Medieval Christian Grave “Pillow” Unearthed in Bulgaria

VELIKO TARNOVO, BULGARIA—Archaeology in Bulgaria reports that researchers have found a thirteenth-century grave in the wall of a monastery church in the Frankish quarter of Tarnovgrad, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. A block engraved with Christian scripture verses written in Old Bulgarian and a two-barred cross was found under the head of the grave’s occupant. “Such ‘underhead’ [or pillow] bricks were placed beneath the heads of members of the senior clergy in their graves,” said archaeologist Hitko Vachev. “At this point, there is no way to say with absolute certainty who the buried man was but it can be assumed that he was at least Father Superior of the monastery. There is a hypothesis that he was one of the Bulgarian Patriarchs. It is possible that he was a senior clergyman named Yoan [Ivan, John] who had requested that a quote from the Holy Gospel of John be placed beneath his head in his grave.” The verses on the block were translated by Kazimir Popkonstantinov of Veliko Tarnovo University, who cautioned that a study of the man’s clothing and crozier, or staff, would be necessary to determine his status in the church hierarchy. To read about a Byzantine icon fragment unearthed at the fortress of Rusokastro in southeastern Bulgaria, go to "Iconic Discovery."