BALEY, BULGARIA—Archaeology in Bulgaria reports that a 3,000-year-old ceramic bird-shaped vessel was discovered inside a cremation burial urn at a necropolis in northwestern Bulgaria last year by Tanya Hristova, Stefan Alexandrov, and Georgi Ivanov of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' National Archaeological Institute with Museum, and Nikolay Kazashki of the Vidin Regional Museum of History. The researchers uncovered 15 cremation burials at the Thracian necropolis, where a total of more than 130 burials have been found. The bird-shaped vessel is decorated with encrusted markings and is thought to represent a duck or similar water bird. It was placed in one of three urns, in a grouping covered with lid bowls and buried with three additional vessels with handles and another bowl. A bone needle was also recovered from the urn that held the bird-shaped vessel. Two bronze pendants were recovered from another urn in the group. To read about finds from another Bulgarian necropolis, go to "Thracian Treasure Chest."
