site.btaArchaeologists on the Brink of Major Discovery, Assume Third Thracian Decorated Tomb the Likes of One at Kazanlak

Archaeologists from the Haskovo Regional Museum of History are about to reveal a third Thracian tomb with murals the likes of those in Kazanlak and Alexandrovo, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported. Regrettably, at this point, they found only the indicative pieces of the murals in a treasure hunter's pit by Teketo village, meaning that the Thracian murals in the tomb itself have been damaged.

There are hundreds of mounds in the vicinity of the southern city of Haskovo and most of them probably cover tombs. The race with treasure hunters there is inequal, by far not in favour of archaeologist. However, they believe not everything by Teketo is lost and found the shards around one of the pits there.

"Here we have only the top layer, the finest, the stucco. It is made of very fine mortar plaster with marble dust usually to make it so fine and the coloured decoration is applied over it. This is with a deep red orange. We have something like green here, a stripe," archaeologist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgi Nehrizov told BNT, demonstrating the top of the piece.

Some of the coloured pieces perfectly match the decorative frieze around the murals at the Alexandrovo tomb.

"This band which ends the figurative hunting scene of the tomb. This is the so-called kymation. Lesbo kymation, a series of kyne (waves) which are a purely decorative ornament. The same can be seen in Kazanlak. This kymation is present only on those in which there are figural scenes. The same applies to other Hellenistic tombs found not in Thrace, but in Greece and Italy," added Nehrizov.

And although the Ministry of Culture has a fund for emergency excavations the scientists have not received funding yet. And in order not to risk missing this archaeological season they took out a donation account and announced a fundraising campaign.

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Regional History Museum - Haskovo