Archaeological investigations of tumulus 39, Eastern necropolis of the Sboryanovo National Reserve

The investigations of the tumulus were carried out in the frame of the Bulgarian–Swiss Project “Sboryanovo: Necropolises and Territory“.The excavations of the tumulus (diam. 25 m, height 0.50 m) were based on the results of its geophysical prospecting (figs. 1, 3). A complex of pits, a tumulus, and ditches surrounding a rectangular area of 800 m2 was identified.An oval pit (10×6 m, 0.95–1.40 m deep) was discovered in the center of the tumulus, containing only an amorphous iron object. A similar pit was registered to the NE of it.Fragments of pottery and amphorae, an iron rhomphaia and an iron belt buckle of La Tene C1 type (220–200 BC) (fig. 2), and two burials by inhumation and by incineration were discovered in the ditches. This site has no parallels in Bulgaria and on the Balkans. Evidence from Western Europe give ground to interpret it as a cult site.