Bulgarian archaeologists discover 2,400-year-old golden mask
June Samaras
Bulgarian archaeologists discover 2,400-year-old golden mask
The Associated Press
Published: July 16, 2007
SOFIA, Bulgaria: Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,400-year-old golden
mask in an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, scholars
announced Monday.
The mask was discovered over the weekend by a team of archaeologists
excavating near the village of Topolchane, 290 kilometers (180 miles)
east of the capital, Sofia. Its discovery, archaeologists said,
indicates a Thracian king was buried in the tomb.
It was found together with a solid gold ring engraved with a Greek
inscription and with the design of a bearded man in a timber-lined
Thracian grave.
Team leader professor Georgi Kitov said that they also found a silver
rhyton, silver and bronze vessels, pottery and funerary gifts.
"These finds confirm the assumption that they are part of the lavish
burial of a Thracian king," said professor Margarita Tacheva, who was
also on the dig.
"The artifacts belonged to a Thracian ruler from the end of the 4th
century B.C. who was buried here," Kitov added.
According to Kitov, the Thracian civilization was at least equal in
terms of development to the ancient Greek one.
The Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and parts of modern
Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey between 4,000 B.C. and the 8th
century A.D., when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.
In 2004, another 2,400-year-old golden mask was unearthed from a
Thracian tomb in the same area.
Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout the central Bulgarian
region, which archaeologists have dubbed "the Bulgarian valley of
kings" in reference to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, home
to the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs.
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June Samaras
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