The Dissertation by the Assistant. Prof. Dr. Eva Tonkova, “Pottery with West Slope Decoration from Present-day Bulgaria” was published

The present study is dedicated to a specific ceramic category from the Hellenistic Period, referred to in the international specialized literature as West Slope Pottery. It was widely distributed throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. It became one of the criteria for evaluating the scale and the extent of the “Hellenization” of vast cultural spaces and ethnic communities, from the western reaches of Ancient Greece to the Levant and the Middle East. Due to the efforts of generations of scholars, today it is relatively well defined and dated and is used as a secure chronological marker for cultural layers, contexts, and structures. It also allows tracing the complex contacts and interactions between various regions within the Eastern Mediterranean.

The content of this book focuses on the pottery with West Slope decoration discovered within the territory of present-day Bulgaria and dated in the last quarter of 4th – the late 1st c. BC – a collection of artifacts from diverse archaeological contexts (settlements, burials, sanctuaries), but also from different cultural and geographic regions, such as the Greek cities in the Pontic region or the interior of Ancient Thrace.

The book includes a foreword and three main parts: I. West Slope Pottery from Bulgaria. Decoration, Ornamental Motifs; II. West Slope Pottery from Bulgaria, Formal and Typological Study; III. Contexts, Provenance, and Distribution of the Ceramic Artefacts with West Slope Decoration from Bulgaria. It also includes a conclusion, a list of references, an English summary, and figures.

Editor-in-chief: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hristo Popov. Scientific editor: Prof. Dr. Anelia Bozkova. Reviewers: Prof. Dr. Totko Stoyanov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Krasimir Nikov, Prof. Dr. Sc. Kostadin Rabadjiev. Bulgarian language proofreading: Radina Popova. English translation and proofreading: Assoc.Prof. Dr. Margarit Damyanov. Graphic design and prepress: Galya Gerassimova.

Eva Tonkova. Pottery with West Slope Decoration from present-day Bulgaria (Dissertationes 22). ISSN: 2603-3097 (print)/ΙSSN:2603-3100 (online); ISBN: 978-619-245-577-4 (print); ISBN 978-619-254-053-1 (pdf)

The book can be purchased at the National Archaeological Museum's ticket office (Sofia, Atanas Burov Square 1).