The first archaeological researches in
Bulgarians mounds began at the end of XIX century. In 1898 – 1903 French dilettantes of
antiques had excavated the mounds aroiund Yambol, Proslav (Mechkyur) and
Kostinevo. Mounds were investigated also by Atanas Chilingirov (in Nevsky
Sultan (city of Popovo, Razgrad region, in the Region of Shumen in 1905).
Karel Shkorpel and D. Kostov in Ruse and in 1912 Rafail Popov made
archaeological investigations of the mounds situated by Salmanovo – Shumen
region and 1914 he has investigated the Kodjadermanskata mound. Prof. Gavrail
Katzarov has investigated the mound at Kirilometodievo (today’s Kirilovo,
Haskovsko) in 1912, later the mound in Kirilovo has been investigated by the
German archaeologists Karel Bitttel.
These first
investigations of prehistoric mounds in Bulgaria were only with initial
investigation character. The main purpose was to fill the local collections of
the museums. Exception are only the excavations of Rafail Popov in Kodzhadermen
and Salmanovo – Shumen region. The Bulgarian first prehistoric scientists had a
solid theoretical and practical base. His investigations were made for purpose.
The main task was to explore the life and the culture of the inhabitants in the
settlements hidden under the mounds. The most effective were the investigations
in the mounds of Kodzhadermen and Salmanovo. They brought a lot of information
and they had shown that the ancient settlement mounds hide precious
archaeological finds which has a value for the history and which are monuments
of the ancient art and speaks about the enriched cultural life of the
prehistoric inhabitants. The majority of the materials are dated from the
Copper Neolithic Age.
After the World
War I the young Vasil Mikov participated in the prehistoric investigation. He
has investigated the ancient settlement by Kubrat – region of Ruse in 1924/25
and the mound at Veselinovo – region of Yambol - 1935. Mikov first brough the
Karanovo ancient settlement mound
and begin the first archaeological investigations in 1936. His investigations
in Karanovo continued in 1946 – 1957 after the world war II. More about the
Karanovo culture could be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karanovo_culture
Picture of Karanovo
