РАННОБРОНЗОВАТА КУЛТУРА ВАРНА II
The Varna II Early Bronze Culture

Summary/Abstract: In a previous report I have examined the complex of 14 coastal settlements that had appeared in the area of Varna Bay in the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (EBA), designated as Varna II Marine Center, as opposed to the Varna I Chalcolithic Center. It was clarified that it served exclusively as a transport unit-for the export of the first bronze and as a base for the migration of the Yam tribes coming to our Northern Black Sea coast. This report discusses the question: Was Varna region more than a port center? Was it also a representative of archeological culture during the EBA? The question was raised in the 1980s by Goranka Toncheva. Referring to the completely replaced ceramics, the absence of idol sculptures, the appearance of burial mounds and stone anthropomorphic stelae, the archeologist identified the Ezerovo early bronze culture. To these differences I now add something that missed in the attention of the researcher. The Yam tribes, being pastoral nomads, were in constant motion with their herds to provide them with pasture. Therefore, with their appearance, the entire settlement system along the Northern Black Sea coast disappeared and the absence of settlements became a distinctive feature of the EBA. Against this background, the preserved costal settlements-only in the area of Varna Bay are the most serious distinguishing mark and argument for the existence of a peculiar culture, distinguished from the Yam one. It is this early bronze culture that I believe should be designated as the Varna II Culture in order to distinguish it from the Varna I Chalcolithic Culture.

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