Bulgaria’s road agency gives 5M leva for archaeological studies in 2020
Bulgaria’s Road Infrastructure Agency has allocated close to five million leva (about 2.5 million euro) for archaeological studies at major road projects in 2020, the agency said.
Along a 67-kilometre stretch of the Hemus Motorway, 15 sites will be examined, for the protection and study of the cultural and historical heritage, the statement said.
These include settlements from prehistoric times, the Roman era and the Middle Ages, as well as burial mounds.
There are eight archaeological sites along the Vidin – Dimovo – Bela – Ruzhintsi – Montana road. According to initial data, some of them are settlements from the second to the first millennium BCE. There are also sites dating from the Roman era and the Ottoman period.
A site dating of late antiquity along a road from Kalotina is to be examined, the agency said.
The archaeological finds that were discovered along the route of Struma Motorway near the village of Pokrovnik have been moved for further conservation, the statement said.
An expert council issued an instruction for the relocation of the Roman family tomb and early Christian church, and to preserve on site the parts of the Roman villa and bath that are off the motorway route. The actual relocation, which began in April 2019, was completed in September. The project, including supervision, relocation and field conservation of the archaeological items, as well as the building of a retaining wall to separate them from the motorway route, had a budget of more than 1.3 million leva.
To make it possible for the public to view the items, an archaeological park with walkways, a car parking area, as well as shelters for the archaeogical finds, have been built. The next stage, which falls outside the ambit of the Road Infrastructure Agency, will be the development of a project to display the publicise the finds, the agency said.
(Photo: Road Infrastructure Agency)
