A FRAGMENT OF A HUNTING SCENE FOUND BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN MISSIONIS

The ancient Roman town of Missionis in the region of the Bulgarian North-East town of Targovishte continues to fascinate archeologists with the unique finds, which give an insight into the secrets of what life was like for our ancient ancestors.

The recent discovery is a fragment of a hunting scene stamped on luxurious clay pot. Archeologists have also found ornaments and an icon from the times of Preslav school. The fragment is from ceramic dinnerware, which was first used for decoration at Roman banquets in the I century. There were ceramics workshops across the whole Roman Empire, but the piece of pottery found in Misionis is from workshops of the Tunisian city of Cartagena. Tradionally the luxurious pottery was decorated with relief hunting scenes and scenes of gladiator fighting, but later they were stamped.

According to prof. Nikolai Ovcharov, the town of Misionis dated back to V – XIV century. The ornaments from a Roman aristocratic burial are from a later period.

The icon was painted in the style of Preslav School, which according to prof. Ovcharov is an evidence that Missions experienced a renaissance in the X century, but as a satellite town of the old capital Preslav.