News

Some may argue, but here are the main ingredients that one needs to mix oneself into the next Indiana Jones: loads of courage, encyclopaedic knowledge, fierce curiosity and a great sense of humour.

Pernik municipality is giving local high school students a possibility to find the Indiana Jones character in themselves while having a wonderfully adventurous summer.

From July 14 to August 8, two brigades will participate in archaeological digs exploring Krakra Fortress, situated near Pernik. The expedition will be the final scholarly-defined research of the treasures hidden under layers of historical and cultural heritage, Simeon Kroumov from the city hall’s press centre said to The Sofia Echo.

After that, the idea is to restore the fortress and make it an attractive tourist site, he said.

The selected students will go through a lecture course in which they will learn the basics of archaeology, will delve into the history of the region, and will study the prehistoric settlements discovered along the Strouma riverbank. Then, they will participate in the unearthing of significant artefacts that are expected “to turn a new page in Bulgaria’s history”.

It is accepted that the fortress had been built shortly after the beginning of ninth century, and according to some scholars, it had had primarily defensive functions up to the crossing of the Third Crusade (1189/92) through the area. Then the fortress had been abandoned. Later on, during the ruling of Bulgarian Tsar Samouil (997/1014), the fortress had been named after Krakra, a local voivoda, or warlord, meant to drive back the attacks of the Byzantine army.

Long before that, however, the territory where the fortress is situated had been home to Thracian settlers. The archaeological expedition will try to discover not only the exact location of the Thracian settlement there, but also some signs of the living habits of its people.

July 11 2008, Source: sofiaecho.com