site.btaUPDATED Three Artefacts from Regional Historical Museum in Burgas Will Be Part of US Thracian Exhibition

The Regional Historical Museum in Burgas is participating with three artifacts in an upcoming exhibition, Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece, at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibition features over 150 artefacts from 14 Bulgarian museums and will be on from November 3 to March 3, 2025.

"Our region is extremely rich in archaeological finds. Let's not forget that the major settlements along the Black Sea coast, such as Mesembria, Pomorie, Sozopol and Ahtopol had a predominantly Greek population, but also a large Thracian population. In each, this classical era, and later Hellenism, are strongly reflected," said in a BTA interview Miroslav Klasnakov, curator of the archaeological collection at the Regional Historical Museum in Burgas.

He added that earliest-dated find, sent by the museum in Burgas, is a copper ingot in the shape of a stretched ox hide from the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age.

The museum in the seaside city has already sent the three valuable artefacts, which will be displayed in the US. Among them, Klasnakov said, are also a fragment of a decree between the Thracian ruler Sadalas I and Mesembria, as well as the so-called "Teacher’s Stele," a tomb stele from the 3rd century BC that depicts a sitting man with an open book looking to the right.

The discovery of the tractor driver

The bronze, or copper ingot, has a very interesting fate, Klasnakov pointed out. "The find was found between 1961 and 1964. It is not very clear exactly which year. It was discovered by a tractor driver named Dimo Toshev Dimov while he was working the land in the Cheshmata area, northwest of the village of Cherkovo. He collected the find, which had been sitting in the local community centre for some time, when by chance the then photographer of the archaeological museum in Burgas saw it. Together with the chief archaeologist at the time, Peter Balabanov, they took it and inventoried it in the Burgas museum," the curator said. He explained that the ingot was a means of payment in large trade transactions, it was also used to pay taxes, reparation, contributions.

This particular ingot weighs 26 kilogrammes. According to Miroslav Klasnakov, there are several of them in Bulgaria, but most of them are of unclear origin, as they have been found in unregulated trade and seized at borders. "One of a similar shape, but much smaller, but made of precious metals, was found in Kaliakra in previous surveys. Another similar small ingot was found in Yabulkovo and was published by Krassimir Leshtakov," he added. 

According to the museum curator, such finds are interesting in that they are heavy and represent early forms of payment during those centuries. 

Sadalas decree under the stove

Chronologically, the next exhibit is a Mesembrian decree dating from the late 4th and early 3rd centuries B.C. Local scholars call it the "Decree of Sadala" because it mentions the Thracian dynast. It is inscribed that Mesembria gave him the right to enter and leave the port, granted him citizenship, and the ability to represent the city in diplomatic negotiations. The text also addressed the rights of his children and arranged for him to be crowned each year with a golden crown worth 50 stateras, which was the unit of measurement for gold at the time. 

"The story of how it was found is also interesting. It was discovered in 1949. At that time excavations were conducted in Nessebar by Ivan Galabov and this particular find was not from the excavations themselves, but was handed over to the archaeologists by a dentist with the surname Budurov. There are different versions of how it was repurposed. I have read in newspaper articles by Ivan Karayotov that it was found under a stove on which fish was fried and served as an insulating slab. There are also versions that it was found after serving as a stone around a hearth, but what the truth is, no one knows," the archaeologist commented. He added that although it remains a mystery, the discovery is serious because it provides significant information about the relationship of Mesembria with the Thracian dynasties. Also listed are the names of Mopsiestius, Tarutinus, Medista and Cotis, the ancestors of Sadala. 

Teacher's Stele tomb

The third chronological find, which the Burgas Museum is sending for the exhibition in Los Angeles, is known among local archaeologists as the "Teacher's stele". It is a tomb stele depicting a seated man with an open book looking to the right. This is believed to be the deceased, and in front of him is a small figure believed to be that of his pupil, explained Klasnakov. "Usually steles like this depict what the deceased's craft was during his lifetime. This one dates from the third century B.C. It was found in 1949 in the necropolis of Mesembria in grave number 10," Klasnakov added. 

He noted that it was not the first time that these three exhibits had left the museum, but that they had participated in various exhibitions around the world. Regarding the manner in which two of the three finds in the exhibition were discovered, Miroslav Klasnakov added that the Cheshmata locality, where the ingot was found, probably hides many more discoveries valuable for archaeology. "Colleagues say that there is a large Late Bronze Age settlement there and it is natural that there are other finds underground, but it has not been studied by archaeologists. It is also interesting that the ingot was found well inland from the seashore - over 35km inland, whereas similar pre-coin trade tools are usually found near the sea. It is very likely that the find was taken for further processing or payment from the local village or settlement. We don't know how, but somehow from the sea it got there," he added. 

The exhibition Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles will open on November 3 and run until March 3, 2025. The objects from Bulgaria represent over 90% of all exhibits included in the exhibition, as the core of the ancient Thracian lands overlap with the territory of present-day Bulgaria. Artefacts from Greece and Romania are also included for the first time in such an exposition, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margarit Damyanov from the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM at BAS) told BTA.