{"version":2,"locale":"en","id":"story.stara-zagora-neolithic","hasFind":true,"slug":"stara-zagora-neolithic","url":"/en/stories/stara-zagora-neolithic/","topic":"Neolithic dwellings in Stara Zagora","title":"The home after the fire","summary":"Ovens, hand mills and pots in a home preserved at its site. How archaeologists read the traces of farming life, and where interpretation begins.","cover":{"title":"The home after the fire","subtitle":"Neolithic Dwellings, Stara Zagora","hook":"What can a house floor tell us?","summary":"Ovens, hand mills and pots in a home preserved at its site. How archaeologists read the traces of farming life, and where interpretation begins.","takeaway":"The house remains connect food grinding and storage to life at this site; kinship and the cause of the fire remain questions."},"sortYear":-5900,"firstActivity":5,"epoch":{"id":"epoch.neolithic","styleId":"neolithic","sortOrder":9,"title":"Neolithic","dateLabel":"7th–6th millennia BC · approximate","eraShort":"Neolithic","slug":"neolithic","fill":"#C2AA84","ink":"#221616","raised":"#CBB796","dark":"#73674B"},"epochId":"epoch.neolithic","placeShort":"Stara Zagora","date":"early 6th mill. BCE","image":{"alpha":true,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-cutout-391.5ff8f41e.avif","w":391}],"dominant":"#807265","h":349,"w":391,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-cutout-391.5ff8f41e.webp","w":391}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-cutout-391.5ff8f41e.webp","id":"asset.szneo.vessel-cutout","alt":"A pottery vessel in a museum, isolated from the photograph with a visible part of its display support.","objectCaption":"Museum vessel","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"contain","credit":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Cut-out detail; background removed.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Cut-out detail; background removed.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NeolithicVessel_B%26W_1.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0"},"scenes":[{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.s1-after-the-fire","number":1,"kind":"narrative","title":"What stayed on the floor","body":"A house burnt about eight thousand years ago. Ovens, stone hand mills and scattered pots survived it. What can objects the fire did not destroy tell us about the people who used them?\n\nIn Stara Zagora, the remains are preserved where they were discovered. A museum was built above them. The 1984 submission dates the dwellings to the sixth millennium BCE, while the museum page places them at its beginning. Nikolov places the appearance of two-storey houses in the region after 5800 BCE. The exact date of this fire remains unverified.\n\nThe objects do not necessarily lie where they were used. The tourism portal links their good preservation to the fire; according to the museum, some objects fell from the upper storey.","images":[{"alpha":false,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-480.f0e6eb66.avif","w":480},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.avif","w":960},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-1600.f0e6eb66.avif","w":1600}],"dominant":"#828d81","h":1200,"w":1600,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.webp","w":960}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.webp","id":"asset.szneo.dwelling","alt":"Museum facade, steps and entrance seen from outside.","objectCaption":"Museum facade, steps and entrance seen from outside.","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"cover","credit":"Svilen Enev (Svik) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Svilen Enev (Svik), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Processed image.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Svilen Enev (Svik), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Processed image.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neolith-dwellings-Stara-Zagora.jpg","licenseUrl":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"}],"hotspots":[],"places":[],"map":null,"activity":null,"audio":{"durationSeconds":45.909166666666664,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.s1-after-the-fire","duration":46.037,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/s1-after-the-fire.672458b8.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.tourism"},{"id":"src.szneo.unesco1984"},{"id":"src.szneo.nikolov2021"}]},{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.s2-two-sites","number":2,"kind":"map","title":"The house and a nearby reference point","body":"The map has two places: the Neolithic Dwellings Museum in western Stara Zagora and the Karanovo settlement mound to the east. Both points are approximate. They mark sites, not the boundaries of prehistoric states.\n\nThe Stara Zagora house brings us close to farming life in Thrace. Ovens, hand mills and grain stores connect the home to cultivation outside it.\n\nTo compare periods, archaeologists use the sequence of layers at Karanovo. Gurova identifies it as a framework for the traditional chronology of the Neolithic. This helps arrange evidence from different places. It does not tell the history of a single ruler or people.","images":[],"hotspots":[],"places":[{"note":"The Neolithic Dwellings Museum in Stara Zagora preserves the remains of a burnt prehistoric house and everyday objects.","precision":"approximate","id":"place.szneo.museum","name":"Neolithic Dwellings Museum, Stara Zagora","latitude":42.4245653,"longitude":25.6106758,"accuracy":"approximate","radiusMeters":100,"sourceIds":["src.szneo.osm","src.szneo.wikidata","src.szneo.museum"],"short":"Stara Zagora","guideUrl":null,"slug":"szneo.museum","url":"/en/map/#szneo.museum"},{"note":"Karanovo settlement mound preserves successive layers of occupation that help establish the sequence of prehistoric life.","precision":"approximate","id":"place.szneo.karanovo","name":"Karanovo settlement 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Neolithic Dwellings Museum in Stara Zagora preserves the remains of a burnt prehistoric house and everyday objects.","precision":"approximate","id":"place.szneo.museum","name":"Neolithic Dwellings Museum, Stara Zagora","latitude":42.4245653,"longitude":25.6106758,"accuracy":"approximate","radiusMeters":100,"sourceIds":["src.szneo.osm","src.szneo.wikidata","src.szneo.museum"],"short":"Stara Zagora","guideUrl":null,"slug":"szneo.museum","url":"/en/map/#szneo.museum","number":1,"x":51.38345,"y":57.99403,"inside":true,"viewX":47.68651148387097,"viewY":51.493974022580645},{"note":"Karanovo settlement mound preserves successive layers of occupation that help establish the sequence of prehistoric life.","precision":"approximate","id":"place.szneo.karanovo","name":"Karanovo settlement mound","latitude":42.5135091,"longitude":25.90950165,"accuracy":"approximate","radiusMeters":150,"sourceIds":["src.szneo.osm","src.szneo.gurova2025"],"short":"Karanovo","guideUrl":null,"slug":"szneo.karanovo","url":"/en/map/#szneo.karanovo","number":2,"x":55.11877,"y":55.66322,"inside":true,"viewX":56.68651148387097,"viewY":57.493974022580645}],"extent":[0,0,1,1],"orientation":[{"name":"Sofia","kind":"town","x":22.774,"y":50.826,"viewX":12.247708903225803,"viewY":42.30502201612902},{"name":"Plovdiv","kind":"town","x":40.566,"y":65.549,"viewX":34.28683148387097,"viewY":61.178958145161275},{"name":"Varna","kind":"town","x":80.184,"y":37.187,"viewX":83.36203148387096,"viewY":24.82070395161288},{"name":"Burgas","kind":"town","x":74.532,"y":55.892,"viewX":76.36084438709676,"viewY":48.79930717741935},{"name":"Ruse","kind":"town","x":55.821,"y":20.617,"viewX":53.18334761290322,"viewY":3.579032983870948},{"name":"Veliko 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It has a narrow opening, a rounded body and light and dark geometric bands. The photographer describes it as a grain vessel. We do not know whether this particular object came from the burnt house: the exhibition also contains finds from other regional sites.\n\nFor the dwelling itself, the museum describes large ceramic storage vessels. Hand mills for grinding grain stood near the ovens. The tourism portal also lists charred wheat, barley, vetch and lentils.\n\nThese are traces of food and work. Yet decoration in a photograph cannot tell us what the pot once contained.","images":[{"alpha":false,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-480.cdb80a32.avif","w":480},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-500.cdb80a32.avif","w":500}],"dominant":"#56463c","h":375,"w":500,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-500.cdb80a32.webp","w":500}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-500.cdb80a32.webp","id":"asset.szneo.vessel","alt":"Rounded ceramic vessel with a narrow opening and light and dark geometric bands. It is not established whether it was found in the burnt house.","objectCaption":"Museum vessel","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"contain","credit":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Processed image.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Processed image.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NeolithicVessel_B%26W_1.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0"}],"hotspots":[{"id":"h-vessel-rim","x":0.5,"y":0.1,"title":"Opening","body":"The opening is visible at the top. This is an observation from the photograph.","sourceIds":["src.szneo.commons"],"certainty":"source_reported"},{"id":"h-vessel-bands","x":0.67,"y":0.43,"title":"Geometric decoration","body":"Light and dark bands cross the rounded body. The photograph does not establish the pigment or contents.","sourceIds":["src.szneo.commons"],"certainty":"source_reported"}],"places":[],"map":null,"activity":null,"audio":{"durationSeconds":38.6065,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.s3-vessel","duration":38.699,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/s3-vessel.3f30b072.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.tourism"},{"id":"src.szneo.commons"}]},{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.s4-reading-the-house","number":4,"kind":"narrative","title":"Two dwellings or two storeys","body":"You will encounter two descriptions of these remains. The Tentative List submission of 1984 describes two adjacent dwellings. The current museum page presents one two-storey building: two rooms below and one above. Nikolov also includes the Stara Zagora site among Early Neolithic two-storey houses.\n\nAccording to the museum, the framework consisted of timber posts and interwoven rods coated with clay and straw. During the fire, an oven, hand-mill fragments and other equipment fell from above onto the lower floor.\n\nThe tourism portal gives discovery in 1968, while the museum gives rescue research in 1969. These brief accounts do not establish whether these were different stages.","images":[{"alpha":false,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-hall-375.dbc024de.avif","w":375}],"dominant":"#5a4a41","h":500,"w":375,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-hall-375.dbc024de.webp","w":375}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-hall-375.dbc024de.webp","id":"asset.szneo.hall","alt":"Two ceramic vessels on illuminated plinths with wall cases. The photograph does not show the preserved floor.","objectCaption":"Two ceramic vessels on illuminated plinths with wall cases. The photograph does not show the preserved floor.","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"contain","credit":"Rokambur · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","attribution":"Photo: Rokambur, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Processed image.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Rokambur, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Processed image.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exhibition_MainHall.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0"}],"hotspots":[],"places":[],"map":null,"activity":null,"audio":{"durationSeconds":43.33175,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.s4-reading-the-house","duration":43.435,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/s4-reading-the-house.68302b76.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.tourism"},{"id":"src.szneo.unesco1984"},{"id":"src.szneo.nikolov2021"}]},{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.a1-floor","number":5,"kind":"activity","title":"Activity: the floor after the fire","body":"","images":[],"hotspots":[],"places":[],"map":null,"activity":{"id":"q.szneo.floor","kind":"single_choice","prompt":"Why do objects on the lower floor not necessarily mark their original positions?","sourceIds":["src.szneo.museum"],"items":[{"id":"opt-fall","label":"Some equipment fell from the upper storey."},{"id":"opt-staged","label":"The objects were brought in for a modern display.","whyWrong":"The source describes archaeological remains, not scenery."},{"id":"opt-empty","label":"The house had no objects before the fire.","whyWrong":"Ovens, hand mills and vessels are explicitly listed."}],"explanation":"The museum describes a fallen oven, hand-mill fragments and other equipment. Preserved in situ means at the discovery site, not an undisturbed everyday arrangement.","correctItemId":"opt-fall","sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"}]},"audio":{"durationSeconds":5.0885,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.a1-floor","duration":5.205,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/a1-floor.5c8f8b40.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"}]},{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.s5-karanovo-evidence","number":6,"kind":"artifact","title":"Another excavation, another question","body":"This photograph is from Karanovo. The photographer describes a fireplace and a preserved vessel; we are not looking at the Stara Zagora dwelling floor. The precise phase of the visible remains has not been verified. We therefore do not transfer a house date onto a different photograph.\n\nWider views of the Karanovo mound show layers and a vertical marker naming periods. The layers help place finds in sequence. In Gurova’s summary, Karanovo I precedes Karanovo II.\n\nSuch comparisons help place the home in a wider context. But resemblance between two pots alone cannot prove that they belonged to one family or were made in the same year.","images":[{"alpha":false,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-oven-480.4c5ce392.avif","w":480},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-oven-960.4c5ce392.avif","w":960},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-oven-1600.4c5ce392.avif","w":1600}],"dominant":"#827a66","h":1728,"w":2304,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-oven-960.4c5ce392.webp","w":960}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-oven-960.4c5ce392.webp","id":"asset.szneo.karanovo-oven","alt":"Ceramic vessel in front of a curved clay feature in the Karanovo excavation.","objectCaption":"Ceramic vessel in front of a curved clay feature in the Karanovo excavation.","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"cover","credit":"Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","attribution":"Photo: Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Processed image.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Processed image.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karanovo-jar-2.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0"},{"alpha":false,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-scale-480.ba87547b.avif","w":480},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-scale-960.ba87547b.avif","w":960},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-scale-1600.ba87547b.avif","w":1600}],"dominant":"#728060","h":1728,"w":2304,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-scale-960.ba87547b.webp","w":960}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-karanovo-scale-960.ba87547b.webp","id":"asset.szneo.karanovo-scale","alt":"Excavated earth section and a tall white marker naming cultural periods.","objectCaption":"Excavated earth section and a tall white marker naming cultural periods.","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"cover","credit":"Vassia Atanassova - 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Spiritia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","attribution":"Photo: Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Processed image.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Processed image.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karanovo-jar-1.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0"}],"hotspots":[{"id":"h-karanovo-pot","x":0.54,"y":0.56,"title":"Vessel in the excavation","body":"The vessel stands before clay remains. This is Karanovo, not the floor of the Stara Zagora house.","sourceIds":["src.szneo.commons"],"certainty":"source_reported"},{"id":"h-karanovo-feature","x":0.38,"y":0.45,"title":"Fireplace according to the photographer","body":"The curved feature left of the pot belongs to the group described by the photographer as a fireplace and vessel. Its precise phase is not established.","sourceIds":["src.szneo.commons"],"certainty":"source_reported"}],"places":[],"map":null,"activity":null,"audio":{"durationSeconds":40.348,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.s5-karanovo-evidence","duration":40.448,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/s5-karanovo-evidence.8fa537ae.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.commons"},{"id":"src.szneo.gurova2025"}]},{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.a2-timeline","number":7,"kind":"activity","title":"Activity: put events in order","body":"","images":[],"hotspots":[],"places":[],"map":null,"activity":{"id":"q.szneo.timeline","kind":"sequence","prompt":"Order these from earliest to latest.","sourceIds":["src.szneo.unesco1984","src.szneo.museum","src.szneo.tourism"],"items":[{"id":"ev-house","label":"Life in the Neolithic house"},{"id":"ev-discovery","label":"Discovery and rescue excavation"},{"id":"ev-tentative","label":"Submission to the Tentative List"}],"explanation":"Regardless of the difference between 1968 and 1969, both are later than the Neolithic and earlier than the 1984 submission.","correctOrderIds":["ev-house","ev-discovery","ev-tentative"],"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.unesco1984"},{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.tourism"}]},"audio":{"durationSeconds":3.1032083333333333,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.a2-timeline","duration":3.2,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/a2-timeline.5517fe13.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.unesco1984"},{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.tourism"}]},{"id":"stara-zagora-neolithic.s6-what-we-can-know","number":8,"kind":"narrative","title":"Traces and people","body":"This house tells us how food was ground and stored, but not its occupants’ names. The museum speaks of three families. Nikolov suggests different generations of an extended family in comparable two-storey homes. These are interpretations of a household, not a list of its members.\n\nNikolov proposes deliberate burning for some Neolithic houses. That does not establish that this fire was intentional. Its cause remains unverified in the material consulted.\n\nIn 1984, the dwellings were submitted to the World Heritage Tentative List. This is not inscription on the World Heritage List itself. The remains preserved on site provide evidence of food grinding and storage, but leave questions about kinship and the cause of the fire open.","images":[{"alpha":false,"avif":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-480.f0e6eb66.avif","w":480},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.avif","w":960},{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-1600.f0e6eb66.avif","w":1600}],"dominant":"#828d81","h":1200,"w":1600,"webp":[{"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.webp","w":960}],"src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.webp","id":"asset.szneo.dwelling","alt":"Museum facade, steps and entrance seen from outside.","objectCaption":"Museum facade, steps and entrance seen from outside.","caption":"","kind":"photo","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"},"fit":"cover","credit":"Svilen Enev (Svik) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Svilen Enev (Svik), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. 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These are different kinds of evidence.","sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.commons"}],"columns":["Item","Description"]},"audio":{"durationSeconds":3.672083333333333,"source":"synthetic_tts","voice":"en_US-ljspeech-high","provider":"Piper","assetId":"audio.en.stara-zagora-neolithic.stara-zagora-neolithic.a3-matching","duration":3.797,"src":"/audio/en/stara-zagora-neolithic/a3-matching.356fdfb1.m4a"},"textRevised":false,"sources":[{"id":"src.szneo.museum"},{"id":"src.szneo.commons"}]}],"minutes":5,"sources":[{"year":null,"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stara_Zagora_Neolithic_Dwellings","institutionOrAuthor":"Contributors to Wikimedia Commons","id":"src.szneo.commons","title":"Neolithic dwellings in Stara Zagora: photographs","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Photograph licences and authors; photographic identification of the Stara Zagora hall and vessel, Karanovo vessel and photographer-described fireplace. Provenance of the displayed vessel from the burnt house is not established."},"authors":["Wikimedia Commons contributors"],"container":""},{"year":2025,"url":"https://naim.bg/Documents/2026/03/16/ABSTRACT_Dissertation_M.GUROVA.pdf","institutionOrAuthor":"Maria Ranguelova Gurova","id":"src.szneo.gurova2025","title":"Balkan flint and Neolithic chipped-stone assemblages from Bulgaria: a multifaceted diachronic overview. Author’s summary of a dissertation for Doctor of Science","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Karanovo sequence as chronological framework; I: 6000–5750 cal BC; II: 5750–5500 cal BC in cited studies, not new measurements."},"container":"National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences","authors":["Maria Ranguelova Gurova"],"pages":"4–5","isPdf":true},{"year":null,"url":"https://www.rimstz.eu/en/neolithic-dwellings-museum","institutionOrAuthor":"Регионален исторически музей – Стара Загора","id":"src.szneo.museum","title":"Neolithic Dwellings Museum","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Location, Early Neolithic dating, rescue excavation in 1969, two-storey interpretation, ovens, hand mills, vessels and fallen upper-floor inventory; does not establish the cause of the fire."},"authors":["Regional History Museum – Stara Zagora"],"container":""},{"year":2021,"url":"https://doi.org/10.53250/stprae15.1-7","institutionOrAuthor":"Vassil Nikolov","id":"src.szneo.nikolov2021","title":"Life and death of a Neolithic house","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Domestic production, food storage, regional context, extended-family hypothesis and deliberate burning of some Neolithic houses. Does not demonstrate deliberate burning at Stara Zagora."},"container":"Studia Praehistorica","authors":["Vassil Nikolov"],"volume":"15","pages":"1–7","doi":"10.53250/stprae15.1-7"},{"year":null,"url":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/248706508","institutionOrAuthor":"OpenStreetMap contributors","id":"src.szneo.osm","title":"Neolithic Dwellings Museum node 9422850039; Karanovo settlement mound way 248706508","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Modern coordinates and place names only, no ancient boundaries."},"container":"OpenStreetMap database","authors":["OpenStreetMap contributors"],"license":"ODbL 1.0; https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright"},{"year":null,"url":"https://visitbulgaria.com/neolithic-dwellings-museum-stara-zagora/","institutionOrAuthor":"Министерство на туризма на Република България","id":"src.szneo.tourism","title":"Neolithic Dwellings Museum, Stara Zagora","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Alternative description of two one-room dwellings; discovery in 1968; charred cereals and pulses; exhibition includes other sites. The museum describes a different layout and rescue research in 1969; whether the years denote different stages is not established."},"container":"Official tourism portal of Bulgaria","authors":["Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Bulgaria"],"fieldLanguages":{"institutionOrAuthor":"bg"}},{"year":1984,"url":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/44/","institutionOrAuthor":"Commission Nationale de la R.P. de Bulgarie pour l’Unesco","id":"src.szneo.unesco1984","title":"Two neolithic dwellings with their interior and household furnishings and utensils completely preserved","accessedOn":"2026-10-28","accessed":"2026-10-28","supports":{"en":"Two adjacent dwellings in the 1984 submission; sixth millennium BCE; finds conserved in their discovered positions; museum over them. Tentative List status."},"container":"UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Tentative Lists","authors":["Commission Nationale de la R.P. de Bulgarie pour l’Unesco"]}],"credits":[{"id":"asset.szneo.vessel-cutout","src":"/media/asset-szneo-vessel-cutout-391.5ff8f41e.webp","alt":"A pottery vessel in a museum, isolated from the photograph with a visible part of its display support.","w":391,"h":349,"caption":"","credit":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Cut-out detail; background removed.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Cut-out detail; background removed.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NeolithicVessel_B%26W_1.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"}},{"id":"asset.szneo.dwelling","src":"/media/asset-szneo-dwelling-960.f0e6eb66.webp","alt":"Museum facade, steps and entrance seen from outside.","w":1600,"h":1200,"caption":"","credit":"Svilen Enev (Svik) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Svilen Enev (Svik), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. 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It is not established whether it was found in the burnt house.","w":500,"h":375,"caption":"","credit":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","attribution":"Photo: Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Processed image.","attributionParts":[{"text":"Photo: ","lang":"en"},{"text":"Rossitza Ohridska-Olson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Processed image.","lang":"en"}],"sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NeolithicVessel_B%26W_1.jpg","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0","creditLabels":{"title":"Images","source":"Open source","full":"Full attribution"}},{"id":"asset.szneo.hall","src":"/media/asset-szneo-hall-375.dbc024de.webp","alt":"Two ceramic vessels on illuminated plinths with wall cases. 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