Project for the Verification of Burial Mounds in Ancient Thrace. Methods and Preliminary Results from the Regions of Stara Zagora, Yambol and Pazardzhik
Abstract
This project involving the verification of burial mounds in present-day Bulgaria, part of ancient Thrace, began in 2009. It was inspired by preliminary results from the first two seasons of interdisciplinary field research undertaken by the Tundzha Regional Archaeological Project (TRAP).
TRAP focused on systematic survey of settlement patterns in exquisite areas within the Stara Zagora and Yambol regions. A large number of mounds localized by TRAP indicated the necessity of this the new project aimed solely at burial mounds.
Consequently, the Burial Mounds project (BUM), focusing on verification of selected data, developed. BUM has run as a part of TRAP in the Stara Zagora and Yambol regions since 2010, under the guidance of Adela Sobotkova and Shawn Ross.
In 2011 a solitary BUM project took place in the Pazardzhik region. The BUM project comprises prediction, verification, spatial analysis, interpretation and chronology of burial mounds.
It has been realized with the essential help of TRAP, Bulgarian specialists, regional museums and the great effort of many students from all over the world.