Kozarnika cave is a renowned prehistoric site in the Balkans, which contributes significantly to our understanding of the human past due to its rich assemblages associated with the Lower to Upper ...Palaeolithic. Various dating methods have been employed to unravel the timing of human occupations in Kozarnika. Radiocarbon dating was used to unfold the time frame for the Kozarnikian lithic tradition uncovered in the Upper Palaeolithic sequence of the cave, and palaeomagnetic dating assigned the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal to the layer beneath the Lower Palaeolithic assemblages.
In this study, we employed luminescence-dating methods, including a body of different signals to date sediment layers from the top to the bottom of the sequence covering the period of ca 30 to 700 ka. Our investigations revealed that the Kozarnikian tradition in layers 5a-c falls between 30 and 35 ka. Following that, we suggest that the Middle Palaeolithic period initiated between 250 and 309 ka and lasted until 40–53 ka. More importantly, we have updated the age of the Neanderthal radius discovered in the Mousterian assemblages to 201 ± 17 ka.
Our dating resulted in a period of ca 300–700 ka for the Lower Palaeolithic assemblages in the cave. Although this age range fits perfectly with the palaeomagnetic boundary <780 ka established for Kozarnika, the possibility of reaching the threshold of luminescence dating cannot be ruled out. Thus, at this stage, this age range may represent the minimum age for the Lower Palaeolithic.
•Multiple luminescence dating approaches to date a Lower to Upper Palaeolithic site.•Dating beyond the conventional limit of luminescence dating methods.•Complete chronology for the Palaeolithic site of Kozarnika in Bulgaria.•Violet stimulated luminescence (VSL) and infrared radiofluorescence (IR-RF).•Temporal constraining the prehistoric Human settlement in the Balkans.
Covid-19, State-Power and Society in Europe: Focus on Western Balkans by Neven Andjelic focuses on the changes in political and social freedoms in the Western Balkans before and during the pandemic. ...In relation to this aim, it draws on the reports of 20 research organizations, including Freedom House, Friedrich Neumann Stiftung and the World Bank, and develops categories such as "open society", "fairly open society", "opening society", "suppressed society" and "closed society" and includes the Balkans, the European Union, the countries in the region and Türkiye in the analysis. Although this study is important because it has been carried out from a perspective dealing with the course of freedoms based on a comparison of pre-pandemic and pandemic process, it should be indicated that lack of an inquiry into the reliability and validity of the studies used and the lack of sufficient employment of other relevant researches are among the prominent shortcomings of this study.
Jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Psylloidea) are small phloemfeeding insects. With about 400 species distributed in Europe, the European fauna is considered well-studied. However, ...information on psyllids occurring in the eastern Balkan Peninsula is insufficient. So far, less than a hundred psyllid species are known for Bulgaria, most of which have been reported only from a few regions. Knowledge on the psyllid fauna of the Sarnena Sredna Gora Mountains in central Bulgaria is sparse and relatively old, with only a handful of recorded species. The aim of the present study is to summarise the information on Psylloidea from this region, including recently collected material kept in the zoological collection of Sofia University. A total of 17 species were found of which 7 species had been previously published and 10 species from 3 families are new to the region: Aphalara freji Burckhardt & Lauterer, 1997 (Aphalaridae), Diaphorina lycii Loginova, 1978, Arytaina maculata (Löw, 1886), Cacopsylla bidens (Šulc, 1907), Cacopsylla melanoneura (Foerster, 1848), Cacopsylla pulchra (Zetterstedt, 1838), Livilla horvathi (Scott, 1879), Psylla foersteri Flor, 1861 (all Psyllidae), Bactericera modesta (Foerster, 1848) and Trioza rotundata Flor, 1861 (Triozidae).
Despite more the 40 years of active debate, consensus interpretations of the late Palaeozoic-early Mesozoic tectonic-related geology of the northern periphery of Gondwana, including central and ...western Turkey, the south Aegean, the southern Balkans and Sicily remain elusive. Recent plate tectonic reconstructions differ drastically for this region. Utilising published information this paper summarises, interprets and discusses a large body of multidisciplinary geological evidence related to the transition from Palaeotethys to Neotethys, mainly during late Carboniferous to early Jurassic time. Key geological information is outlined, discussed, and then used to test alternative plate tectonic models: none are entirely convincing.
During the Carboniferous, the developing Varsican orogen of central Europe passed eastwards into a marine gulf, then into Palaeotethys. Plate convergence and continental collision constructed the Varsican orogen in central Europe by end-early Carboniferous (c. 320 Ma), whereas subduction continued farther east. Variscan continental collision in central and western Europe was followed by late Carboniferous-Permian orogenic collapse, extension/transtension and widespread right-lateral strike-slip displacements that are also likely to have affected the Balkan-Aegean and Anatolian regions.
In the South Aegean, the Balkans (e.g. Albania, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia) and Sicily, Permian-early Triassic basin development, including volcanism, relates to crustal extension/transtension adjacent to the northern margin of Gondwana. Palaeogeography played an important role in Permian-Triassic clastic sediment deposition (e.g. detrital zircons), in addition to plate tectonic setting.
In central and western Turkey, much evidence links the Afyon zone (Anatolides) to adjacent north Gondwana, rather than supporting an origin as an exotic Eurasian terrane that collided with the Tauride continent during latest Triassic time. Evidence from the Eurasian periphery (Bulgaria; N Turkey; Armenia; Georgia; Iran) favours overall northward subduction of Palaeotethys. However, the evidence of upper Carboniferous accretionary complexes in central and western Turkey (Konya Complex, Teke Dere Unit) and the eastern Aegean (Karaburun melange in Turkey; Chios melange in Greece), coupled with upper Carboniferous calc-alkaline granitic magmatism in the Afyon zone, suggests a short-lived southward subduction event along the N margin of Gondwana (i.e. bivergent subduction).
During the Triassic, northward subduction persisted along the Eurasian margin, whereas the opposing North Gondwana margin rifted, associated with late Triassic opening of the both the S Neotethys (=Mesogea) and the N Neotethys (=İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan ocean). Interpretations involving a Triassic relict Palaeotethys, followed by continent-continent collision in the south Aegean (e.g. Crete; Peloponnese) are problematic. Instead, pulsed continental extension appears to have culminated in rifting of ‘Cimmeria' from N Africa (Apulia) during the Triassic and opening of both the S Neotethys to the south and the Pindos ocean to the north (in present co-ordinates).
Regional plate tectonic reconstructions remain disparate because the Africa-Eurasia plate framework is poorly constrained prior to the early Jurassic, evidence is concealed beneath the sea or land, or was lost during later subduction/collision. Large-plate tectonics have limited applicability in relatively narrow oceanic areas involving microcontinents, rifts, small ocean basins and strike-slip displacements. Additional field-based studies of key exposures are a priority.
Hungarian-Serbian relations have never been as cordial as they are now, and this is an opinion shared by the leadership of both countries in spite of the modern history of the two nations. In our ...paper, we seek explanation for this change and argue that it is a consequence of multiple factors: First, the geopolitical changes in the Western Balkans, which have resulted in a great power competition that has opened up space for small states, like Hungary, to assert their interests. Secondly, the changes in domestic politics in Hungary that have brought national interests into the foreground, resulting, among other outcomes, in more active foreign policy with regard to the Western Balkans region. In this paper, we attempt to give a different, critical view of these relations, discussing migration, economic cooperation and political maneuvers in particular.
The article discusses the reflection of the features of the own — alien dichotomy in the Balkan model of the world in the xenologic pejorative vocabulary of the Balkan sprachbund languages: Albanian, ...Aromanian, Bulgarian, Modern Greek, Macedonian, Romanian and Serbo-Croatian. The author gives a brief review of the historical, cultural and geopolitical specifics of the Balkan-Carpathian region, which influenced the local peoples’ ideas about strangers; some traditional mythological beliefs of the Balkanians related to the conceptual field of otherness are also presented. Based on the analysis of the internal history of the word, an attempt is made to define the main models for constructing derogatory names for strangers in order to compare the data for various Balkan languages and, to the extent possible, build an integral image of the concept of alien in the Balkan conceptual worldview. According to the results of the study, the xenopejorative vocabulary of languages of the Balkan sprachbund shows significant similarities both in terms of form and content. Pejoratives with undifferentiated evaluativity absolutely predominate, which could account for the richness of the Balkan derivational morphology and a large number of lexical borrowings in each of the languages; pejoratives with an indication of appearance, features of language and peculiarities of behavior are also widely represented, however, the first are referentially limited, while the second and the third are universal, from which it is concluded that the prototypical Balkan alien is someone who speaks differently and behaves differently. At the same time, the most common target for pejorative vocabulary in the Balkan languages among all strangers is Roma people, which is bound both to a number of stereotyped ideas about the physical and behavioral distinctive features of this ethnic group, and to the historical isolation caused by the nomadic way of life and the closedness of the Roma community from outsiders.
Ptychoptera
castor
Keresztes & Kappert,
sp. nov.
and
P.
pollux
Keresztes & Török,
sp. nov.
both belong to the subgenus
Ptychoptera
(
Paraptychoptera
)
Tonnoir (1919)
and are described from boggy ...headwaters in the south Balkan area. These new species are closely related to the range-restricted
P.
helena
Peus, 1958, which is known only from Oiti village, Mount Oeta, Phthioitis region, Greece and, together with
P.
lacustris
, forms a morphologically well-defined unit in the subgenus
Paraptychoptera
. Based on cladistic analyses of 53 different morphological characters using the male antenna, wing, and genital structures, a general revision of the “
lacustris
” group is proposed with a dichotomous key of
Paraptychoptera
species.
Schendyla antici sp. nov., a dwarf geophilomorph from the Mt. Medvednik (Western Serbia, Balkan Peninsula), is described and illustrated based on the specimens extracted from the soil samples. A ...detailed comparison with all species within the genus is provided. The new species has the lowest number of leg-bearing segments within the genus Schendyla Bergse & Meinert, 1866, and one of the lowest in the order Geophilomorpha in general.
The text presents the results of the research on the Byzantine provincial organization in the parts of the Balkans that the Empire directly controlled during the Komnenian era. The non-uniform ...historical and political evolution of some regions of the Balkan Peninsula called for different methods to be employed by the Constantinopolitan court when organizing the local provincial administration, leading to a differentiation among the Balkan themes. Another factor that contributed to the differentiation process was that not all provinces were of equal importance to the Empire, which is why strategically important districts and their local elites received certain privileges, mostly of a fiscal and financial nature. The role and significance of some themes grew over time, while others gradually lost their strategic relevance. That was reflected in Constantinople’s changing approach to organizing the provincial administration in the Balkans. This contribution focuses on when, how, and why some Balkan districts received privileges or had them rescinded in the Komnenian era.
. Annual harvest hunting data and counting statistics from 2009 to 2019 were used as methods for assessing changes in four Artiodactyla species population trends. The study area covers approximately ...100,000 ha territory from Sredna Gora Mts. The results showed trend for a stable increase in the Red Deer population, because of provided conservation measures. The Fallow Deer could be considered an occasional species. An increase in Roe Deer number was observed, with steeper rising between 2014 and 2018, followed by a strong decline in 2019. The Wild Boar number was changing significantly over the years, reflected in peaks and falls of number shot individuals for the study period. Tracking and comparing the hunting bag statistics data for ungulates in the study area for a longer period would give a clearer picture on their population trends and would help in selecting conservation measures.
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