A new extraordinary find was discovered during the excavations of Rusokastro fortress

The archaeologists, exploring the medieval Bulgarian town of Rusokastro, were delighted by an unexpected find. The excavation of a monumental building in the fortress castle has revealed a truncated cone made of striped Chalcedon, also known as agate. This is a very hard precious stone, which is highly valued both in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The find is extremely polished, and is a rare example of medieval jewellery. Only a fraction of one half of the entire subject is found. It has been drilled with very great end-to-end craftsmanship and probably has been mounted on a metal or wooden spike through the circular groove.

So far, Burgas archaeologists, exploring the medieval town of Rusokastro, have found no analogue to this exquisite ornament. They suggest that it was used for decoration of the back of a ceremonial chair like a throne. A final answer to this question will only be given when discovering another similar subject.

This jewellery piece was discovered together with a silver coin of the Bulgarian Tsar Todor Svetoslav Terter (reigned between 1300-1322).
The find has a preserved height of 5 cm, but it was much higher. Its diameter was 4.7 cm. It is a very beautiful specimen of agate with colourful stripes in a brown-purple tone.

The excavations of the medieval fortress town of Rusokastro are conducted by the Regional historical museum of Burgas and are financed by the Municipality of Kameno and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Tags:Rustokastro, excavation