 | |
| Geographical range | Bulgaria |
|---|---|
| Period | Bronze Age Europe |
| Dates | c. 3300 – 2700 BC |
| Preceded by | Suvorovo culture,Karanovo culture,Gumelniţa culture,Varna culture,Cernavodă culture |
| Followed by | Myceneans,Trojans,Thracians |
| Bronze Age |
|---|
| ↑Chalcolithic |
East Asia(c. 3100–300 BC) |
Eurasia and Siberia(c. 2700–700 BC) |
Europe(c. 3200–900 BC) Aegean (Cycladic,Minoan,Mycenaean),Caucasus,Catacomb culture,Srubnaya culture,Bell Beaker culture,Apennine culture,Terramare culture,Únětice culture,Tumulus culture,Urnfield culture,Proto-Villanovan culture,Hallstatt culture,Canegrate culture,Golasecca culture,Argaric culture,Atlantic Bronze Age,Bronze Age Britain,Nordic Bronze Age |
| ↓Iron Age |
TheEzero culture, 3300—2700 BC, was aBronze Agearchaeological culture occupying most of present-dayBulgaria. It takes its name from theTell-settlement ofEzero.
Ezero follows thecopper age cultures of the area (Karanovo VI culture,Gumelniţa culture, Kodzadjemen culture, andVarna culture), after a settlement hiatus in Northern Bulgaria. It bears some relationship to the earlierCernavodă III culture to the north. Some settlements were fortified.
The Ezero culture is interpreted as part of a larger Balkan-Danubian early Bronze Age complex, a horizon reaching fromTroy Id-IIc into Central Europe, encompassing theBaden of the Carpathian Basin and theCoţofeni culture ofRomania. According toHermann Parzinger, there are also typological connections toPoliochne IIa-b andSitagroi IV.
Agriculture is in evidence, along with domestic livestock. There is evidence of grape cultivation.[citation needed] Metallurgy was practiced.[citation needed]
Within the context of theKurgan hypothesis, it would represent a fusion of native "Old European culture" and intrusive "Kurgan culture" elements. It could also represent an Anatolian-influenced culture, either coming from Anatolia (inRenfrew's hypothesis), or heading to Asia Minor.
Genetic studies have shown that the Ezero culture had a malehaplogroup R1b. Among the female haplogroups were J2a1, T, U5a1, T2d2, W.[1]
Genetically the Ezero culture was of local Neolithic origin mainly, also had a contribution fromWSH, but this contribution was of varying degrees in the Ezero samples.[2]
