UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL IN THE BLACK SEA
Project type/s:
Underwater archaeological excavations & survey, marine geophysical survey
Location:
Nessebar, Black Sea, Bulgaria
Funding:
Balkan Heritage Foundation
Project started / Status:
2018 / Ongoing
There is a Balkan Heritage Field School affiliated with this project.
The archaeological site: Founded at the end of the Bronze Age by a Thracian tribe, Nessebar is one of the oldest towns on the western Black Sea Coast. Its name, which was originally Mesambria, originates from the Thracian words “Melsas”, the name of the legendary founder of the settlement and “bria”- the Thracian word for town. It is situated on a small peninsula (about 0.5 sq. km) that was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. According to ancient sources, Nessebar had two harbors – one on its north and another to its south. Mesambria’s first Greek colonizers were of Dorian origin who settled there at the end of the 6th century BCE. The town grew quickly and became one of the most powerful Greek colonies along the western Black Sea Coast. It had several temples, a gymnasium, a theatre, massive administrative buildings and corresponding infrastructure. Mesambria was also gradually surrounded by massive fortification walls. It reached the peak of its prosperity in the 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE, at which point it even minted its own gold coins. Commercial links connected it to towns from the Black Sea, Aegean, and Mediterranean coasts. Numerous imported precious artifacts now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Nessebar provide material expression of the site’s rich economic, cultural, and spiritual life in this period.
In 72 BCE, the town was conquered by Roman armies without resistance. After a temporary occupation in the beginning of the 1st century CE, it was included permanently within the limits of the Roman Empire. After the capital was moved to Constantinople in 324 CE and Christianity was accepted as the official religion of the Empire in 313 CE, favorable conditions arose for the renaissance of the town. New Christian basilicas, fortification walls, and water supply lines were built in the following centuries.
The city was besieged and taken for the first time by the Bulgarians in 812 CE. It was in a border region between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Kingdom and periodically changed hands between the two powers. During the 12th and 13th centuries, active trade links were developed between Nessebar and some Mediterranean and Adriatic towns, such as Constantinople, Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Ancona, and Dubrovnik, as well as with the kingdoms north of the Danube region. During almost its entire Christian history, Nessebar was the seat of a bishop. Many churches and monasteries were built in the city and its surroundings reflecting its prosperity and richness.
Director:
- Dr. Nayden Prahov, Director of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology, Ministry of Culture; Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Co-Founder of Balkan Heritage Foundation.
Team members:
- Pavel Georgiev, Maritime Archaeologist at CUA and PhD student at University of Southampton ;
- Eng. Kiril Velkovski, Marine Geophysicist;
- Zdravka Georgieva, Maritime archaeologist, PhD student at University of Southampton
BHF project partners: Centre for Underwater Archaeology (CUA), Bulgaria, New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria, Institute for Field Research, USA
Some of the readings are available upon request in PDF format from the BHFS Library
- Agisoft LLC 2023. Agisoft Metashape User Manual: Professional Edition, Version 2.0.Bowens, A.Underwater Archaeology: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice, Second edition, 2009, Portsmouth, Blackwell Publishing, 15-169.
- Bowens, A. Underwater Archaeology: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice, Second edition, 2009, Portsmouth, Blackwell Publishing, 15-169.
- Pacheco-Ruiz, R., Adams, J. & Pedrotti, F. 2018. 4D modelling of low visibility Underwater Archaeological excavations using multi-source photogrammetry in the Bulgarian Black Sea, Journal of Archaeological Science, 100, 120-129.
- Plets, R., J. Dix, R. Bates. Marine Geophysics Data Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation. Guidance Notes, English Heritage, 2013, 12-40.
- Ognenova-Marinova, L., H. Preshlenov. Past and Future of the Underwater Archaeological Research in Nesebar, Bulgaria. – In: F. Maniscalco (ed.). Mediterraneum. Tutela e valorizzazione dei beni culturali ed ambientali. Tutela, Conservazione e Valorizzazione del Patrimonio Culturale Subacqueo, 4. Napoli, 2004, 263-269. ISBN 88-87835-50-0
- Preshlenov, H. Withdrawing Coasts. Geomorphology, Bathymetry and Archeological Cartography in Nessebar. – In: Iv. Karayotov (ed.). Bulgaria Pontica Medii Aevi, VI-VII. Mesambria Pontica. International seminar Nessebar, May 28-31, 2006. Studia in honorem Professoris Vasil Guzelev. Бургас, 2008, 51- 67. ISSN 1313-3535
- Preshlenov, Chr. Morphodynamics of the coastal zone of the Nessebar Peninsula (Bulgaria): archaeological and geological benchmarks. – In: R. Kostov, B. Gaydarska, M. Gurova (ed.). Geoarchaeology and Archaeomineralogy. Proceedings of the International Conference, Sofia, 29-30 October 2008. Sofia, 2008, 305-307. ISSN 978-954-353-085-4
- Preshlenov, H. Coastal Instability and Urban Changes – the Case of the Nessebar Peninsula – Geologica Balcanica, 39, 2010, 1-2, 325. ISSN 0324-0894
- Radić Rossi, I., Casabán, J., Yamafune, K., Torres, R. & Batur, K. 2019. Systematic Photogrammetric Recording of the Gnalić Shipwreck Hull Remains and Artefacts. 3D Recording and Interpretation for Maritime Archaeology.
- Catsambis, A., B. Ford, D. Hamilton.The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology, Oxford University Press, 2011.
- Green, J. 2004. Maritime Archaeology, A Technical Handbook, Elsevier Academic Press.
- Prahov, N., Zborover, D. The Ancient Mesambria Field School in Underwater Archaeology: Synergy in Benefit of Bulgarian Cultural Heritage.- In: ACUA Underwater Archaeology Proceedings, 2020, An Advisory Council of Underwater Archaeology Publication, Society for Historical Archaeology, 49 – 56; ISBN: 978-1-939531-38-4
- Reich, J., Steiner, P., Ballmer, A., Emmenegger, L., Hostettler, M., Stäheli, C., Naumov, G., Taneski, B., Todoroska, V., Schindler, K. & Hafner, A. 2021. A novel Structure from Motion-based approach to underwater pile field documentation, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 39.
