Ezero

an ancient multilevel settlement near the village of the same name in southeastern Bulgaria. Ezero was studied between 1952 and 1958 by V. Mikov and between 1961 and 1970 by the joint Bulgarian-Soviet expedition headed by G. Georgiev and N. Ia. Merpert. The cultural levels date from the Neolithic and Aeneolithic periods and the early Bronze Age (beginning of the fifth to the end of the third millennium B.C.).

The early Bronze Age level yielded the remains of 13 successive settlements surrounded by stone walls. The walls of the rectangular dwellings (10 × 4 m) were built of piles intertwined with branches and were coated with clay; within the dwellings were hearths and stoves with arches. Flint tools included sickle blades, knives, and end scrapers. Also discovered were axes, adzes, hammers, pestles, and saddlequerns made of bone, awls and hoes made of bone and antler, adzes, chisels, knives, and needles made of copper and bronze, and stone and clay casting molds. In addition, polished pottery with geometric designs was found, including pithos-like jars for storing grain, bowls, pitchers, and straight-walled pots. The population engaged in farming (barley and wheat) and stock raising (cows, sheep, goats, and hogs).

The finds in Ezero made it possible to identify the Bronze Age archaeological culture in southeastern Bulgaria (third millennium B.C.). The culture developed under the influence of the Baden culture and was linked with the Aegean and Anatolian cultures.