Excavations and discoveries
Convinced of the great potential of the archaeological monuments in the area of the Sveshtari tomb discovered in 1982, she devotes herself to the excavation of different types of sites in the Sboryanovo National Reserve (1982-2023). This is how the Thracian sanctuary from the Iron Age in the town of Kamen Rid was discovered, the studies of the cult site in the town of Novi Korenezhi, and a Thracian sanctuary in the courtyard of Demir baba teke have been continued.
Studies of the western and eastern royal necropolis led to the discovery of two unique tombs for the Balkans with sliding doors near the Sveshtari tomb, connected with the Getae ruler from the second half of the 3rd century BC. – Dromihet, as well as until the discovery of the stone tomb of the Getae ruler Kotela from the second half of the 4th century BC. And on the box placed in the crown of a sacred tree with unique gold gifts covered by The Great Sveshtari Mound. These discoveries allow the Thracian ruins in Sboryanovo to be identified with the spiritual and political capital of the getaes, sought after the years Dausda /The city of wolves or the light/ from the ninth map of Cl. Ptolemy. It was rebuilt on a scale in the second half of the 4th century BC precisely from the Kotela, known as an ally of Philip of Macedon, who gave his daughter Meda as his wife.
D. Gergova also discovered the early medieval settlement/monastic complex in the “City of Trust” area. She also discovered the living Indo-European traditions in the practiced rituals in the Demir Baba Teke area.
Are the Thracians literate people?
An open vertebra with a dedicatory inscription to the god Sabazius on Mount Ostrets, as well as on another inscription on a stone from a ritual circle from a mound near Kapinovo, V. Tarnovsko adds new evidence and gives reason to claim that they are not only illiterate, but as soon as for The Greeks the letters were brought to them by Orpheus, they probably wrote with these identical letters, and the teaching of Orpheus is also the first one that is distributed with books in the ancient world, although many written documents are not preserved in our country.
Many efforts and materials in scientific journals and the media are related to the battle to save the discovered unique monuments of Thracian culture and present them to the general public in their authentic form, and not through large-scale construction activities. This must be done through the restoration of the professional and politically independent institutions, destroyed by the Law on Cultural Heritage adopted in 2009, with which they were destroyed, and the antiquities handed over to the incompetent and frequently changing administrations. Initiates the creation of a model for the independent management of archaeological reserves, based on the long-term experience of the studies and the dire condition of the monuments in Sboryanovo, similar to the nature reserves in Bulgaria, as well as similar successful models in Europe.
With traveling exhibitions about Thracian culture and especially with the author’s traveling exhibition Sboryanovo – gods and people, ……. propagates Thracian culture and the influence on the modern Thracian peoples from Japan to the USA.
Sboryanovo National Archaeological Reserve
In 1982, the Sveshtari tomb was discovered, included in the UNESCO list in 1985. devoted his studies to this day in Sboryanovo National Archaeological Reserve and made excavations of the Thracian sanctuary from the early iron and Hellenistic ages of the Kamen Rid plateau, made additional studies of the Thracian sanctuary in the courtyard of Demir baba teke, as well as the cult site from the late Hellenistic era in the town of Novi Korenezhi, of the two Hellenistic necropolises – eastern and western, as well as of the early medieval complex/monastery with a Christian chapel in the town of “Trust City”. She applies the most modern interdisciplinary methods for the years, as well as collaborates with the University of Cambridge (Great Britain), the Laboratory of Archaeology – (France), the University of Kemerovo (Russia), the universities of Geneva, Lausanne and New Chatel (Switzerland) and others.
In the eastern necropolis, she discovered in the immediate vicinity of the Sveshtari tomb two more stone tombs with sliding doors, which formed with it a single and pre-designed architectural burial ensemble. In the southern group of mounds on the same necropolis, in the highest Great Sveshtari mound, she discovered the destroyed earliest tomb in the necropolis with Protodorian columns, which belonged to the founder of the Hellenistic era, Kotela – ally and father-in-law of Philip of Macedon, as well as an unknown person from another place. In the crown of a large oak tree, in the process of pouring the mound, is A box of gold gifts.
In the mounds around, the only Celtic chariot harnessed in two horses has been found so far in a position specific only to the getaes, and in the smallest – the first Celtic sanctuary known in the Balkans. It reveals the lavish funeral rites related to the burial of the famous Getае ruler from the second half of the 4th century, Kotela – the founder of the Getае state, who designed the renovation of the Getае center in the spirit of the Orphic philosophy of harmony with nature and the Cosmos. Thus, it identifies the complex not only with the religious and political center of the northern Thracians from 1 thousand BC. BC, but also with the long-sought Dausdava / City of Wolves or the Light / from 9 Map of the Roman geographer Cravdius Ptolemy.
The Thracian sanctuary of Dionysus on Ostrets Peak (2009-2015)
Excavations of the Thracian sanctuary of Dionysus on Mount Ostrets (2009-2015) near Velingrad are another important discovery. Numerous finds, including a unique iron staff, a clay vertebra with an initiate inscription of the god Sabazius /Dionysus, a votive tile of a Thracian horseman with a cone on an altar, a gilded iron umbo on a shield And many other finds show that many cult objects related to the worship of Dionysus have been found here. The proximity of the sanctuary to the main road between Pistiros on the White Sea and the founding Emporion Pistyros not far from the sanctuary give reason to believe that it was the sanctuary of Ostrets who mentioned by Herodotus, guarded by the bessies.
The study of another, low-mountain sanctuary of the bessies in the town of St. Prophet Ilia above Kleptuza, in Velingrad reveals another, previously unknown type of cult object, characteristic of the Besi region. In the boundaries of a rectangular sacred courtyard, in a stone tower-temple, thousands of fragments of crushed clay vessels with rich incised decoration, portable altars, clay disks – solar symbols were found.
Settlement mound, village of Dyadovo
The excavations of the Bulgarian-Japanese team of Selishtna Mogila Dyadovo near Nova Zagora (1985-2017) and the work as deputy head, and after 1988 as a leader, reveals important moments from the stages of development of The Bronze Age and the ethnogenetic processes leading to the formation of the actual Thracian society and culture at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, which found their highest development in the 1st millennium BC.
Studies in Ahtopol
The studies in Ahtopol are related to a few real excavations and the sifting of the remains of a destroyed cultural layer, in which, however, materials were found for the foundation of the Thracian settlement as early as the end of 2 thousand BC. As well as its existence to the present day. Excavations in Ahtopol show the Thracian character of the ancient settlement and its development over the millennia.
Thracian Necropolises in the Western Rhodopes
Her interest in the culture of another famous tribe, Bessi, is related to long-term studies of Thracian necropolises and / Kochan, Satovcha, Lyubcha / sanctuaries / Mount Ostrets and above Lake Kleptuza, Velingrad/ in the Western Rhodopes. These studies present new data on the funeral practices of the bessies.