Rescue excavations along the planned route of the expansion of the Bulgaria-Greece gas pipeline have uncovered a wealth of remains dating from the 2nd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. in the Western Necropolis of Heracleia Syntica near the village of Rupite in southwestern Bulgaria.
A rich double tomb from the 4th century was unearthed two weeks ago. It contains the remains of a man and a woman and grave goods including a pair of gold hoop earrings, a bronze bulla, bronze coins, clay vessels, clay lamps, a bronze oinochoe, bronze pixide and intact glass cups and jugs. This grave is not only important because of the quality and quantity of goods, but because its dating proves that Heracleia Syntica was still very much thriving before the earthquake devastated it in 388 A.D. The osteological remains will be radiocarbon dated to pin down the age of the burial, and stable isotope analysis will shed light on their geographical origins, diets and health.
Many of the graves had been looted in antiquity, and the thieves went to great lengths to despoil them. One grave was topped with two massive blocks of stone that had been pried off with a lever and broken. Only a few cinerary remains and a pot were left in that grave. Other looters were more discriminating, limiting themselves to stealing the most valuable grave goods and leaving behind everything else, for example 15 terracotta figurines and eight balsamaria found in a looted tomb from the 2nd-1st century B.C. Looters had no interest in a finely carved female face from the 1st or 2nd century A.D. believed to have been part of a funerary portrait of the deceased on the tombplate of a grave they emptied. One grave was protected by a later grave built on top of it. The more recent grave had used the stone roof of the older one as its floor. It inadvertently served as a decoy, hiding the bottom grave, its bronze coins and bronze pot, from the looters that pillaged the top one.
Another notable find was a child’s grave with three terracotta figurines placed around their head, a clay lamp at their feet and 18 bronze coins. The child’s family must have been well-off to afford these grave goods and the grave itself, meticulously constructed out of brick.
The excavation also uncovered the first inscription at the necropolis. Carved on a massive stone slab, the Greek inscription reads: “Tomb of Herodore and…” The second name is probably the name of his wife or a relative and the stone once stood above the entrance to the tomb. It was later reused as a cover for a grave, so we don’t know its original location.
The finds at Heraclea Sintica not only expand our understanding of funerary practices across different historical eras but also illustrate the rich cultural interplay of Thracian, Hellenistic, Celtic, and Roman influences in the region.
From the personal artistry of a marble funerary relief to ritualistic grave goods untouched for over two millennia, each discovery provides another piece in the puzzle of this once-thriving ancient city.
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