RESCUE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE SITE OF VALCHI DOL, VARNA DISTRICT (original) (raw)

The archaeological excavations are part of the investigation along “The extension of the gas transmission infrastructure of ‘Bulgartransgas’ EAD parallel to the north (highway) gas pipeline near the Bulgarian – Serbian border” and were carried out in June – August, 2020. The site was registered during field survey in the area in 2012. In 2020, preliminary investigations were carried out and revealed structures from the Early Iron Age. This fact required complete investigations of the site in Popastnik locality, 2.5 km north of the village of Voditsa, Popovo municipality. During the fieldwork, 47 archaeological structures were discovered sunken in the ancient terrain. They belong to four periods – Early Chalcolithic, first stage of the EIA, LIA and Roman period. Nine sunken features could be dated to the Early Chalcolithic. To the EIA belongs six pits. At the level of registration, they have a round plan with a diameter of 1.00 m, reaching 1.00 – 1.20 m from surface. Eleven archaeological structures date from the first half of the 4th c. BC: pits, semi-dugout features, linear sunken structures and an urn with cremated human bones. Five structures belong to the Roman period. They probably functioned as sunken parts of storage facilities. The structures could be interpreted as remains, related to a settlement in the micro-region during the various archaeological periods. An argument in favor of the settlement character of the site is its topographical position. The absence of heating installations and floor levels, the small amount of archaeological materials and finds support the hypothesis that during the registered periods the occupation of the settlements was short-lived.