Abstract
<jats:p>The paper examines a bronze sword unearthed during construction works at the village of Drama, Yambol Region, Southeast Bulgaria. It was found in a disturbed grave among other burials, indicating the existence of a flat necropolis with inhumations. The rapier has a medium-size tapering blade with a high midrib of rhomboid section decorated with four incised lines. Above the midrib a rivet hole is preserved, intended for attaching a handle made from some organic material. Morphologically the weapon can be attributed to Karo’s Type A swords. Chronology of the rapier has been analysed against the background of better dated finds from the inner parts of the Balkans, most of which could be placed after 1500 BC. The lack of archaeometric data prevents sword’s identification as local product or import. On a formal level the weapon cannot be directly compared to the Aegean counterparts which implies its local origin. Regardless of that problem, the rapier appeared in the Eastern Balkans under the influence of clear Aegean prototypes. This observation reveals the existence of direct or indirect contacts with the Minoan/Mycenaean centres. The presence of these contacts is attested by the discovery of true imports or artefacts influenced by Aegean prototypes from the end of the Middle and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. They reveal the functioning of exchange networks within the context of which the relations in the field of warfare can be considered. Among the representative complexes known thus far in the inner parts of South-eastern Thrace, special attention is deserved by the barrow grave near Ovchartsi, Stara Zagora Region, dated to the last quarter of the 16th century BC, in which gold decorations were found along with an imported Aegean wheel-made vessel, probably of Cycladic origin. Other indicative findings are the later oxhide ingots made from Cypriot copper, discovered in the valley of Middle Tundzha River and adjacent regions, which indicate the existence of long-distance trade networks with the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. In the perspective of the intercultural contacts the article also discusses the interpretative models explaining the appearance of Aegean-type weapons in the interior of the Eastern Balkans around the mid-2nd Millennium BC. The author points out that the adoption of a given model requires the accumulation of information about the social structure of the communities that use these weapons. The few available studies argue for the existence of a rather egalitarian social organization, in the context of which the development of warfare, respectively the use of the concerned long and slender thrusting swords should be examined.</jats:p>