The British Archaeological Expedition to the ancient emporium of Vetren - Pistiros, central Bulgaria
Zofia Archibald, 2009. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000165. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © University of Liverpool, Dr Zofia Archibald unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Dr
Zofia
Archibald
School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies
University of Liverpool
Abercromby Square
Liverpool
L69 3BX
England
Tel: 0151 7945044
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 359
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000165
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
Adjiyska Vodenitsa (Hadji's Water Mill), near Vetren, central Bulgaria, is a premier archaeological site of the European Iron Age. It was an inland emporium, acting as a centre of exchange between Continental regions of the East Balkans and the Mediterranean between 5th and 2nd centuries BCE. A granite inscription, found 2km north-east of the site, is one of the earliest documents from the chancery of a European prince, granting privileges to Greek merchants from named cities of the Aegean. It refers to Pistiros, an emporium, which has been identified with the site at Adjiyska Vodenitsa.
Abandoned since antiquity, the site was discovered in 1988 by Mieczyslaw Domaradzki, Senior Field Officer at the Institute of Archaeology, Sofia. An international team was created in 1992 to investigate the site, which is one of a tiny handful of Iron Age settlements that have been examined systematically in the whole east Balkan region.
The project described here, funded by an AHRB grant (1999-2000), aimed to
- conduct a geophysical survey to determine the size and character of the fortified area, and of the colluvial/alluvial deposits that brought about the site's demise;
- conduct a limited on-site excavation and post-excavation analysis;
- create an electronic database of finds;
- conduct a preliminary examination of faunal remains.
A grid of 10m squares was set up in 1988, based on a local triangulation point located near the western periphery of the terrace. A combination of letters and numbers (A5, A10, B10, B'2, etc) was adopted to identify each grid square/quadrat. This is the most familiar and most commonly used system for designating particular grid squares, and is widely used in site documentation. A grid based on eastings and northings, using the same triangulation reference point, was implemented in 1992, in connection with the first systematic geophysical survey, but these co-ordinates are rarely used in the documentation system as a whole, although they are included in the site narrative, and on context sheets.
All the documentation that is not included here exists as hard copy (notebooks, drawings, photographs and slides), and is archived in the School of Archaeology, Classics, and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool, with Dr. Z. Archibald, and in the Field Unit of the Merseyside National Museums and Galleries (NMGM), with Dr. M. Adams and Ms. C. Ahmad. Raw data for the geophysical surveys conducted by GSB Prospection is archived by GSB Prospection, Bradford. Reports are listed among the publications below. Further details about the field recording system are included in the reports referred to below.
Finds recorded here are documented in two ways. The on-site recording system is based on current standards promulgated by the Institute of Archaeology and Museum affiliated to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. All finds are recorded in site notebooks, together with spatial co-ordinates and depth measurements. Field notebooks include catalogues of coins, and of 'special finds' (ie. small finds: metal, bone, glass, industrial waste, worked stone), as well as ceramic notebooks, in which all ceramic finds are listed in batches (designated by the letter 'K', followed by a numeral). 'K' batches are assigned by each team leader/supervisor, in a continuous series. Thus, individual teams will only have 'K' numbers for a component part of the series. All ceramic finds (tile, brick, storage vessel [= Gk. pithos], portable stove [= Gk. pyraunos], amphorae, coarse wares, fine wares, imported and local) are listed as gross numbers of sherds within each category, further divided into rims, walls, bases, handles, etc.
Our own recording system, which is a suitably adapted version of the records used by NMGM, uses batch numbers as its basis (as well as quadrats). The contents of each batch are weighed as well as classified and counted on site, and subsequently included on the finds database. Discarded finds are indicated as such on the database. Discard policy is partly dictated by storage constraints in the Archaeological Museum, Septemvri, where finds are stored. All small finds, and as many ceramic finds as possible, are re-weighed on a precision balance in the Museum.
Each team has a small finds inventory book in the Museum. The British team's book has the acronym 'API' (= Angliyska Poleva Inventarna Kniga). Small finds are identified by a unique number in this inventory, and API numbers are included for cross-reference on the database. Context numbers within each quadrat are designated in a continuous series, those in B21 starting with 01, those in D19/D24 beginning with 1000.
Coverage:
Bulgaria, Central Plain, Pazardjik region, municipality of Septemvri, village of Vetren, location Adjiyska Vodenitsa.
Precise site co-ordinates for mapping purposes are not currently available, and this information is not made public within Bulgaria.
Creators:
Dr. Zofia Archibald,
Lecturer in Classical Archaeology,
School of Archaeology, Classics, and Oriental Studies,
University of Liverpool
L69 3BX
Tel. +44-0151-794-2441 fax:0151-794-2442
Email: Z.Archibald@liverpool.ac.uk
Dr. Mark Adams,
National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside,
Liverpool Museum Field Archaeology Unit,
GWR Building,
Mann Island,
Liverpool
L3 1DG
Tel. +44-151-478-4260
Email: mark.adams@nmgm.org
Ms. Clare Ahmad
National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside,
Liverpool Museum Field Archaeology Unit,
GWR Building,
Mann Island,
Liverpool
L3 1DG
Tel. +44-151-478-4260
Email: clare.ahmad@nmgm.org
Contact:
Dr. Zofia Archibald,
Lecturer in Classical Archaeology,
School of Archaeology, Classics, and Oriental Studies,
University of Liverpool
L69 3BX
Tel. +44-0151-794-2441 fax:0151-794-2442
Email: Z.Archibald@liverpool.ac.uk
Dates:
Files were created between 1995 and 2002.
Copyright:
Copyright is held by the University of Liverpool and Dr. Z. Archibald
Relations:
All the data included in the dataset is original.
Additional data about the site, including available publications and those pending is listed below:
Jan Bouzek, Mieczyslaw Domaradzki, and Z.H. Archibald, eds., Pistiros 1. Excavations and Studies (Charles University, Prague, 1996).
Jan Bouzek, Lidia Domaradzka, and Z.H. Archibald, eds., Pistiros 2. Excavations and Studies (Charles University, Prague, 2002).
Z.H. Archibald, 'The Odrysian river port near Vetren, Bulgaria, and the Pistiros inscription', TALANTA 32/33 (2000-2001) 2002, 253-75.
Z.H. Archibald (with M. Adams, S. Ovenden, and S. Stallibrass) 'A River Port and emporion in Central Bulgaria: An Interim Report on the British Project at Vetren', Annual of the British School at Athens 97 (2002) 20pp (forthcoming 2003).
GSB Prospection, Geophysical Report of Vetren, Report 92/60 (unpublished)
GSB Prospection, Geophysical Report of Vetren, Report 93/93 (unpublished)
GSB Prospection, Geophysical Report of Vetren, Report 94/79 (unpublished)
GSB Prospection, Vetren-Pistiros 1999 Bulgaria, Geophysical Survey Report 99/88 (unpublished)
GSB Prospection, Pistiros 2001 Bulgaria, Geophysical Survey Report 2001/46 (unpublished)
