ABSTRACT
The term 'eastern Europe' covers a huge and varied area, much the largest that we shall consider in this book. We include here the southwestern part of the Soviet Union, Romania, Bulgaria and northern Greece. Strictly speaking, our account should go further east than it does: we have taken the river Don as our eastern boundary, whereas Europe extends to the Urals, and to the borders of Kazachstan, Turkey and Iran. The omission of the important Caucasian area is intentional; it would greatly extend the length of this section; it is perhaps more relevant to students of Near Eastern than European archaeology; and it has in any case been covered thoroughly in relation to neighbouring Turkey and Iran in an excellent recent account.1
