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Excavation

  • Heraclea Sintica
  • Rupite
  • Heraclea Sintica
  • Bulgaria
  • Blagoevgrad
  • Petrich
  • Rupite

Tools

Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com, Ivo Cholakov) Site 3 was located between Site 1 (Roman fortification wall) and Site 2 (Roman craft quarter). An area of 0.1 ha was explored. Early Hellenistic material was found over the leveled bedrock and under the lowest floor level. Four construction periods, ending with fires, were documented above. The earliest fire dated after 27 BC and was probably related to a military attack, judging from the spearheads, the arrowheads and the lead slingshots discovered in that context. The second fire dated after AD 295 and the latest fire dated after AD 341. The longitudinal axis of the rooms was oriented east – west. Paths with stairs and drains were located along the steep axis of the slope oriented north – south. The streets cut out into the bedrock and leveled with rubble were oriented east – west. Twelve Early Christian graves, dated after AD 341 and dug out into the debris, were explored in Sondage No. 2. The graves were constructed of cut stones (probably taken away from the debris), bricks and roof-tiles with or without a bonding medium of clay. The graves contained from one to three deceased individuals. No grave goods were found. Skeletal remains from at least 18 individuals were documented: a newborn baby, a baby up to 6 months old, three children from 3 to 6 years old, five children from 8 to 14 years old, an adolescent, four adults over 18 – 20 years old and an adult 50 – 60 years old. The finds from the excavations included bronze, silver and lead coins and Thracian imitations minted from Philip of Macedon until Valens, pottery, loom weights, terracotta lamps, lead weights, bone hair pins, beads, finger-rings, querns, arrowheads, spearheads and lead slingshots. Bones from ox, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, donkeys, dogs, deer, boars, rabbits, chickens and fishes were identified. According to the paleobotanical analysis, oak and poplar were present.

  • Lyudmil Vagalinski - Archaeological Institute with Museum 
  • Ivo Cholakov - Archaeological Institute with Museum 

Director

Team

Research Body

  • Archaeological Institute with Museum

Funding Body

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