26 prehistoric settlement mounds, 62 settlements from the Late Iron Age and 74 from the Roman age, 32 medieval settlements, 13 fortresses and 4 monasteries. An enviable wealth in such a small area!!! This is also the reason why scientists from Austria, England, Russia, Japan and the Netherlands have been involved, some of them for more than 40 years, in archaeological research here.
At the beginning of every good deed there is always some selfless enthusiast. For Nova Zagora, it is the teacher Nikola Koichev, who in 1926 founded a historical museum with the aim of searching for, researching and exhibiting the found objects that simply emerge with every digging in the fertile field around the city. Today, in its funds, the museum stores nearly 40,000 items – a quantity that even some of the regional museums in Bulgaria cannot boast of.
Of the many mounds, however, only one is called the “Bulgarian Troy” /although ours is older than that Troy/ and this is no accident. It is about the famous mound near the village of Karanovo, which continues to attract the interest of the world archaeological community with sensational discoveries.
The Karanov Mound is located at the foot of the last branches of Sarnena Sredna Gora, at the end of the Novozagorsko Pole. With its height of 13 meters, length 250 and width 150 meters, it is one of the largest in Bulgaria. In the 1950s, scientists Vasil Mikov and Georgi Georgiev began excavations in it. Seven layers from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and the first half of the Bronze Age were discovered in Southern Bulgaria.
The mound has been inhabited for several thousand years. Well-preserved foundations of dwellings, a rich household inventory, tools made of flint, bone, deer antlers and copper, as well as clay tablets with perhaps the oldest written characters in Europe, were discovered. In the same place where these tiles were found, in 2005, Bulgarian and Austrian archaeologists discovered the remains of a huge building for its time – a public building or a royal palace. During the Neolithic, Stone-Copper and Early Bronze Ages, the Karanov Mound was inhabited by 240 generations and even, according to Professor Vasil Nikolov, the population of these lands gave civilization to the Old Continent.
In 2008, during rescue excavations of the Eastern Mound, the archaeologist Veselin Ignatov discovered the remains of an ancient four-wheeled car in which two horses with richly decorated harnesses were harnessed. In October 2009, at the same place, his team discovered a vaulted tomb of a Thracian aristocrat, full of extremely valuable finds-weapons (swords, daggers and spears/), woven armor, vessels made of clay, glass and bronze, a candelabra with a lamp, fibulae, belt appliqués , silver cups with gilt. Among these finds of particular value are the unique glass rhyton with the head of an unknown animal, a gold ring with a precious stone and coins that indicate the possible dating of the tomb – 1st century of the New Era.
Work time:
Tuesday – Saturday: 08.00 – 12.00 and 13.00 – 17.00.
Holidays: Sunday and Monday
Contacts:
Historical Museum
Address: Nova Zagora, Svoboda Square
Tel: +359 457 63154
Tel: +359 457 231 64
