Free Republic

Archaeologists from the Haskovo Regional Museum of History discovered a third Thracian tomb with murals the likes of those in Kazanlak and Alexandrovo, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported. The tomb dates from the late 4th and early 3rd century BC.The Odrysian Kingdom was established around 460 BC by the Thracian tribe the Odrysians and lasted until the Roman conquest in 46 AD. The Odrysian Kingdom included the territories of the entire modern-day Bulgaria, Northern Greece, the European part of Turkey, and a small part of Southeastern Romania.Unfortunately, at this point, the Thracian murals in the tomb itself have been damaged;...

#1. This Ancient Thracian Aristocrat's War Helmet Depicting Trojan War / Iliad Scenes 1st - 2nd century AD, Brestovitsa, Central South Bulgaria Discovered: 2013 A very rare war helmet of a Thracian aristocrat from the 1st-2nd century AD featuring motifs from the story of the Trojan War - made world famous through the Iliad by Ancient Greek poet Homer - was discovered during emergency excavations in Southern Bulgaria in 2013. The Thracian war helmet was found in an Ancient Thracian tumulus (burial mound) known as Pamuk Mogila in Bulgaria's Brestovitsa, and was shown to the public for the first time...

It's the sort of classic jewellery favoured by modern women except these earrings were worn 2,500 years ago.An archeologist  discovered gold earrings, a ring and other funeral gifts dating back to the 5th century B.C. while excavating  a Thracian tomb near the village of Kushare, about 280km from Sofia, Bulgaria.Some of the oldest examples of gold jewellery and artifacts have been discovered in Bulgaria and it's Black Sea coast is considered the birthplace of  the world's metal production. Thracian bling: The gold earrings discovered during excavations of a tomb in Bulgaria What are Bulgaria's borders today were part of several...

Ancient Town 'Sevtopolis', Submerged on a Lake Bottom to be Reconstructed Updated on: 18.02.2008, 18:33 Published on: 18.02.2008, 14:52 Author: Kristalina Ilieva Association ‘Preserve the Bulgarian' starts action for the realizing of ‘Sevtopolis' project. At first the organizators will collect subscription list throughout the whole country, the projects author and major architect Jeko Tilev announced. Sevtopolis or the City of Tracian King Sevt III is capital of the Odyisian state in the end of IV - beginning of III century before Christ. It was found and observed in 1948 - 1954 by the construction works of Koprinka dam like and...

An ancient fortress unknown to Bulgarian and international archaeology has been discovered in the thick and almost subtropical forests along the Ropotamo River in Southeast Bulgaria, the National Museum of History in Sofia has announced. The discovery has been made by Dr. Ivan Hristov, Deputy Director of the National Museum of History, who has also been excavating several other archaeological sites along Bulgaria's Southern Black Sea coast, including the Talaskara Fortress on Cape Chervenka (Chrisosotira). The previously unknown fortress, which appears to have been inhabited by Ancient Thracians, has been found in "the jungle of the Ropotamo" River, in the...

A team of archaeologists from the Bulgarian National History Museum, with the help of a German lab, has finally managed to estimate the time of the construction of the largest underground temple on the Balkan Peninsula, the Thracian Starosel tomb to the fourth century BC. In the summer of 2009, the archaeological team, led by Dr. Ivan Hristov, took samples from a stake in the middle of the tomb where gifts to the Greek goddess of the hearth Hestia were laid... The sample underwent radio carbon dating analysis in Dr. Bernd Krommer's laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, which showed that the...

An Ancient Thracian bronze artifact in the shape of a stork's head described as "the oldest children's toy in Europe" has been identified by Bulgarian archaeologists among archaeological items found by local residents in the area of the southern town of Zlatograd in the Rhodope Mountains. The Thracian toy is made of bronze mixed with some silver, and is dated to the Late Bronze age, about 1500-1200 BC, the period of Ancient Troy and the Civilization of Mycenae. It consists of a tripod holding what appears to be a stork's head which can move and "drink water"; it weighs 30...

Archaeologists seek hints on 4000-year-old civilization in Tekirdað Wednesday, July 19, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists working on an ancient Thracian site in Tekirdað said on Monday they have unveiled part of an ancient city named Heraion Teichos, which is thought to date back to 2000 B.C. The excavation team of Mimar Sinan University's Archaeology Department has been working to unearth the ancient city, located near Tekirdað's Karaevli village, for the last six years. Head of the excavations, Associate Professor Neþe Atik, told the Doðan News Agency on Monday that they were the first team to conduct the...

Bulgarian archaeologists have continued their amazing streak at the ancient sanctuary of Perperikon, unearthing a temple five times larger than Athens' Acropolis... The Acropolis-rivalling temple dates back to the Bronze Age and is the biggest on the Balkans. The whole complex is spread over 7.5 square kilometres and covers the whole Perperikon peak. People came to pray at that spot for a period of over 2,000 years, archaeologists believe. The complex is checkered with metallurgy workshops and the team discovered many awls, and axe moulds. The discovery represents a success for the archaeologists because it is the first complex of...

Bulgarian archaeologists have found a unique gold Thracian treasure in the famous Sveshtari tomb. The team, led by one of the most prominent Bulgarian experts on Thracian archaeology, Prof. Diana Gergova, from the National Archaeology Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, BAS, made the discovery during excavations at the so-called Omurtag mount. The researchers found fragments of a wooden box, containing charred bones and ashes, along with a number of extremely well-preserved golden objects, dated from the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century B. C.. They include four spiral gold bracelets, and a number...

Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered a Thracian settlement during the first ever excavations in the town of Tsarevo on the southern Black Sea coast. The team is led by Milen Nikolov, an archaeologist from the Regional History Museum in the Black Sea city of Burgas. The settlement is very close in location to the town church "Uspenie Bogorodichno." The find proves that Tsarevo and nearby areas have a history more ancient that what was believed until now. During the excavations, the archaeologists have found remnants showing that as early as the 4th - 5th century BC Thracians have built a town...

Thracian Owner of Gold Mask Axe-Chopped The owner of the ancient gold mask – Thracian king Seutus III – has been chopped after his death, Bulgarian experts found, proving a theory for Thracians' funeral rituals. Photo by Kameliya Atanasova (Sofia News Agency) Lifestyle: 17 May 2005, Tuesday. The Thracian king Seutus III, whose gold mask was unearthed in 2004 by Bulgarian archaeologists, has been chopped with an axe after his death, an expert research showed. According to archaeologists this discovery is pure sensation because it proves the theory that ancient Thracians used to chop into pieces their rulers' bodies and...

Treasures Fit For The KingsA spate of spectacular discoveries could completely change our view of the Thracians, one of history's most mysterious peoples By JUMANA FAROUKY TCVETAN TOMCHEV / AFP GOLD RUSH: Thracian artifacts, like this piece of horse's armor, reveal Bulgaria's past Sunday, May. 29, 2005 They had been digging for 12 years, 4 months a year, 18 hours a day. Since 1992, Georgi Kitov and his team have been searching through Bulgaria's Valley of the Kings, a 100-km, heavily forested region in the center of the country. The valley is dotted with ancient burial mounds erected by the...

A unique gold treasure from Thracian times was found on Sunday near the town of Sinemorets at the Bulgarian seaside, news agencies reported. The excavations near the mouth of Veleka River continued during the day and the field is guarded by the police. Local people have dug the hill for inert materials and later archeologists discovered the gold treasure, Darik radio announced. There are lots of gold and silver vessels and cult clay tiles with the image of Mother Earth Goddess. Up to the Sunday evening an extremely valuable wreath and a set of golden earrings have been brought out...

Ancient gold treasures unearthed in Thracian tomb near Black Sea The Associated Press Published: September 4, 2006 SOFIA, Bulgaria A 2,200-year-old set of gold jewelry was unearthed from a Thracian burial mound on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, the archaeologist who led the excavations said Monday. Daniela Agre said her team in late August found dozens of tiny jewelry pieces in the tomb of a woman, most likely a Thracian priestess, near the resort of Sinemorets, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southeast of the capital, Sofia. The discovery included two earrings, crafted like miniature chariots, as well as parts of gold...

Ongoing excavations at the Heraion-Teikhos ancient city in the western province of Tekirdag have unearthed a temple at the city's acropolis. The temple, belonging to the ancient Thracian civilization, was thought to have disappeared in a fire that occurred in 2 BC. The continuing work at the temple has revealed many interesting artworks thus far, the excavation chairwoman says... The ongoing excavations in the pantheon of the ancient city of Heraion-Teikhos... started this year at the beginning of August, according to the excavation chairwoman, Professor Nese Atik from Ahi Evran University's archaeology department... She said that they were working to...

Bulgarian archeologists uncover treasure of thousands of golden ornaments Canadian Press Wednesday, August 17, 2005 SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Archeologists working a dig in central Bulgaria have unearthed some 15,000 miniature rings and other gold ornaments that date to the end of the third millennium BC - a find they say matches the famous treasure of Troy, scholars announced Wednesday. The 4,100- to 4,200-year-old golden ornaments have been gradually unearthed over the past year from an ancient tomb near the central village of Dabene, 120 kilometres east of the capital, Sofia, according to Prof. Vasil Nikolov, the consultant on the...

Bulgaria's Perperikon - Metallurgical Centre 13 Centuries BC Weekend Guide: 23 February 2007, Friday. Bulgarian archaeologists announce on Thursday they have made an incredible discovery in the Perperikon area, an ancient living region of Thracians. The archaeologists said last summer they discovered the missing link in Thracian's history. They have found evidence for the transition from the late Bronze epoch to the early Iron epoch. At the end of the Bronze epoch, as a result of cataclysms a global system is destroyed. Scientists call the system "East Mediterranean Civilization". After its end, there came the so called "dark ages" -...