Aşağı Pınar Kırklareli Thracian Tell
Asagi Pinar Tell · Kırklareli Thracian Mound
Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic (6200–3800 BCE)·Starčevo → Karanovo I → Karanovo–Gumelnița·🇹🇷 Kırklareli Province, Turkish Thrace, Ergene Basin, Turkey
About
About Aşağı Pınar Kırklareli Thracian Tell
Aşağı Pınar Kırklareli Thracian Tell is the flagship Turkish Thrace tell on the Ergene floodplain south of Kırklareli — an 8-m Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic tell (6200–3800 BCE) linking Karanovo I (Starčevo) to Gumelnița KGK VI. Özdoğan–Parzinger trenches expose Early Neolithic white-on-red Starčevo houses base, a developed Karanovo III–IV tell with graphite-painted Gumelnița houses, and a Late Chalcolithic burnt horizon — the Turkish Thrace counterpart to Bulgarian Karanovo, anchoring the trans-Balkan Neolithic spread from Anatolia into the Balkans.
Why it mattersTurkish Thrace flagship tell — 8-m Starčevo→KGK VI sequence bridging Anatolia to Balkans via Ergene
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Aşağı Pınar genesis — Anatolian colonists or local Mesolithic adoption?
- 02Gumelnița burn — ritual or warfare at Thracian tell?
Theories
- 01Özdoğan Thrace Neolithisation via Aşağı Pınar Kırklareli corridor
- 02Thracian tell vs. flat site contemporaneity
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.6200 BCE Early Neolithic (Kırklareli phase); tell 5400 BCE
- Period
- Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic (6200–3800 BCE)
- Culture
- Starčevo → Karanovo I → Karanovo–Gumelnița
- Builders
- Starčevo pioneers, Thracian Neolithic farmers, Chalcolithic tell builders
- Purpose
- Aşağı Pınar Thracian tell — flagship Turkish Thrace tell (8 m sequence) linking Balkan Karanovo to Aegean Thrace, Ergene floodplain tell south of Kırklareli
- Abandoned
- c.3800 BCE KGK VI decline
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1993–present Özdoğan & Parzinger (Berlin–Istanbul Thrace project)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1993
Özdoğan opens Aşağı Pınar, Early Neolithic white-on-red found
2000
Karanovo III–IV graphite tell zone published
2012
Thracian tell–Balkan spread synthesis monograph
On the ground
Structures & features
41.7300° N · 27.2200° E · 210 m · 3 mapped features
Early Neolithic White-on-Red Base (Starčevo)
settlementEarly Neolithic Starčevo white-on-red houses at tell base 6200 BCE
41.7308° N · 27.2206° EKaranovo III–IV Graphite Tell Horizon
settlementGumelnița graphite-painted houses 5000–4000 BCE central tell
41.7293° N · 27.2191° ELate Chalcolithic Burnt Horizon
destruction layerBurnt daub horizon sealing Gumelnița late phase 3800 BCE
41.7311° N · 27.2207° E