Rescue Excavation Reveals Beehive Tomb in Bulgaria

ROZOVO, BULGARIA—A Thracian beehive tomb in central Bulgaria that was looted and damaged in 2010 has been investigated by a team of archaeologists, according to an Archaeology in Bulgaria report. The scientists say this tomb, known as the Rozovo Tomb, is the smallest of the known Thracian brick tombs in the country. Its bricks vary in size and are thought to have been made on the spot to the specifications required by the architect and the builder. “Everything was made to fit together,” said Georgi Nehrizov of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia. He and Meglena Parvin of the Kazanlak Museum of History think the structure dates to the first half of the third century B.C. “This Hellenistic era Thracian brick tomb is the second one after the Kazanlak Tomb to be discovered with a fully preserved dome,” Nehrizov added. Other tombs in the region are not as well preserved, he added, since some of their bricks were reused in later structures. A wooden antechamber in front of the tomb’s main structure had a roof of large, flat tiles and curved tiles, and it had been waterproofed with plaster and river stones. To read about a particularly unusual Thracian tomb, go to “A Final Journey by Horse.”