Ad Sanctos

As of this moment it seems as though the terrible heat wave has passed. Today was an incredible day to hold a shovel. The temperature was within the low 80s and there was hardly any humidity.

I could not have been more thankful.

Because of this fortune, my team in pit M6 was able to shave another 15cm and discover more items of antiquity. On Friday we discovered a third dolia immersed at a tilt within the trench’s dirt wall across from the original stone church wall on the northeastern side of the complex. For all those who did not catch the last entry yet, it has been determined that M6, the grid square in which myself and three others are excavating, is most likely the monastery’s wine/grain storage room. As of today we started to dig inside these giant dolia in hopes of finding evidence of their true contents. This, however, was not the most exciting find on the site to date. I wish I could claim that. But I cannot.

During the last hour of work within the sweltering heat on Friday a team from another grid excavating a wall found a nearly perfectly preserved amphora. Usually, and I’ll be honest, it is really hard to be excited about pottery. But for some reason, being here at the site and seeing it being unearthed for the first time since the 6th century was something else. It was very small and only missing a handle.

Now, here is the awesome thing about amphora. Just by observing the shape of the object, you can tell where it came from. Not all the amphora in the world, at the time, was made with a standard mold or shape. For example, an amphora from Miletus may be more of an upside-down beehive shape in the abdomen whereas an amphora from Thessaloniki may be designed to resemble a watermelon, per se. You have to think of it like how a Coca Cola bottle is distinct from other cola bottles. It is a trademark and always that particular shape. It is the same idea with cities that transported their goods with amphora during antiquity. This is important because that signature shape can tell you who these settlements were trading with and possibly what they were trading. There, that is your fact for the day ☺

Saturday could not have come sooner. It was a hard week of intense labor under weather conditions that no human should ever experience. In the morning we traveled a bit outside of Varna to a site called Pobiti Kamani or Побити камъни in Cyrillic. It is this incredible ‘stone forest’, if you will, that was created ________ millennia ago. One of the theories that were presented to us claimed that a long time ago the ocean covered the region. There were pinhole breaks within the earth’s crust that allowed gas to escape toward the surface. Along with the gas came sediment that accumulated at the surface and built up until, eventually, the columns were officially solidified and preserved as they are today. It was neat to see but not my cup of tea.

Further up the road, past numerous fields of sunflowers, my group and I stopped at the famed Marcianopolis (Μαρκιανούπολις), present day Devnya. We roamed around small amount of excavated city ruins and witnessed the amazing mosaics at the local museum. It is important to know that this city was a major hub during the time period I am focusing on during this dig – 5th/6th century. Between the rich capital of the region and turbulent Danube frontier, Marcianopolis was the stopping point between the two. Naturally, it was a military town that held prominent soldiers who had retired there or were on their way to defend the Danubian borderlands. One mosaic that was uncovered during the excavations supports this thesis perfectly. It is composed of an intricate geometrical design with a portrait of Medusa in the center of the massive spherical mosaic. As one with a Roman militaristic historical background would tell you, Medusa in some shape or form is often found amongst Roman military equipment. Usually on the sword’s hilt, armor, or shield. At the current moment I do not quite remember as to why this is, but it is definitely for superstitious reasons.

After getting our apocalyptic feel for the crumbling last days of the Danubian frontier, we ate our butter and meat sandwiches for lunch and drove further west. The roads are in terrible condition, by the way. I am just going to state that the car’s tires were square. The fields of sunflowers were still just as beautiful as our vision outside the car steadily became a rapid blur of fertile landscape with yellow squiggles. About an hour from Marcianopolis we reach the ancient and venerated capital of the old Bulgarian Empire, Pliska. This amazing archaic settlement is the focal point of everything Bulgarian. It is here on the Madara plateau that the first Bulgar’s established their state and also carved into the precipice the ancient and mystical symbol of Bulgaria – The Horseman, or Madara Horseman.

The horseman has no name. Legend says that his name was always a secret and became lost with time. OOooooooo. My guess, because of the way the horseman is posed, was that he could either be modeled after the universal image of Saint George or depicting the pose of Alexander the Great, which can found on some sarcophagi from around his time period. The Bulgarian’s claim that the identity of the horseman dates to sometime around the 7th/8th centuries, and is probably of a Bulgarian King fresh from the Steppes of Asia. So my two theories do not fit. At any rate, it was an amazing site to see and a powerful image to witness in its real form.

The region is also well known for its caves that had been occupied since Neolithic times. There are a plethora of natural springs that come out of the massive precipice walls. There is a certain place that one can go to that is more or less a natural amphitheater. The cliff’s walls are arced in such a way that sound is captured and billowed throughout. As we were leaving to hike to the horseman a Bulgarian folk bagpiper began to play there. I had to stop in my tracks because the harmony of culture mixed with the significance of the history all the sudden became potent. I had to look up to the sky to prevent the welling of my tears. I simply cannot explain it any better than that. If you have ever experienced such a thing then you understand what I’m talking about.

We thoroughly shook back to Varna during the late afternoon. Just in time for the eggplant, tomato, and cucumber dinner at the hotel.

As I sit here on this Monday night the thunder has begun to crack and the lightning seems to be breaking dangerously close… as it does everyday. The electricity has faded on and off, which says something about the stability of the Bulgarian infrastructure. Though, given how hard the rain is and has been plummeting upon Varna, I can understand completely given the circumstances. The port of Odessos has put up with a lot over the centuries.

Tomorrow I will probably be moved from M6 and put into a square closer to the southern side of the church. I am personally excited because the square I’ll be put into is expected to reveal a grave, which is a huge deal. There have been four uncovered at the site so far and the layer of limestone in which these graves have all have been found is just becoming to be exposed.

I hope that by the next time I write an entry, I will have excellent news about the Roman grave I will have uncovered.

Wish me luck!