ICUB invites you to the lecture „Settlements in the Varna Lakes region during the Eneolithic period – new data based on old findings”, delivered by Dr. Stanimir Parvanov from the Regional Museum of History, Varna

On Wednesday, 22 October 2025, the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (ICUB) is pleased to announce the 45th ArchaeoSciences seminar. This edition’s guest speaker is Dr. Stanimir Parvanov, from the Regional Museum of History, Varna (Bulgaria), who will present a lecture titled: „Settlements in the Varna Lakes region during the Eneolithic period – new data based on old findings”.

The seminar will take place on 22 October 2025, starting at 10:00 (EET), at the Administrative Building within the “Dimitrie Brândză” Botanical Garden (Șoseaua Cotroceni 32, Bucharest), room E104, 1^st floor.

The world-famous Varna Eneolithic Necropolis is located in the area of the Varna Lakes, among seven settlements belonging to the same community. All of them are known from construction works carried out in the early and mid-20th century, with only two of them having undergone short-term archaeological excavations. Although there is some data on the settlements, it is small in volume, often contradictory, and the confusing information has led to controversial opinions over the years. What is lacking is a more ample study covering all the settlements, whose focus falls on the context of finding materials and their relative chronology to each other, based on illustrated pottery. Any conclusions drawn about the nature of culture in the region are based primarily on the evidence from the Varna and Devnya necropolises. Very little is known about the settlement system so far.

The upcoming seminar will present the results of new research on preserved documentation from the settlements аnd information in scientific literature—history of research, problems with identification and number of settlements, location and stratigraphy. Along with establishing the chronology of habitation in the region, which was developed through in-depth comparative typological analysis of pottery, a model for the cultural and historical development of the community inhabiting the Varna Lakes during the late Eneolithic period is established.

Dr. Stanimir Parvanov is a Curator at the Department of Archaeology within the Regional Museum of History, Varna, and an Alumnus at the Department of Archaeology within the Faculty of History of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He majored in Archaeology in 2013 at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, and in 2015 he obtained his Master’s Degree on the “Eneolithic Pottery from the Settlement of Arsenal, Varna Region” program. Also, in 2014 he specialized under the Erasmus Program at the University of Zadar, Croatia. In 2024, he successfully defended his dissertation on the topic “Ceramics from the Eneolithic settlements in the Varna Lakes region” at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. His areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, prehistoric pottery, architecture, burial practices, chronology and periodization, and cultural contacts between communities. As such, he is Deputy Head of archaeological research of the Chalcolithic settlement near Suvorovo, the Skritata Mogila tell near the village of Poroy, the Varna Eneolithic Necropolis, and the Golemiya Ostrov tell near Durankulak.

These seminars are an original initiative of the ArchaeoSciences Platform (ASp) at ICUB, which aims to provide an open space for professionals in archaeological sciences worldwide to share knowledge and engage with the latest methodological and theoretical advances in the study of the past. They also offer Romanian students a valuable opportunity to discover the interdisciplinary dimensions of archaeology and archaeosciences.