Chipped-stone assemblage of Hotnitsa-Vodopada (Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age transition in Northern Bulgaria) and the problem of earliest "steppe invasion" in Balkans

In this paper an analysis of the flint assemblage from Hotnitsa-Vodopada is presented. Comparing its typological structure with other sites in Bulgaria and S.E. Europe (Kodzadermen- Gumelnitsa - Karanovo VI and Cucuteni-Tripolie culture complexes), examining some technical traits for obtaining the so-called superblades, some stylistic features of the arrow-heads as well as the raw material procurement patterns, it provides a sufficient base for the following conclusion. It established that Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age flint assemblages are deeply rooted into the autochthonous eneolithic tradition. There is no discontinuity in the evolution of this tradition which is more stable in Bulgaria than, for example, in Muntenia where it is developed further apart. On this base, an emphasis is put on the internal evolution of the Late Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age communities, contrary to the steppe people invasionist model of explanation of this rather complex culture change.