A burial chamber with human remains was discovered archaeologists from the Regional History Museum (ROM) – Yambol during exploration of the fortress “Little Kale” near Voden village, Bolyarovo municipality. It is obviously a crypt within a family chapel that belonged to representatives of the high Byzantine aristocracy from the middle of the 11th to the end of the 12th century, said the director of the museum, Ch. Stefan Bakardjiev, PhD, quoted by BTA.
The valuable finds were found days after the big fire in the area, which also affected the archaeological site itself, he added.
The exposed burial chamber is located on the ground floor of a room used as a chapel in the fortified residence, explained Stefan Bakardjiev. The human remains found in it are in anatomical order, including the skull of the burials. This allows us to make a detailed anthropological analysis and establish the gender and age of the person laid in the crypt, he added.
The assumption of archaeologists is that the body was in a coffin, as evidenced by the discovery of a large number of iron nails and staples scattered around.
Grave gifts were also discovered around the skull. Among them, one half of a cross-encolpion (reliquary) is well preserved, in which pieces of the holy cross or relics of saints are usually placed. A Billonian coin of Emperor Manuel Comnenus (1143-1180) was also found, as well as a stone spindle vertebra. The latter finding leads the team to assume that the remains discovered are of a woman. “Most likely, the grave was broken during the capture of the fortress during the Third Crusade (1189 – 1190), which is why more valuable objects are missing. It is a matter of hypotheses whether it was done by the inhabitants of the fortress themselves, fleeing from the invaders, or by the crusaders, who captured and destroyed it,”, the director of the Yambol museum also said.
In the room used as a chapel, during this year's excavations, an iron hilt (guard) of a sword, part of a spearhead and a significant amount of fragmented luxury and ordinary ceramics were also found. Its purpose as a temple site is confirmed by the discovery of more than 7,000 fragments of wall paintings.
The current excavations have confirmed the previously proposed hypothesis that the “Little Kale” near the village of Voden had the function of a residence of a high Byzantine aristocrat, pointed out Dr. Bakardjiev. According to him, this is evidenced by both the specific architecture and ornamentation, as well as the discovered nine correspondence seals. The names and positions of the people who sent letters to the rulers of the fortress are learned from them. The majority of the seals are of various representatives of the famous Byzantine family Vatsi, which ruled the area around Adrianople (today's Edirne), said the director of RIM – Yambol. The emperor John III Duca Vatazzi, who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire in the first half of the 13th century, is from the same family.
The new findings were established by a team of archaeologists from Rome – Yambol, who continued the research of the fortress after the fire that broke out at the end of July this year. The students we worked with unfortunately missed the most interesting part because they had to interrupt their internship due to the fire, said the director of the Yambol museum . According to him, both the Malko Kale and the nearby medieval monastery were in the eye of the fire. Damaged, although not fatally, is a mural that was uncovered and preserved last year. The pieces will be reassembled and the mural installed in the place it was, explained Stefan Bakrjiev.
At the moment, the inner part of the fortress is 90 percent explored, and the fortress walls surrounding it – at 75, the archaeologist also pointed out. The museum in Yambol is counting on help from the state for the final completion of the study of the Little Kale and subsequent restoration, conservation and exhibition of the site. The ultimate goal is for the fortress, together with the medieval monastery located 400 meters to the east, to be singled out as a common tourist product. As of 2017, both objects have the status of immovable cultural values of national importance.
The fortress “Little Kale” is among the main objects studied by archaeologists in Yambolsko. Excavations began in 2008 after a mining excavation was found. From 2011 until now, they have been carried out almost entirely with the help of students from the University of Library Science and Information Technology, who are conducting their internships here under the guidance of Assoc. Dr. Diana Stoyanova. The last financial aid from the state was in 2019 before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.