Изследване на растителни останки от обект Кабиюк

AbSTRACT The use of plants in variety of rituals is common practice in the Antiquity. Numerous archaeobotanical remains from different archeological sites presented evidences that some plants were particularly introduced to the religious rituals. The goal of the present study is to identify specific plants and food that was subject of ritual practices. The paper will discuss similarities and differences between different plant remains in the archaeological contexts and will identify which plants were in use as a ritual food. The study is based on a comparative archaeobotanical analysis of several Bronze Age –Iron Age sanctuaries in the therritory of Bulgaria and gives a clear indication of certain similarities and differences between the different regions, which will be discussed as well. The current paper attempts to summarize and make a synthesis of archaeobotanical data, provided from 12 sanctuaries. On the basis of the evidence currently available, there are several main differences in regard to the cultivated plants that are established. The recorded variety of plant species used in ritual context – cereals, pulses, fruits, etc., mainly depends on the location of the sacred place and the ecological characteristics of the region. In pit sanctuaries einkorn was more frequently used in rituals, as in mountaintop and rock sanctuaries free threshing wheat is dominant along with barley and millet that also occur in the studied samples. Barley is also recorded in archaeobotanical material, collected at the site of Nessebar " Kindergarten " / site " Detska gradina " , Kabyle and Krepost. Presence of millet in some Late Iron Age sites like Koprivlen and Svilengrad, indicates that it was among the cultivated cereals in the region and was used even in ritual practices. Although most of the botanical remains found in sanctuaries are quite common, they evidence diversity in characteristics of the floristic assemblages. Analyzed material includes numerous findings of four types of wheat: einkorn, emmer, spelt wheat and free threshing wheat. Millet, naked and hulled barley, rye, oat also occur, along with some Leguminous plants presented by: pea, lentil, bitter vetch, chickpea and grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). A wide range of fruits and nuts that grow wild in the vicinity of forest habitats is also represented – such as wild grape, blueberry, raspberry, wild cherry, plums, acorn, walnut, etc. A matter of interest are the plant remains from jujube (Zizyphus vulgaris), pink rockrose (Cistus incanus), European nettle tree or the so called Mediterranean hackberry (Celtis australis), that were recorded for the first time and were probably used with purpose in ritual practices. Some of the studied archaeological structures can be interpreted as special sacred places, while other, according to the analyzed material, cannot be defined with certainty. That means plant remains in these contexts may be used as offerings, other could be part of food storage.

2018

Compliers and editors: Valeri Grigorov, Petar Dimitrov, Metodi Zlatkov, Evgeniya Komatarova-Balinova The volume is in memory of Assoc. Prof. Irina Shtereva. Her scientific activity is related to the discovery of the fortress Tuida (Sliven) and the excavations of Pernik fortress, the Palaces of Pliska and Veliki Preslav, the Great Basilica of Pliska. Irina Shtereva was one of the best experts in mediaeval pottery. The volume comprises 24 scientific articles, predominantly focused on studies of medieval archaeological monuments. Several major themes are well-embodied: towns and settlements, pottery, minor sculpture, necropoleis. Some discussive articles, as well as theoretical and interdisciplinary papers are also included in the book. Съставители и редактори: Валери Григоров, Петър Димитров, Методи Златков, Евгения Коматарова-Балинова Томът е в памет на доц. д-р Ирина Щерева. Научната ѝ дейност се свързва с откриването на крепостта Туида (Сливен), с разкопки на Пернишката крепост, на Дворцовите комплекси в Плиска и Велики Преслав и с разкопките на Голямата базилика в Плиска. Ирина Щерева е сред най-добрите познавачи на средновековната керамика. Сборникът съдържа 24 научни статии, свързани предимно с изследвания на средновековни археологически паметници. Обособяват се няколко големи теми: градове и селища, керамика, малка пластика, некрополи. В сборника са включени също така дискусионни статии, теоретични разработки и интердисциплинарни изследвания. Published: 2018-03-26

2014

Comprehensive listing and description with illustrations of every archaeological investigation which took place in 2009 in Bulgaria (in BULGARIAN). Presented by period and area.

2018

The Thessaloniki - Sofia project “A comparative study on architectural monuments in the epochs of Antiquity and Middle Ages” combines theory and practice. It has been designed for training students in architecture who have to study the subjects on “reservation on architectural heritage” or do the master’s degree in the same field. The presented text encompasses three parts – theory, methods and methodology and illustrations of practice. The project is piloting for the University of Structural Engineering and Architecture (VSU “Luben Karavelov - Sofia”). The theoretical model represents an historical discourse in which the concrete subjects are situated. The basic principles upon approaching the historical material are formulated in it. The links between the epochs their confluence the uneven processes and the causal relations between them have been considered and the material in the epoch located. The importance of the towns of Thessaloniki and Sofia has been situated at the background of the epoch. Also their strategic location on important routs connecting West and East has been discussed. The architectural monuments dating back to the times of Gallerius (and Konstantin the Grate) in Sofia are rotunda “St. George”, the palace complex, the Bulevterion, the Amphitheatre and mausoleum which in its time was outside the heart of the town limits. They have compared in urbanistic respect and us typology with the rotunda/mausoleum, the arch and palace of Gallerius in Thessaloniki. The “St. Dimitrius” basilica in Thessaloniki and “St. Sophia” in Sofia as well the rotundas of “St. George” are treated in a comparative projection. The methods thus worked out based on the common principles of the preservation of the immovable heritage and include field investigations, documentation (in text, graphics and photo documentation), semiotic analysis, typological analysis (synchronous and diachronic), methods and ways of exhibiting have been discussed as well as the signing of the restored and conserved structures, the methods and general and concrete principles of restoration of architectural monuments – graphic and 3D restorations, their positioning in the completed reproduction of the monuments on the field and its principles. The methodology used for teaching students prior to their specialized training on preservation of the cultural heritage is quite specific and is structured on the empirical experience of the leading experts in the field of preservation of the moveable and immovable cultural heritage and museology.

The present book discusses the means and possibilities of the ancient man to overcome his isolation, to travel through spaces and to control vast areas as a lord in his inhabited world. Thus the vehicle – the cart/ the chariot/ the horse, was elevated to a symbol of power, high social status and prestige: here, but also with potential to convey this rank to the Beyond. And such is the main subject of the book – to reconstruct the Thracian ideas about horses, chariots, and horsemen. This winding road goes through analysis of artifacts and ideas that built the world of the past, in order to identify the influences in Thracian society and its imagery in the conceptual exchange with the Greeks, the Persian Empire or the Scythians in the region of Pontos Euxeinos and the Aegean Sea, and in the vast Thracian area from the 1st Millennium BC. The sources for such analysis are scarce but heterogeneous in terms of manufacture and function, making it difficult to recognize and interpret the phenomena; hence the possibilities for generalization are restricted. The evidence comprises literary texts, images on coins, stone reliefs, votive offerings, tombstones, painted interiors of tombs, decorated pottery, also gold and silver tableware, jewelry, metal adornments, weapons and horse trappings; metal parts of carts, chariots and models of chariots; archaeological data from the sacred space of shrines and cemeteries. This path determines the methods applied: typology of artifacts and ideas; comparative and iconographic analysis, combined with stylistic and functional approach; geographical positioning and use of numismatic and epigraphic data – in other words, the whole breadth of knowledge that I can achieve in search of a correct interpretation of artifacts, their cultural attribution and ideological contents. Thus the structure of the book follows the traditional archaeological approach, providing a catalogue of artifacts with detailed discussion, and final synthesis of all possible interpretations, which would be my version of what happened in Thrace. In this way, any reconstructions of the past could be traced in material remains, in constantly recurring assemblages of artifacts and revealing signs of cultural behavior that can be chronologically and spatially defined. Therefore, this could be the history of Thracian imagery in its material appearance and of the artifacts in their ideological meaning as well, a probable reconstruction of the Thracian world of ideas in the polarity between tradition and fashion, and within the limits of archaeological interpretation.