Hamangia

A Late Neolithic culture of the Black Sea near the mouth of the Danube (Romania and Bulgaria) which was contemporaneous with the early periods of the Boian and Maritsa cultures. The culture was rather short-lived, c 4000-3700 BC and was succeeded by the Gumelnita culture. It is regarded by some as a branch of the Impressed Ware culture, arriving by sea from the Aegean before 4300 BC. Noteworthy are its spondylus shell bracelets and its famous terra-cotta and marble figurines.

The Hamangia culture is distributed along the dry Black Sea coast of south Rumania and north Bulgaria, dating from the late 5th millennium bc to c3700 bc. These sites represent the earliest known farming culture in this steppe area; settlements are mostly singlephase, with more emphasis on mixed farming than fishing or hunting. An important landscape feature is the large cemeteries, with up to 300 extended inhumations. Grave goods were unexceptional, but for finely made fired clay and marble figurines — one of the very few instances of figurines found in funerary contexts in southeast Europe.