The Black Sea Flood: An Interdisciplinary Investigation
This issue on the Black Sea Flood is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and colleague BOGDAN BRUKNER (1931-2006).
Bogdan Brukner is well-known for his archaeological work in Vojvodina, in the Iron Gate region of the Danube. He was an active member of the Novi Sad Branch of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, a member of the scientific staff of the Institute of History of Vojvodina, and a member of the Vojvodina Academy of Sciences and Arts in Serbia and Montenegro. He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Archaeomythology.
Prof. Brukner took part in “The First International Symposium on the Interdisciplinary Significance of the Black Sea Flood,” held at Liguria Study Center, Bogliasco, Italy, June 3-7, 2002 (co-sponsored by the Bogliasco Foundation and the Institute of Archaeomythology). The paper he presented at that symposium, “Possible Influences of the Black Sea Flood on the Formation of the Vinča Culture,” which he revised according to new dating, is included in this collection of articles.
This second issue of the Journal of Archaeomythology explores the subject of the Black Sea flood through a series of lenses: geology, archaeology, cultural history, linguistics, folklore and mythology. Changes in environmental conditions in the Pontic and circum-Pontic areas provide the physical context for discussions about the development, cultural elaboration and demise of human societies in the region. Mythic tales of a Great Flood, transmitted through oral and written traditions, have endured in the human imagination. Several versions of this significant motif are discussed in this issue.