lent its name to the Cern ...
site, dating back to Phase I.


See also

* Prehistoric Romania *
Prehistory of Southeastern Europe The prehistory of Southeastern Europe, defined roughly as the territory of the wider Southeast Europe (including the territories of the modern countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Monte ...
*
Neolithic Europe The European Neolithic is the period when Neolithic (New Stone Age) technology was present in Europe, roughly between 7000 BCE (the approximate time of the first farming societies in Greece) and c.2000–1700 BCE (the beginning of the Bronze Age ...


Notes


References


External links


Robert W Ehrich's home page


A French-Romanian archaeological collaboration.

A useful online series of historical maps that provide details of the transformations of the cultures living in S.E. Europe during the prehistoric times. {{Prehistoric technology Archaeological cultures of Southeastern Europe Neolithic cultures of Europe Chalcolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Bulgaria Archaeological cultures in Romania 5th millennium BC 4th millennium BC