Le temps et ses noms: Construire une chronologie égéo-balkanique du 7e au 4e millénaire avant J.-C.

Le temps et ses noms: Construire une chronologie égéo-balkanique du 7^e au 4^e millénaire avant J.-C.

Zoï Tsirtsoni

The book focuses on the relative and absolute chronology of the long period—about 3,500 years—known in Greece as the “Neolithic.” The diversity of chronological divisions and terminologies, within Greece as well as in neighboring Bulgaria and western Turkey, combined with the uneven distribution and variable quality of available dates, makes it particularly difficult today to establish temporal parallels between the phenomena observed in different places. To remedy this, the author proposes a new periodization scheme—neutral, reliable, and applicable across the entire region—which can be used either independently or as a reference standard between existing systems. It is based on the stratigraphic sequences of 146 archaeological sites from the three countries, which have yielded around 2,000 dates, mainly obtained through the radiocarbon method (¹⁴C). More than half of these dates are further analyzed in detail and modeled using Bayesian methods, allowing for the validation and refinement of the new scheme. This unprecedented undertaking lays the foundations for a renewed understanding of this crucial period, which witnessed—though at different paces across regions—the emergence and diversification of agropastoral economies, pottery, architecture, cemeteries, and metallurgy. Designed for archaeologists specializing in the Aegean and Balkan prehistory, as well as for anyone interested in the measurement of time, dating methods, and the integration of chronological data into historical narratives, the new scheme—reliable and easy to use—offers a shared standard for the entire corpus, which should prove equally valuable to other disciplines (geography, natural sciences, genetics) engaged in large-scale modeling 

Publisher: École française d’Athènes

Place of publication: Athènes

Published on OpenEdition Books: September 17, 2026

Digital ISBN: 978-2-86958-725-0

DOI: 10.4000/16ssx

eries: Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome (BEFAR) | 419

Year of publication: 2025

ISBN (Print version): 978-2-86958-609-3

Number of pages: 503

Avant-propos

Abréviations et conventions

Chapitre 1. Un ouvrage sur la chronologie de l’Égée et des Balkans protohistoriques : pourquoi, comment ?

Chapitre 2. Le cadre chronologique de la protohistoire de la Grèce

Chapitre 3. Le cadre chronologique de la protohistoire de la Bulgarie

Chapitre 4. Le nouveau schéma chronologique

Chapitre 5. Validation et affinage du schéma chronologique

Validation et affinage du schéma chronologique

5.1. Le corpus des sites et les principes d’analyse

5.2. L’outil de modélisation et son application

5.3. Les îles de l’Égée

5.4. Le Péloponnèse

5.5. La Grèce centrale et Céphalonie

5.6. La Thessalie

5.7. La Macédoine occidentale, l’Épire et Corfou

5.8. La Macédoine centrale

5.9. La Macédoine orientale

5.10. La Thrace égéenne et orientale

5.11. La Bulgarie du Sud et du Sud-Ouest

5.12. La Thrace septentrionale

5.13. La Bulgarie de l’Est et du Nord‑Est

5.14. La Bulgarie du Nord‑Ouest

Chapitre 6. Conclusions – Une chronologie du monde égéo-balkanique du 7^e au 4^e millénaire av. J.‑C.

Abstract

Bibliographie

Index des sites

Table des tableaux

Table des figures

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