Petrographic and geochemical analyses of flint raw materials from Bulgaria: A reliable combination for provenance studies of archaeological flint

The Bulgarian prehistoric sequence is characterized by the use of particular raw materials in distinct ‘cultural’ contexts. The Karanovo I and II stages of the Early Neolithic (part of a supra-regional technocomplex in the Balkans) are recognisable by formal toolkits made of Balkan flint. The Chalcolithic period is famous for its superblades made of high-quality Ludogorie flint, which also attain a wider Balkan distribution. Despite a solid corpus of reliable data for northern Bulgaria from our previous field surveys and laboratory analyses, there are still questions that can only be resolved by further research.