Let's stop speaking "cultures"!: Alternative means to assess historical developments in the prehistoric Balkans

International audienceThe use of the term "culture" in Balkan prehistory, from the creation of the discipline until today, has followed generally the theoretical principles of the culture-historical approach, which was the dominant trend in the humanities during the second part of the 19th and much of the 20th century. This chapter discusses the examples from the area of the Balkan Chalcolithic, showing why "cultures" are inefficient and even misleading as chronological tools, and proposes some alternative means of assessing historical realities. To understand the exact meaning of the coexistence of "Karanovo V" and "Karanovo VI" vessels inside the same buildings at Dikili Tash, people should take a closer look at their technology, their provenances and their functions, and compare them with the results from the study of pottery technology, provenance and function at other sites. The overall validity of the concept is supported neither by the history of later periods, nor by ethnography, ancient or modern