Another successful archaeological season for the National History Museum

In the presence of the Vice-President of the Republic of Bulgaria Mrs. Iliyana Yotova, the Deputy Minister of Culture Prof. Dr. Plamen Slavov and His Eminence Bishop Polykarp of Belogradchik, for the fifth year in a row the National History Museum officially presented to the general public the archaeological achievements of researchers from Archeology department in the museum.

The exhibition "Ancient finds. New discoveries. Archaeological Season 2022.” shows 347 archaeological finds discovered under the scientific guidance of the director of the museum Assoc. Dr. Bonni Petrunova, Prof. Dr. Ivan Hristov, Ch. assistant professor Mariela Inkova, PhD, Margarita Popova, PhD, doctoral student Violina Kiryakova, Martin Hristov, Pavlina Devlova, Iliya Kirov and Elena Endarova and their teams.

The current archaeological season has been extremely successful for the National History Museum. The discoveries made are a large amount of objects from people's everyday life, covering almost all archaeological periods from prehistory to the Middle Ages on the Bulgarian lands.

Archaeologists from the National History Museum conducted archaeological field investigations at sixteen sites. The studies were carried out with the financial support of the National Historical Museum, the Ministry of Culture, funds from the "Culture" program of the Capital Municipality and the local municipalities, and private donors. The geographical scope of the research extends from the Rhodope Mountains through Sakar to the Black Sea coast, including Vitosha, Plana Planina and the Thracian Plain. The archaeological sites are of a different nature such as: settlement and burial mounds, ancient and medieval fortresses and settlements.

And in 2022, the study of the settlement mound in the town of "Hidden Mound", Poroy village, municipality. Pomorie. Numerous ceramic vessels of different shapes and sizes, flint, stone and bone implements, parts of ornaments, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines were discovered. Among the finds, it stands out an extremely interesting string of bone beads dating to the Stone and Copper Age.

As a result of the regular archaeological excavations of the Ancient Fortress "Ravadinovo" in the period 2017-2022, evidence of a well-fortified site that existed on the territory of the Greek colony of Apollonia Pontica was discovered and documented. The most widely discovered material are the amphorae from Thasos, the Thasos circle, Chios, Mende, Miletus (dated between the first half of the XNUMXth century BC and the XNUMXrd century BC).

Another interesting highlight in this year's exhibition "Ancient finds. New discoveries. Archaeological Season 2022." are the discoveries made during the regular archaeological investigations of the Late Antique and Medieval fortress in the "Balak Dere" area, commune. Ivaylovgrad. Part of the finds are a bronze patera, a clay lamp with a round tank and a bronze coin of Emperor Probus (276-282). 3 coins from the XNUMXth century are also impressive, which confirm the thesis that the beginning of the functioning of the fortress should be referred to the beginning of the XNUMXth century.

One of the very interesting archaeological studies is related to the underwater studies of the water area of ​​Burgas and the region. Under the leadership of the deputy. the director of the museum, Prof. Ivan Hristov, were examined. This includes the sites of cape "Christos" and the town of Kavatsi south of the town of Sozopol, and the early Byzantine fortress of Chrysosotira near the town of Chernomoretsl

And this summer, the archaeological excavations of the magnificent medieval capital of the Dobrudja Despotate - Kaliakra, led by Assoc. Dr. Bonni Petrunova, director of the National History Museum, proved that the northern Black Sea coast is an irreplaceable part of the country's rich cultural heritage.

The exhibition, entitled "Ancient finds. New discoveries. Archaeological Season 2020”, with curator ch. Assistant Professor Petranka Nedelcheva, Head of the "Exhibition and International Activity" Department at the National Academy of Sciences, was opened in the Temporary Exhibition Hall on the third floor of the museum today, December 15 at 11:00 a.m. and will be available to the public until March 2023.