Top Archeologist: Treasure Hunting Is Unavoidable in Bulgaria

Prominent Bulgarian archeologist, Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov, presented the latest finds from the ancient Thracian city of Perperikon in southern Bulgaria. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Prominent archeologist, Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov, says archeologists and treasure hunters in Bulgaria will always exist together, doing parallel work.

Ovcharov spoke during a press conference Tuesday where he presented the latest finds from the ancient Thracian city of Perperikon in southern Bulgaria.

The archeologist’s comments came in the aftermath of a statement of the Prosecutor from the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of Cassations, Nikolay Solarov, who told Darik radio famous Bulgarian archeologists are known to help treasure hunters.

“Sure, it is very likely such people do exist. We are human as everyone else; it would be just like saying that no policeman can be bribed. We are doomed; to eradicate treasure hunting in a country with so many historic sites is impossible,” Ovcharov said.

The latest Perperikon finds presented Tuesday include a human idol from the 5th century BC, a bronze axe and a Thracian war knife. The archeologist explained that during the first day of the excavations they also found a medical instrument from Roman times, which has been used to remove from skin a worm-parasite and then clean the wound.

Other unique discoveries include a Roman lamp from the 3rd century with the picture of a scarcely clad female dancer waiving a scarf above her head, a number of antique coins, a silver coin with Tsar Ivan Alexander and his son Mihail, and a medieval silver tiara. The finds are very important because they are not very typical for this area and are proof for Bulgarian presence here in 1343, according to Ovcharov.

The archeologist informed that this summer the digs are subsidized with BGN 118 000 which will allow for 3-month work and a team of over 100. In addition to the connection between the palace and the Perperikon Acropolis, the archeologists will study for the first time the northeastern sector of the Acropolis with the full study of the latter being the final goal.

Ovcharov declared the excavations and the research show Perperikon is the largest ancient city in the Rhodope Mountains and one of the largest on the Balkans during the Antiquity and the Middle Age, much larger than the Bulgarian historical coastal towns of Sozopol and Nesebar.

 

 

 

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