SANDANSKI AND ITS TERRITORY DURING PREHISTORY, ANTIQUITY AND MIDDLE AGES. CURRENT TRENDS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH. Proceedings of an International Conference at Sandanski, September 17-20, 2015. Papers of the American Research Center in Sofia, vol. 3. Veliko Tarnovo: FABER, 2017 (full PDF). (original) (raw)

The vast majority of papers (26) in the current volume stem from the international conference Sandanski and Its Territory during Prehistory, Antiquity and Middle Ages: Current Trends in Archaeological Research, organized by the American Research Center in Sofia, in collaboration with the Archaeological Museum in Sandanski, and held on September 17-20, 2015 in the town of Sandanski. Financial support was provided by the Municipality of Sandanski, the Archaeological Museum in Sandanski and the American Research Center in Sofia.The conference provided a forum for 30 scholars from Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Austria and USA to discuss their latest research on the archaeology and history of the Sandanski region.The main theme uniting most papers presented during the conference had to do with the attempt to synthesize the available sources for the study of the Roman predecessor of present-day Sandanski – Ulpia Parthicopolis. Using this relatively little known Roman town, nestled in the corner of Southwest Bulgaria, as a case study, the aim was also to provide a holistic view of the complex history of the Sandanski region, from prehistory until the middle ages. In that the current volume builds on, and diverges from, the previously held symposia in Blagoevgrad (September 20-24, 1977) and Sandanski (October 1-4, 2002), which were defined by overarching themes while celebrating particular anniversaries; 2050 and 2075 years since the Slave Revolt led by Spartacus and 2000 years since the establishment of Christianity. Released from the ideological charge of the 20th century scholarship, the current volume faces the daunting task to weave organically the often disparate papers informed by theoretical paradigms of different scholarly traditions.The volume is divided into five sections to provide more visibility of particular topics, but also to articulate better the research results of a wide range of specialists – archaeologists, historians, epigraphers, art historians, numismatists and conservators. Four additional papers (D. Dana [in French], I. Boyanov, D. Garbov, E. Nankov & A. Tsoneva) were solicited after the conference in order to attain a better cohesion of the volume’s structure. Since navigating through the sometimes inconsistent designations of excavated plots within the present-day Sandanski can be a challenge, the volume includes two maps showing the locations of major sites discussed in some of the papers. The reader is invited to refer to them whenever they are in need of topographic information regarding a particular site.