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Excavation

  • Eski Mosque
  • Stara Zagora
  •  
  • Bulgaria
  • Stara Zagora

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)

  • ESKI MOSQUE (Dimiter Yankov – dimiter_yankov@yahoo.com, Georgi Iliev) Two buildings, constructed of stones bonded with mortar, were discovered under the floor of Eski Mosque, built in 1408 – 1409, and under the foundations of the preceding Mediaeval church dated to the end of the 10th century. The buildings belonged to a sanctuary of the Roman period (2nd – 4th centuries AD). A ritual pit, containing the skeleton of a piglet, c. six months old, was explored under the northern wall of the church. A wall with an opening for a jamb of a door, built of stones and bricks bonded with mortar, was discovered in Sondage No. 2 situated to the north of the western antechamber of the mosque. The wall belonged to a building, destroyed by the end of the 6th century AD. Sondage No. 1 (2009) was carried out to the east of the Thracian ritual pit of the second phase of the Early Iron Age (8th – 6th centuries BC), which was situated under the eastern wall of the mosque and to the east of the apse of the church. A stratum of the second phase of the Early Iron Age, containing Thracian pottery and two cult terracotta figurines, was documented under the foundations of the mosque. Several water-conduits of the Ottoman period, which supplied water to the baths that existed until the middle of the 19th century and were situated to the east of the mosque, were explored in Sondage No. 1 (2005) and remains of a synchronous fountain were also discovered. Thirty-four Christian burials were discovered inside and around the Mediaeval church and their total number reached 65. Two burial pits were fired after the burial. One of the deceased in another burial was decapitated and his head was placed between his legs: a common ritual practice against becoming a vampire. A pit, containing debris from the church and fragmentary frescoes, was discovered. The finds from the excavations included seven coins, bronze bracelets and finger-rings.

  • Dimitar Yankov - Regional Museum of History – Stara Zagora 
  • Georgi Iliev - Regional Museum of History – Stara Zagora 

Director

Team

Research Body

  • Regional Museum of History – Stara Zagora

Funding Body

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