Thracian Tomb Dated to 4th Century BC

Coin found near tomb displays King Amatokos II coat of arms.

After years of research, the Starosel Tomb in Bulgaria has been dated to the 4th century BC. The Ancient Thrace tomb is the largest underground temple on the Balkan Peninsula.

In the summer of 2009, an archaeological team took samples from a stake in the middle of the tomb where gifts to the Greek goddess of the hearth Hestia had been laid. Radio carbon dating carried out in Germany has shown that the stake was burned in the period after 358 BC, when the temple was constructed, and dirt was heaped on top of it to form a burial mound.

Current analysis indicates that the temple in the village of Starosel and the nearby Thracian ruler’s residence under Mount Kozi Gramadi were built during the reign of the Thracian King Amatokos II (359-351 BC). The family coat of arms of King Amatokos was a doubleheaded ax, or a labrys. Symbols of a labrys were discovered on several items around Starosel, including Thracian coins.

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Ornate Thracian Chariot Found in Bulgaria

The ornamental chariot is about four feet wide with its wheels.

Archaeologists unearth the chariot at the site of the Thracian aristocrat's tomb.

 
Archaeologists have unearthed an elaborately decorated 1,800-year-old chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria.

"The lavishly ornamented four-wheel chariot dates back to the end of the second century AD.," Veselin Ignatov, who heads the excavation, told The Associated Press from the site near the village of Karanovo.

The bronze-plated wooden chariot is decorated with scenes from Thracian mythology, including figures of a jumping panther and the carving of a mythological animal with the body of a panther and the tail of a dolphin. With wheels, it measures four feet across. It was found during excavations in a funerary mound believed to be the grave of a wealthy Thracian aristocrat.

First mentioned in Homer's Iliad as allies of Troy, the Thracians were an Indo-European nomadic people who settled in the Balkans 5,000 years ago. They were conquered by Rome in the 1st century and were assimilated by invading Slav peoples in the 6th century. They had no written language, and so left no records. Fierce warriors and horse-breeders, the Thracians were also skilled goldsmiths. They established a powerful kingdom in the 5th century BC.

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