Archaeology: 2nd century CE drinking water collection tank found at Bulgaria’s Perperikon
Archaeologists at Bulgaria’s ancient sacred site Perperikon have found a drinking water collection tank dating from the second century CE, believed to have been in use for thousands of years.
The water collection tank is at the entrance to the southern neighbourhood part of Perperikon, from where the main road passed into the site.
The facility showed the incredible skills of the ancient builders. It has an extremely complex system of incredibly accurate grooves in the rock. It was set up 1800 years ago, and the most recent torrential rains have proven that it had worked flawlessly.
Professor Nikolai Ovcharov, head of the dig team at Perperikon, said that the drinking water collection tank had had a wonderful fountain. There are traces of a bronze spout, which Ovcharov said probably had been in the shape of a head, though it was not preserved today.
The tank and the fountain were connected in a common architectural complex with colonnades and rich decoration.
“Perperikon has a lot of things that are amazing in terms of being made thousands of years ago, but in this case I could say that this would delight every modern hydropower engineer,” Ovcharov said.
It is assumed that the facility is part of an ancient temple, but only future research will prove this.
Perperikon, in Bulgaria’s eastern Rhodopes region, about 15km from the town of Kurdjali, has been the site of various forms of religious activity from about 7000 years ago, having first been used by the Thracians. The site is a popular tourist attraction and long-term archaeological work continues to unveil new discoveries.
(Photos: BNT and BNR Kurdhzali)
