The surveys in 2018 ordered Rusokastro among the most significant Bulgarian medieval towns

In the past year the efforts of the archaeologists from the Regional historical museum Burgas were concentrated at the Rusokastro Fortress. The archaeological summer there lasted more than 3 months with funding from the Municipality of Kameno and the Ministry of Culture.

Fully studied were 48 m from the western fortress wall with a width of 2.5 to 4.1 m. Within its dimensions was the early Byzantine fortress wall of up to 2 m, confirming the data from the sources for the creation of the fort.

In 2018, archaeologists found two new towers, one with a rectangular plan along the western wall, and the second northwest at the northern end of the citadel. The second one is the end of a newly discovered fortress wall with a length of 8 m and a width of 2.4 to 3 m. The battle tower has a round shape, 5.3 m in diameter and a preserved height of 1.1 m. It is dated from the first half of the 13th century. From the same time period are the other two studied structures - the building with pylons of masonry stone pillars and the fortress citadel.

Among the most interesting finds for 2018 is a fragment of a conical object made of agate. The coins represent mostly the issues of Tsar Todor Svetoslav, Tsar Ivan Alexander, Sultan Murad I, Giovanni Dandollo, Charles I of Anjou, Guillaume II of Villaardouen, the Palaiologos Dynasty up to Andronikos III, Roman and Early Byzantine coins from the XI c.

"The preserved height of architecture is larger than that in Tsarevets, so this town can become the second Tsarevets. Our desire is to completely restore a fragment of the fortress, with the wall restored to a height of 10-11 meters - as it was in the Middle Ages. This will be done with the original materials - every stone of the building is preserved, so a word can not be said for some butaforia" said Milen Nikolov, director of RHM-Burgas and head of research in Rusokastro.

Kameno Municipality has already begun the design of conservation and restoration works at the fortress, as well as the preparation for construction of tourist infrastructure around the site.
In 2019, the work of archaeologists will concentrate on the full study of the citadel of the fortress. According to Milen Nikolov this will finally confirm the hypothesis that Rusokastro is a castle of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Assen.
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Tags:Rustokastro, excavation