Bulgarian Navy Commander Awarded for Helping Archaeology Research of Black Sea Coast by National History Museum in Sofia

November 21, 2018 · by Ivan Dikov · in Underwater Archaeology

Archaeologist Prof. Ivan Hristov (left), Deputy Director of the National Museum of History, awards Rear Admiral Mitko Petev, Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Navy, for his help for archaeological excavations. Photo: National Museum of History

The Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Navy, Rear Admiral Mitko Petev, has been presented with an award by the National Museum of History in Sofia for aiding the Museum’s researchers in their archaeological study of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

Many top archaeological sites on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast were active military bases of the Bulgarian Navy, some as early as the beginning of the 20^th century, but most notably during the Cold War.

In recent years, as the Bulgarian military has been downsized, many of the naval bases in question have been closed down but the properties till belong to the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense, and the Bulgarian Navy, respectively.

Some of the sites in question, especially picturesque capes and small peninsulas along Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast, have been opened to archaeologists only in the past few years

Rear Admiral Mitko Petev received his award certificate during a visit to the National Museum of History in Sofia at the invitation of its Director, Assoc. Prof. Boni Petrunova, and Deputy Director, Prof. Ivan Hristov.

The Museum points out that Petev has helped in particular with the excavations of four archaeological sites: the Akra (Acra) Fortress on Cape Akra, also known as Cape Akin, near today’s town of Chernomorets; the Cape Atiya (also known as Atiya Peninsula) Fortress; the Maslen Nos (“Oily Cape”) Fortress; and Emine Cape Fortress.

Rear Admiral Petev has helped in particular for the research of four sites on Bulgaria’s Southern Black Sea coast. Photo: National Museum of History

Petev and the leadership of the National Museum of History exchanged books on the history of their respective institutions, and discussed future events for the upcoming 140^th anniversary since the establishment of the modern-day Bulgarian Navy.

The Museum also presented to the Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Navy the plans of its archaeologists for excavations on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast in 2019.

The Museum’s Deputy Director Ivan Hristov is a long time researcher of the archaeological sites on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

Hristov is in charge of the archaeological excavations in the properties owned by the Bulgarian Navy, the Museum has revealed.

He recently published a book entitled “Mare Ponticum. Coastal Fortresses and Harbor Zones in the Province of Haemimontus, 5^th – 7^th Century AD”, which looks at the Haemimontus province of the Early Byzantine Empire in the Late Antiquity and early Middle Ages.

In August 2018, he discovered a sunken fortress from Ancient Thrace at Sveti Toma (St. Thomas) Island, off the coast of Primorsko.

Earlier in November 2018, the Museum announced Hristov’s excavation findings that the Early Byzantine city of Chrisosotira on Cape Chervenka on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast was most likely sacked by the Slavs and Avars during their invasions of the Byzantine Empire in the first half of the 7^th century AD.

The highly intriguing archaeological sites on Bulgaria’s Southern Black Sea coast excavated in 2018 include the St. Thomas Island (above) and Cape Chervenka (below). Photos: National Museum of History