Bulgaria, stroll on the beach and find a Roman sarcophagus. Authenticity under study

A bather takes a walk by the sea and comes across a... Roman sarcophagus! It happened last week in Bulgaria, to be precise in the seaside resort of St. Constantine and St. Helena, eight kilometers from the city of Varna, where a former law enforcement officer yesterday afternoon reported the discovery of an ancient sarcophagus he had noticed unattended, on the beach. After specifying the location of the object, which was on the tourist resort’s beach, not far from a recently built but still non-functional complex, a law enforcement team was dispatched to the site to preserve the area around the property. This was reported by Bulgaria’s Ministry of the Interior .

The inspection on the sarcophagus was carried out in the presence of specialists from the Varna Archaeological Museum and a representative of the regional structure of the General Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage at the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. According to the experts’ opinion during the first inspection, it may be, although confirmation is still lacking, a lidless sarcophagus from the Roman period, with rich relief decoration, probably from the 2nd-3rd century AD, with approximate dimensions of 90 x 235 x 75 cm. Its four sides are decorated with characteristic stylized relief ornaments: garlands with hanging clusters, animal heads, rosettes, double-edged axes, and so on. The sarcophagus was finally transported to be deposited in the Varna Archaeological Museum, where it will be studied by experts.

Of course, the question that arises is how a Roman sarcophagus ended up on a beach, which, moreover, is very popular in summer. Since it was found with a contemporary marble slab on top and covered with a layer of common facade paint, the most plausible hypothesis is that its owner used it as a table (without realizing the value of the object in case it is an authentic sarcophagus), and then decided to dispose of it by abandoning it on the beach. However, the Ministry of the Interior has launched an investigation that will also have to shed light on the circumstances that brought the sarcophagus to the beach.

It should be stressed, however, that the manner in which it was found suggests caution about its authenticity. “We want to see what is underneath,” archaeologist Milen Marinov of the local museum in Varna told the Bulgarian news agency BTA. “We want to see if some of the original coloring is left, what technique was used to make it, all the information that will tell us if the sarcophagus is authentic. We have just started, we cannot say anything with certainty.” According to the expert, the sarcophagus could be “authentic, retouched or even an object that someone commissioned so that it would look ancient. There are many ways to make something look ancient again.” In case it is authentic, there would be nothing to be surprised about, since the city of Varna is a very old settlement, founded by the Greeks as early as the 6th century B.C., and was one of the most important Roman cities in the area (in fact, the most important Roman archaeological site in Bulgaria is located here), under the name Odessus, following the Roman conquest of Moesia.

Bulgaria, stroll on the beach and find a Roman sarcophagus. Authenticity under study

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