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Ancient Thracian treasure unearthed in Bulgaria
Monday, July 25, 2005 Updated at 11:24 AM EDT
Associated Press
Sofia — Archeologists have unearthed a 2,400-year-old golden treasure in an ancient Thracian tomb in eastern Bulgaria.
The gold-rich burial was discovered by a team of archeologists at excavations about 290 kilometres east of the capital, Sofia.
The most impressive finds included a golden ring and wreath, and many golden and silver pieces of armour and horse trappings.
What may have been a Thracian king's body was laid in a huge wood-panelled pit together with two horses and a dog.
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The Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia and Turkey.
They lived from 4,000 BC to the 8th century AD, when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.
“Greek pottery that was also found in the tomb helped us safely date the whole burial to 360-370 BC,” Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
“This was an extremely rich funeral, suggesting that the buried man could have been a Thracian king,” Mr. Dimitrov said. “Although he was not buried according to Thracian traditions, all objects of art bear Thracian imagery.”
According to a hypothesis, the newly discovered tomb could have been that of the Thracian governor Seutus, who declared himself king and used Greek mercenaries to oppress local Thracian tribes. His governance was described by the ancient Greek chronicler Xenophontes, Mr. Dimitrov said.
“Excavations continue, and new finds literally pop out every 10 minutes,” he said.
Last year, another archeological expedition discovered two vast Thracian tombs in the region near the town of Kazanlak, 200 kilometres east of Sofia. A 2,400-year old golden mask was then found along with many golden artifacts.
