Archaeology: Thracian pit sanctuary found in Bulgaria’s Bourgas
A Thracian pit sanctuary estimated to date from the fifth to the fourth century BCE has been found by archaeologists in Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea city of Bourgas, the municipality said on June 10.
The find was made in the Izgrev complex in the city after archaeological excavations at the site began on May 26 2020. The archaeological work precedes the planned construction of a residential building at the site in Bourgas’s Nikola Petkov Boulevard.
Bulgarian news agency BTA said that the find had been made after its correspondent in Bourgas had noticed apparently ancient objects at the site and had alerted the Interior Ministry regional directorate in the city.
Currently, 14 ritual pits are being studied and at least 10 more have been found.
Items found include fragments of ceramic vessels, including bowls and amphorae. There are human and animal bones in the pits, as well as coal. No finds of metal objects have been made at this stage.
Miroslav Klasnakov of the Regional Historical Museum in Bourgas said that close to 80 per cent of the pottery found at the site was handmade and was certainly the work of local inhabitants, Thracian tribal communities.
The dating of the materials found indicates the fifth to the fourth century BCE. “Probably the fragments of the amphorae will expand the chronology to the third century BCE,” Klasnakov said.
Archaeological excavations at the Izgrev complex are being carried out for the first time in 100 years since information was published about objects dating from antiquity that had been found there.
(Photos: Bourgas municipality)
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