Ancient Roman Town Ruins Found In Bulgaria

Novinite ^ | 5-1-2007

[blam]

Ancient Roman Town Ruins Found in Bulgaria

1 May 2007, Tuesday

Archaeologists had to dig only 30 centimeters deep to uncover the stone foundations of the houses. photo by Bulgarian National Television.

Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an early Roman town near the village of Gorsko Ablanovo, 30 kilometers south of Russe, Bulgaria's national television reported on Tuesday.

Initial artefact finds include a bronze duck figurine of a previously unfamiliar design and a silver fibula, only the fifth documented find of its kind in Bulgaria.

The stone foundations of the houses have been preserved well despite intensive agricultural activity.

"The town was founded no later than the first half of the 2nd century AD, and has been damaged already in the second half of the same century, because we found coins dating to the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius that have been badly burnt," archaeologist Sergei Torbatov with the Bulgarian national archaeology institute said.

Evidence supports the theory that the unfortified town was inhabited mostly by wealthy people and Roman army veterans, a claim supported by the large number of silver and bronze coins found, most of them dating to the Severs imperial dynasty in the 3rd century AD.

But the most intriguing find is the bronze duck, which was used as an outdoors decoration.

"We have never found this kind of figurines in Bulgaria. The next step is check whether similar finds have been reported elsewhere, or whether we have a unique item on our hands," Torbatov said.

The town apparently sprawled on 50 hectares and will take years to study.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Abandoned Ancient Chariots Found in Bulgaria

[nevergore]

blam,

I really enjoy your posts although I rarely post to them....

Keep up the great work!

Thanks!
NeverGore

[Cacique]

btt

[blam]

"I really enjoy your posts although I rarely post to them...."

Thanks, I'm glad you appreciate them.

[Cruising Speed]

a silver fibula

Say what?

[rod1]

an avian ping

[GOP_1900AD]

It’s interesting to note the the boundary between Roman and Cyrillic letter usage had ebbed and flowed through the ages. The boundary was also quite far to the east during the period 1400 - 1600. Russians really hate this fact.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
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[BJClinton]

I was scratching my head at that as well:

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=Roman+silver+fibula&btnG=Search+Images

[blam]

I'll link this one here:

Following in the steps of a Trojan hero (Aeneas)

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, that’s a good idea. I really wanted to use that as a topic, because I’ve got some other stuff that seemed a little, uh, dry on its own (Hittite-Mycenaean diplomatic correspondence). I ran out of time this pm to do that.

[chit*chat]

Don’t forget to check for pink flamingos.

[chit*chat]

Blam, thank you for these posts. I look for them everyday. And I like to send them to my brother, who works as a detective for a local police force. His job brings him in touch with all sorts of miscreants, terrible lifestyle situations, sad accidents and regular, rotten crime.

Your wonderful posts help me interject something sweet into his daily reading, to alleviate the sullied situations he must report and investigate.

[blam]

"Blam, thank you for these posts."

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoy them. It's a (learning) hobby for me.