Bronze Age gold torques from Bulgaria

The paper presents 12 gold torques from Bulgaria dated to the last centuries of the 3 rd – first half of the 2 nd millennium BC. Two main groups – with flattened and rolled back ends (Group 1) considered to be chronologically later, and with rolled back and wrapped over the bar ends (Group 2) considered to be earlier, are distinguished. Based on parallels with similar torques from Central‐ and South‐eastern Europe, Anatolia and the Near East as well as with other precious metals finds from the Eastern Balkans some questions related to the existing and the nature of the contacts between the latter and the Aegean during that Early – Middle Bronze Age periods are discussed

Alloy · Bronze · Gold alloys · Metallurgy · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Materials Science · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts · Geology