
"Anchors and Poles" Collection
The first monuments related to the ancient shipping on the Western Black Sea coast entered the collection of the National History Museum in 1978, and in 1987 the first underwater expeditions of the museum began in the water area of the city of Sozopol. They are associated with the discovery of numerous completely preserved anchors and stocks. Undoubtedly, the most important role in completing the "Anchors and Rods" collection is played by Prof. Dr. Bozhidar Dimitrov.
Thanks to systematic studies, the National History Museum has a collection of ancient anchors, stocks and their details. She is the world's richest non-seaside museum collection and is constantly replenished (at the moment their number is 167). The exhibits are mainly made of stone and lead, with a few iron specimens. The most ancient of them fall within the chronological limits of III - I millennium BC. A large part of originate from the water area of the city of Sozopol (ancient Apollonia Pontica), respectively from the water area of the island of "St. Kirik and Iulita", on the island of "St. Ivan", between the island of "St. Ivan" and Cape Skamni, Cape Agalina, Chaika Bay.
Stone anchors had one, two or three holes (one of them was used for tying, in the others wooden horns with pointed ends were placed). This group is evidence of ancient shipping along the Thracian coast of the Black Sea. The exhibits also confirm some of the earliest written records of shipping in antiquity - the so-called Thalassocracy or Sea Dominion (XI century BC). According to the ancient author Diodorus Siculus (XNUMXst century BC), the Thracians ruled the seas for nearly a century - long before the Egyptians, Phoenicians and other sea peoples. Stone anchors of great interest are incised with inscriptions and/or symbols. There are several monuments in the collection of the National History Museum that have such details, the most impressive being a stone anchor with the inscription "Jesus Christ the Victor". Among the other exhibits of stone can be noted: weights with a groove in the middle and those with a round shape.
The staves (crossbars), most often arc-shaped, were attached to the upper part of the anchor spindle (barrel). For this purpose, on one side of them there is a transversely cut groove in which the wooden trunk of the anchor lay and was attached. Made initially of stone and later of lead, due to their weight they lay on the bottom and contributed to one of the horns of the anchors getting stuck in the ground. In the autumn of 2012, the National History Museum received a stone stick from the water area of the city of Sozopol, which, in addition to being the largest in our collection with its dimensions (length - 2,10 m, width - 0,36 m) is and one of the largest antique stocks. Large specimens from the collection, mostly lead, reach a weight of over 300 kg. They belonged to ships capable of carrying over 1000 amphorae of wine.
Anchors and stakes made of wood, stone or lead continued to be used until the middle of the XNUMXth century, despite the discovery of iron anchors around the XNUMXth century BC.
In 2013, Prof. Dr. Ivan Hristov, deputy director of the National History Museum, published a catalog under the title "Ancient stone anchors, stone and lead rods from the collection of the National History Museum", which included and described a large part of the anchors and stocks stored in the museum.
In the last decade, the National History Museum has been conducting a series of underwater expeditions, mainly concentrated in the geographical area between the city of Burgas and the city of Sozopol. Among them, the studies in Chengene Skele Bay, Kraymoria quarter, Burgas city, should be noted; Vromos bay, town of Chernomorets; the waters of the island of "St. Kirik" and the island of "St. Thomas".
At the present moment, a team of the National History Museum, under the scientific leadership of Prof. Dr. Ivan Hristov, continues to conduct regular underwater archeology in the water area of Cape Christ to Sozopol.