Mysterious culture built stone temple 2,300 years ago in Bulgaria. It’s just been found
In an ancient city in southern Bulgaria, archaeologists have discovered evidence of a past culture, but it may raise more questions than answers.
At the Great Mound of Plovdiv, a stone temple built during the third century B.C. has been unearthed, city Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov said in an Aug. 22 Facebook post.
The temple is in exceptionally good condition, the mayor said, and will be restored by the research team.
The temple is made of two 32-foot-long rooms, and archaeologists found pieces of pottery and the animal bones from seven different species in the eastern room, according to the Bulgaria News Agency. Researchers suspect they were used in rituals, the outlet said.
The site is what is known as a settlement mound, a place in present-day Plovdiv where ancient people lived during the Neolithic period, according to the city. The mounds have layers that represent different periods of time and are often filled with objects of everyday life such as tools and pottery and objects used for religious worship.
Archaeologists have been working at the Great Mound archaeological site for three years, the Bulgaria News Agency reported, and the remains of a medieval church were discovered at the site in years past.
The mayor said this temple, more than 1,000 years older than the church, was built by the Thracians, an ethnic tribe that lived in Bulgaria during the Bronze Age.
Although physical evidence of the Thracian people is present across the country, very little is known about their culture because they didn’t write anything down, according to Ancient Bulgaria.
The Thracians appeared in Bulgaria 4,000 years ago, Ancient Bulgaria said, and they built cities, tombs and monuments. Their Greek neighbors are credited with giving them the name based on what they called the land, Thraike or Thrake.
The Thracians lived in many tribes and over the course of history became fragmented, Ancient Bulgaria said. As nearby kingdoms grew and spread, they were eventually absorbed into other cultures.
Dimitrov called Plovdiv the oldest living city in Europe and said he will support continued archaeological excavations across the city to learn more about its history.
Plovdiv is in south-central Bulgaria.
Facebook translate was used to translate the Facebook post from Kostadin Dimitrov.
This story was originally published August 23, 2024 at 9:49 AM with the headline "Mysterious culture built stone temple 2,300 years ago in Bulgaria. It’s just been found."
