Polyanitsa Platoto
Поляница Платото · Polyanitsa · Polyanitza · Platoto tell
Late Chalcolithic (c.4500–4200 BCE); KGK VI complex (Kodžadermen–Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI)·KGK VI Chalcolithic (Balkan Late Copper Age) Ludogorie facies·🇧🇬 Targovishte Province, Plateau of Ludogorie, Bulgaria
About
About Polyanitsa Platoto
Late Copper Age tell (c.4500–4200 BCE) on Ludogorie plateau — Varna–Kodžadermen–Gumelniţa (KGK VI) cultural centre with 6 burnt horizons: excavated by Henrieta Todorova (Bulgarian Academy). Plaster house floors with graphite-painted ceramics, copper awls (Ai Bunar ore), spondylus shell, and anthropomorphic vessel. Late Chalcolithic fortified village (0.6 ha, 5 m high) with surrounding double ditch and palisade — KGK VI social elite centre. Buried metallurgy quarter under burnt daub collapse (Phase 4). Type tell for Ludogorie plateau KGK VI demise with 4200 BCE abandonment synchronising Varna collapse.
Why it mattersOnly stratified KGK VI tell on Ludogorie tracing Late Copper collapse synchronising Varna–Polyanitsa abandonment 4200 BCE.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why elite centre inland vs Varna coast — refuge after trade loss?
- 02Graphite paint source — Rhodope imported or local?
Theories
- 01Todorova KGK VI chiefdom vs Parzinger steppe intrusion Cernavodă I
- 02Chapman tell abandonment as deliberate de-commemoration
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.4500 BCE KGK VI Phase I houses; palisade 4400 BCE; Plateau fort 4300 BCE
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic (c.4500–4200 BCE); KGK VI complex (Kodžadermen–Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI)
- Culture
- KGK VI Chalcolithic (Balkan Late Copper Age) Ludogorie facies
- Builders
- KGK VI Chalcolithic (Balkan Late Copper Age) Ludogorie facies builders
- Purpose
- Ludogorie plateau fortified elite centre with graphite pottery and metallurgy on Varna hinterland
- Abandoned
- c.4200 BCE Late Chalcolithic collapse (Cernavodă horizon) synchronising Varna end
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1975–92 Henrieta Todorova (Archaeological Institute BAS) Polyanitsa Project
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2000
Initial work at Polyanitsa Platoto
2015
Stratigraphy and geophysics synthesis for Polyanitsa Platoto
On the ground
Structures & features
43.4210° N · 26.8450° E · 400 m · 3 mapped features
Tell summit Phase 4
settlementBurnt horizon with copper awl
43.4212° N · 26.8452° EDouble ditch and palisade
fortificationOuter fortified enclosure
43.4208° N · 26.8448° EMetallurgy quarter
industrialCopper working area with crucible
43.4210° N · 26.8450° E