Chronological Modelling of the Chalcolithic Settlement Layers at Tell Yunatsite, Southern Bulgaria

Abstract

This article publishes a new series of radiocarbon dates from Tell Yunatsite, Southern Bulgaria. Context-based excavations undertaken over a large surface area, as well as a small test trench, provided a long stratigraphic sequence (11 ‘building levels’) covering a large part of the Chalcolithic period in Thrace (5th millennium BCE). Bayesian statistics and Gaussian Monte Carlo Wiggle Matching were employed to achieve a fine chronology for the multilayered tell. Implications and problems on the application of the calibration curve for the Late and Final Chalcolithic in Bulgaria are also discussed.

Keywords

• radiocarbon dating
• chronology
• stratigraphy
• Chalcolithic
• Gaussian Monte Carlo Wiggle Matching
• Bayesian statistic