Ovcharovo Tell — Targovishte Ritual House Tell
Ovcharovo · Ovcarovo Tell · Ovcharovo-Gorata Tell
Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic (5700–4300 BCE)·Karanovo II–VI → Kodžadermen–Gumelniţa·🇧🇬 Targovishte Province, Ovcharovo village, Ludogorie plateau, Bulgaria
About
About Ovcharovo Tell — Targovishte Ritual House Tell
Ovcharovo is a 1.3 ha Early Neolithic Chalcolithic tell excavated by Henrietta Todorova (1971–). Ovcharovo Cultural horizon Plovdiv phase? Actually Karanovo II–IV (5700–4800 BCE) + Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa upper; famous for Ovcharovo-Gorata ritual burial house with 13 inhumations under plaster floor and Cernica cult platform. 8 m tell with Ovcharovo-Plovdiv phase white-painted bichrome and burnt house horizons.
Why it mattersClassic Balkan ritual-house architecture predating Varna gold manipulation by millennia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why collective interment in single living house?
Theories
- 01Todorova-Renfrew: household ancestor cult before Gumelniţa wealth ranking
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5700 BCE (Karanovo II)
- Period
- Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic (5700–4300 BCE)
- Culture
- Karanovo II–VI → Kodžadermen–Gumelniţa
- Builders
- North Bulgarian Plain farmers
- Purpose
- Ritual settlement culminating in collective house burial
- Abandoned
- c.4300 BCE (Chalcolithic collapse)
- Rediscovered
- 1971 Todorova Ludogorie salvage
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1971–1980
Todorova exposures of ritual house
c.5200 BCE
Ritual house with 13 burials sealed
On the ground
Structures & features
43.2000° N · 26.6300° E · 250 m · 3 mapped features
Ovcharovo Ritual House
shrinePlaster floor house with 13 skeletons sealing group burial
43.2006° N · 26.6305° EOvcharovo White-Painted Bichrome Row
habitationKaranovo II–III bichrome painted house block
43.1993° N · 26.6308° EOvcharovo Gumelniţa Upper Kiln
workshopTopmost Gumelniţa dome kiln with graphite ware
43.2010° N · 26.6294° E