Veselin Danov
2025
LOCATION
The site is located in two neighbouring localities, Kaleto and Gradishte. It lies 1.5 km west of the modern village Gradeshnitsa (Vratsa region). In ancient times, the two localities formed a single entity, before being separated by a defensive rampart and fortification wall in Late Antiquity.
RESEARCH HISTORY
The settlement was excavated by Bogdan Nikolov, a long-time archaeologist at the Vratsa Regional History Museum (RHM). It was registered at the beginning of the 1960s. Those were in the form of sondages. Systematic excavations were carried out in the period between 1964 and 1971. They were carried out on an area of 5,430 sq. m in the western and southern part of Gradishteto locality, and on a limited plot in the southeastern part of Kaleto. Surveys were resumed in 1977. They were concentrated in a section west of Gradishteto. An unsuccessful attempt was made to locate the necropolis of the Early Chalcolithic settlement through sondage probes. As a result of this survey, an earlier stage in the site’s existence than that presented at Gradishteto and Kaleto was recorded.
A geomagnetic survey was carried out at Gradishteto and Lukanovo Darvo locality in 2014. It confirmed some of the conclusions made by B. Nikolov’s observations on the site’s planigraphy. The approximate boundary and layout of the Early Chalcolithic settlement was established, the fortification was localized.
STRATIGRAPHIC DATA
According to B. Nikolov, the average sedimentation of the Early Chalcolithic strata measures 1.20 m. For Kaleto, the thickness the strata are reported to be up to 0.80 m. The researcher distinguishes three building horizons: A, B, C (counted from bottom to top). All three “perished” as a result of fire. The evidence of fire is largely corroborated by the condition of the pottery, most of which is secondary fired. According to the researcher, the first building level was constructed on a layer of sterile clay. It was levelled after the burning and the terrain was smoothed additionally with clay. The fate of the second (B) and third (C) building horizons was similar. The uppermost residential level has been nearly destroyed as a result of erosion and tillage in the area.
DWELLINGS
The dwellings are single storey with one or two rooms. They have a rectangular plan, oriented in the north-south direction (with entrance from the south). Their dimensions range between 6 and 7 and 9 m in length and 4,5 and 5 m in width. A total of 63 dwellings have been partially or fully cleared. In the three phases of its existence, the settlement had a roughly uniform development plan. The buildings are organised in rows (east-west). They are spaced 3 to 6 m apart. To the west the settlement is surrounded by a ditch.
CHRONOLOGY, PERIODIZATION, CULTURAL ATTRIBUTION
The settlement at Gradeshnitsa is an eponymic site for the Early Chalcolithic culture existing on the territory of present-day Northwestern Bulgaria in the first half of the 5th millennium BC. After the publication of the finds made there, the new name of the culture proposed by B. Nikolov began to circulate in academic circles. The culture was called Gradeshnitsa and this name has gained popularity. He divided the Early Chalcolithic in Western Bulgaria into two phases: the first, represented by the settlement at Brenitsa, and the second, represented at Gradeshnitsa. B. Nikolov was the first to synchronize the Early Eneolithic materials from Northwestern Bulgaria with those from the Blagoevgrad region and assumed that they belong to one cultural group.
Summarizing the data on the Early Eneolithic in Western Bulgaria, H. Todorova distinguishes three phases of the Gradeshnitsa culture. The first phase is represented by the settlements at Brenitsa, Devetashka Cave, Ihtiman and Buhovo, the second – by Gradeshnitsa, Okol Glava, the Krakra fort by Pernik and Gorni Pasarel, and the third – again by Gradeshnitsa and, Pernik, as well as Sadovets.
After a comprehensive review of the Early Neolithic materials from Western Bulgaria and Northern Greece, S. Chohadjiev came to the conclusion that this formed a common ethno-cultural complex he named Gradeshnitsa-Slatino-Dikili Tash. He divided the development of the culture into three sub-phases. Phase One is located in the sites at Slatino 2, Brenitsa, Kondofrei, Dren, Meshtitsa, Bulgarchevo, Struma river region. Phase Two is found in Borovan, Galepsos, Samoranovo, Slatino Horizon 3 and 4, Sitagri, and Phase Three – in Gradeshnitsa, Slatino Horizon 5 and 6 and Dikili Tash II.
Recent research has proven that a phase chronologically later than the one recorded in horizons five and six at Slatino is represented at Gradeshnitsa.
A rich collection of objects made of clay, stone and bone comes from the settlement at Gradeshnitsa. The number of pottery vessels, lids and stands exceeds 200, and that of anthropomorphic figurines approaches 440. Among the vessels, the most impressive are the those with modelled anthropomorphic attachments (hands and/or breasts). They are ornamented with rich inlaid decoration sharing features with those of the anthropomorphic figurines. The collection of anthropomorphic figurines is one of the largest. There are several main types of figurines – standing, sitting, half-sitting or cylindrical. Almost all are covered with inlaid decoration marking the main elements of their clothing. A large quantity of vessel bottoms with signs on them, representing some of the earliest graphic symbols, has been found at Gradeshnitsa.
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