Current Issue Published
Journal of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
- Year: 2026
- Number: 1
- Language: Български, English
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Neolithic Pit Sanctuaries as a Structural Element of Community Life
Author(s): Vassil NikolovAbstract: Neolithic ritual pits with deposits are negative features, usually circular or irregularly oval in shape and relatively small, deliberately excavated into the ground but invariably backfilled. The very purpose of this backfilling has at times been, and in some cases still is, a matter of scholarly debate. I argue that, at the very least, owing to the nature of Late Prehistoric modes of thought, the role of Neolithic pits is invariably linked to the sacred; that is, they should be understood as ritual structures. The creation of pit ritual fields (pit sanctuaries) begins in the second half of the Early Neolithic, but during the Late Neolithic (that is, after the middle of the sixth millennium BC), both their number and their size increase significantly. This development is both a result of and a driving force behind the multidimensional growth of social and economic complexity. The functioning of pit sanctuaries undoubtedly altered how people conceptualised the need for a more tightly integrated community, both in the shared space they inhabited and in the activities carried out there, including highly ritualised actions performed far from the domestic sphere. The emergence of pit fields both anticipates and accompanies the acceleration of social and economic transformations that characterise the final phases of the Late Neolithic and the transition to the Chalcolithic. These processes unfold concurrently and are intrinsically interconnected. The Neolithic ritual field appears to have been the locus of a (possibly annual) tripartite festival, prepared and enacted by the ‘living’, during which the ‘deceased’ ancestors and the immortal, great regenerative and life-renewing force (the ‘Mother Goddess’) were invoked (or invited) to petition for a favourable forthcoming reproductive cycle within the community. Judging by the material remains recovered from pit sanctuaries, Late Neolithic ritual practices were considerably richer and more elaborate than those attested during the second half of the Early Neolithic. However, in Late Neolithic pit sanctuaries, at least at present, an important element characteristic of the preceding period is absent: no human burials have been identified. The absence of graves within ritual pits is likely to prove one of the most significant changes in ritual practice during the Late Neolithic. Whereas Early Neolithic society was focused on the house and its immediate surroundings, and the community appears to have been fundamentally enclosed within the settlement, Late Neolithic society turned outward, shifting its focus both physically – including by moving diverse material elements of domestic life beyond the settlement – and symbolically, through the expansion of the territory encompassed by innovations in the religious-mythological system. The cosmos of early farmers and pastoralists gradually expanded, incorporating new topoi and undergoing structural reorganisation. In this sense, Late Neolithic pit sanctuaries became the religious centres of emerging proto-political entities.
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Introduction to Literary Emergentism
Author(s): Dimitar KalevAbstract: This text seeks to present the theoretical and practical dimensions of literary emergentism as a novel paradigm within literary theory and as an original method for the interpretation of literary texts. It outlines the principal philosophical concepts underlying the notion of emergence and its opposition to reductionism, and examines various manifestations of emergentist thought in cultural studies and anthropology. A central theoretical emphasis is placed on definitions related to so-called contemplative logic and its fundamental distinctions from conventional reflective (representational) logic. In a separate section, the category of literary emergentism is defined as a distinctive form of epistemology that traces the genesis of the text and articulates the logic of its becoming through a rigorously hierarchical and methodologically consistent framework. The article further discusses points of convergence and contrast with structuralism, hermeneutics, semiotics, personalism, autofiction, and other interpretative theories. The practical application of emergentist literary analysis is presented through a seven-step methodological sequence. For demonstrative purposes, emergentist analytical approaches are outlined in a thesis-style format with respect to four emblematic literary works: the ballad „Hadji Dimitar“ by Hristo Botev, the poem „Two Beautiful Eyes“ by Peyo Yavorov, the novel „I, Too, Descended“ by Vladimir Zarev, and the novel „The Brothers Karamazov“ by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
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100 Years of the Angora Treaty. The Unheard Protests of the Thracian Refugees
Author(s): Stoyan RaichevskyAbstract: A hundred years have passed since the signing of the Treaty of Friendship between Bulgaria and Turkey on October 18, 1925 in Angora (Ankara). As stated in the treaty, the two countries equally desired to establish and strengthen ties of sincere friendship, convinced that once established, they would serve the prosperity and well-being of their nations. Article one of this treaty is categorical: “There will be inviolable peace and sincere and eternal friendship between the Turkish Republic and the Kingdom of Bulgaria.” The Bulgarian refugees from Eastern Thrace were forced in 1913 to leave their homelands without being able to dispose of their movable and immovable property. Due to the wars, the refugees from Eastern Thrace could not return to their homes and properties. After the signing of the Angora Treaty in 1925, they expected and repeatedly insisted that their property rights be protected, at first as the return of their properties, and later as compensation. The issue was also raised several times by the Bulgarian government. The Turkish side showed intransigence, referring only to the Angora Agreements of 1925, which did not fairly resolve the property issue of the refugees from Eastern Thrace. The Constantinople Treaty of 1913, the Adrianople Agreement of 1913 and the Law on Property in the New Lands of the Kingdom of Bulgaria of 1921 gave the Turks in Bulgaria, who had then emigrated, the opportunity to dispose of their possessions and property. However, the Bulgarian refugees from Eastern Thrace were not given the same opportunity - to return or liquidate their properties, despite the series of interstate agreements mentioned: the Constantinople Peace Treaty of 1913, the Adrianople Agreement of 1913, including the Treaty of Friendship of 1925. Their and their descendants‘ protests and demands for fair compensation for their properties in Eastern Thrace remain unheard and unsatisfied.
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Academician Ivan Buresh
Author(s): Asen Lazarov
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Donor and Benefactor for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Author(s): Lizbet Lyubenova
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Conference Discussion “Transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic in Bulgarian Lands”, November 25–27, 2025, Stara Zagora
Author(s): Desislava Takorova
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Training and Development Prospects for Doctoral Students at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Author(s): Evdokia Pasheva
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The Story of a Discovery: From “Central Immunity” to Cells That Actively Maintain Tolerance
Author(s): Soren Hayrabedyan
- Cooperation Agreements Signed
- Honorary “Marin Drinov” Medal on Ribbon for Academician Roumen Pankov
- In the Management Board of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Newly Elected Directors of Institutes
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How to Write a Novel
Author(s): Vladimir Zarev
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Nikola Vaptsarov – Apotheosis of Fearless Faith
Author(s): Ivan Granitski
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The Writer through the Eyes of the Writer. Typology of the Bulgarian Writer as a Personality and Creator According to Bogomil Raynov
Author(s): Panko Anchev
- Corresponding Member Emil Horozov
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In Memory of Academician Nikolay Ivanov Popov, DMSc
Author(s): Mariana Dimova-Gabrovska, Ivan Ivanov
Journal of BAS
ISSN 0007-3989 (print)
ISSN 2683-0302 (on line)
150 Years
"Journal of the BAS"
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