Archaeology: Rare and precious ring found at mediaeval fortress site in Bulgaria

A rare and precious ring has been discovered during archaeological excavation by the National History Museum in the citadel of the mediaeval fortress Kokaliansku Urvich, the National Archaeological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Science said on July 11.

The find was made in grave Νο 9, dug into the floor of a mediaeval burial church, directly into the rock.

Preliminary observations have led to the theory that the ring was the property of an aristocrat who lived in the second half of the 14th century.

The eagle depicted is a symbol of the royal power at Veliko Turnovo during the Middle Ages.

This suggests that the ring may have belonged to one to the family of the Bulgarian king Ivan Alexander.

In the course of the funeral, the body of the deceased was laid into a plastered wooden coffin.

So far, 12 graves have been discovered, four of which were well marked. Two of the graves were robbed in the 16th c., judging by the fragments of a silver adornment in the heap above it, the institute said.

The researchers believe that the ring was on the hand of the departed and that the rosette on it symbolizes continuity and ancestral memory.

(Photo: Todor Dimitrov of the National History Museum)