site.btaArcheologists in Debnevo Find Gold Coins From Time of Emperor Justinian I

Five gold coins from the time of Justinian the Great were found during archaeological excavations in the village of Debnevo (Northern Bulgaria), said Dr Stiliyan Ivanov from the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences on Tuesday.

The team of the archaeological expedition exploring the Kaleto Fortress above the village found the coins scattered on the floor of a burned-out dwelling dating to the time of the reign of the Bulgarian kings Simeon and Peter. "Two of them were badly damaged by fire. What is interesting about the coins is that they are much older than the early medieval dwelling where they were found. They date from the 6th century, from the time of Emperor Justinian I. They were most likely discovered by those who built the dwelling and who subsequently preserved them", said Ivanov.

The owners of the dwelling left behind all the inventory, including two iron sickles, iron tools, a belt buckle, three bronze rings, ceramic vessels of different sizes. From this it can be judged that they were involved in agriculture, he noted.

According to Ivanov, part of the fortress walls are well preserved, while others have suffered because material from them was used in the construction of a nearby settlement. He said that traces are found of a large Thracian settlement from the 4th-3rd centuries BC, three phases of habitation from Late Antiquity (4th-6th centuries), the First Bulgarian Kingdom, a necropolis from the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the Ottoman period.

Research on the Kaleto Fortress above Debnevo began in 1974 and, after several archaeological seasons, was suspended for decades. In 2019, the excavations were resumed thanks to funding from the Culture Ministry and Troyan Municipality.