Archaeological Monuments in the Land Belonging to Mogila Village, Kaspichan Municipality, Shumen District

The monuments in the land belonging to the village of Mogila have been visited and published by a number of prominent Bulgarian scientists and specialists. With their research, they predetermine the interest in the cultural and historical heritage of the region and thereby inspire the next generations for deeper and detailed studies of the archaeological sites. Unlike neighboring villages around the Madaro-Mogila plateau, such as the villages of Kalugeritsa (today's district of Kaspichan), Madara and Kyulevcha, no archaeological excavations have been carried out near Mogila so far. On the basis of the results of the field and scientific researches of some specialists that have reached the authors, we will try to present the archaeological monuments known so far, which can also be developed as objects of cultural tourism. There is a late antique and mediaeval fortress, 7 km southeast of the village of Mogila, in the eastern part of the Mogila Plateau, locked between the Provadiyska River (the Venchan/Provadiy Gorge) and its tributary Dalbok dol (Figs. 1, 2a–b). It was built in the Gurebahche kale area. It is situated on an elevation of a rocky promontory with a southerly direction, southwest of which Fulu or Hulu dol descends. The fortress wall blocks the promontory from the north-northwest. It is assumed that it is dual – with protechism. In the western part of the fortress wall is an entrance flanked by two towers for its defense. Inside the fortified area, remains of a large rectangular stone building were found. In the fortification, a two-part bronze seal was found, associated initially with Tsar Mihail Shishman (1323–1330), and later with Mitso (Micho) Asen (1256–1263) and six copper coins of Andronikos II Palaiologus (1282–1295). The ceramics on the surface are from the 3rd–5th and 12th–14th centuries, and the fortress wall is from the 5th–6th centuries. From the north, in front of the fortress wall on the plateau is a mediaeval settlement. On the surface there are stones from destroyed buildings and fragments of ceramic vessels, also from the 12th–14th centuries. There was a monastery on the lower level, on the steep rocks, under the fortress on the hill (Figs. 2a–b, 3, 5a–c). It consists of a church cut into the rock, fifteen cells and three niches – mostly inaccessible. It is known by the name of “Kosovski manastir” (Kosovo Monastery) or “Manastira” (the Monastery). On the southern slopes of the Mogila Plateau, 7.2 km southwest of the village of Mogila, there are rock cells that are also called “Manastira”. A room with two compartments – east and west for cells, has been formed on the rock. Southeast of the monastery, on a rocky massif located on the right bank of Peshterni dol (a tributary of the Kamchia River), there is a group of five cells called “Kosovskite peshteri” (Kosovo Caves), cut at a height of 7–8 m (Figs. 22a–b). Another group of nine cells called “Sodolskite dupki” (Sodola Holes) is located on the rock massif in the upper part of the Sodola Hill, which rises by the right bank of the Provadiyska River (Figs. 23a–b). It represents a gallery of alternating oven-shaped, additionally processed niches of different sizes, oriented to the west and located at a height of 8 to 10 m. On the opposite side, on the left bank of the Provadiyska River, two more groups of cells can be seen on the rock massif Malkoto bulo and on the Malkoto еleme Hill. They are in the land of the village of Nevsha, Varna Region. Probably, all the described cells and niches belong to one monastery complex, the center of which was the Kosovo Monastery, where the main church was. Its existence is dated to the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, and the Kosovo Monastery itself probably to the 17th century. Some of the rock monasteries along the Provadian defile were built as early as the 5th–6th centuries, and others in the 10th–11th centuries. The authors will point out a few more sites about which less is known and which have also not been studied through archaeological excavations. Two km southwest of the village there is a Late Antique fortress, on the very eastern corner of rocky promontory of Gradishte duzu (Fig. 24). Its southwestern side is the most accessible from the plateau and was therefore best fortified. This is probably where the main entrance of the fortification was located. Fragments of ceramics from the 4th–5th centuries were found on the surface. The slope below the hill, between the valley of the Muhlenska River and the rocky valley of the Porach River, is called the town of Strazha. There are settlements from the Late Iron and Late Antique periods – from the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD, which also occupied the southern area of today’s Mogila Village. There are settlements from different eras, 1 km northwest of the village of Mogila, on a natural mound (Muhla tepe) (Figs. 25a–b). It is possible that there was a cult center on the mound or around it. The place was inhabited during the Chalcolithic, Iron, Roman (3rd–4th centuries) and Mediaeval (12th–14th centuries) periods. Many accidental finds are also known from the land belonging to the village of Mogila, which ended up in the collection of the Shumen Regional Museum of History. The accumulation of archaeological material and subsequent publications add to our picture of life in the area in all eras. If analyzed well, they would provide important information about the demographics of the region, the places of habitation, routes of penetration of influences, trade connections, settlement centers and production possibilities. There was probably a jewelry manufacturing center in the area during the Iron Age. Two stamps of precious metal, for printing a relief image on a sheet of metal, a tool (chisel), and the exposed blank for a fibula point us to these assumptions. The insufficient information about the commented objects in the present text can be supplemented by more targeted and regular archaeological field surveys.