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Geoarchaeology and Archaeomineralogy (Eds. R. I. Kostov, B. Gaydarska, M. Gurova). 2008. Proceedings of the International Conference, 29-30 October 2008 Sofia, Publishing House “St. Ivan Rilski”, Sofia, 180-184.

PREHISTORIC ROCK SANCTUARIES IN THE EASTERN RHODOPES AND SOME OTHER MOUNTAIN REGIONS IN BULGARIA Ana Raduncheva

National Institute of Archaeology and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1000 Sofia

ABSTRACT. The aim of the present paper is the study of the period of the establishment and the period of the most intensive use of the rock sanctuaries in the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic in THE Eastern Rhodopes (Southern Bulgaria) and some other mountain regions in Bulgaria. Attention is drawn on some elements of the sanctuary plan and interior as well as some aspects of the ritual practices.

The prehistoric rock sanctuaries form a dense network covering the high parts of the mountains. In few cases, in the planes, they are located on rocky hills. Until recently it was believed that the network of rock sanctuaries has covered only the Eastern Rhodopes Mountain but we already know that they were situated on the summits and the slopes of the entire Rhodopes Mountain and almost on all mountains at the Central Balkans – the Sredna Gora Mountains, the Stara Planina Mountains, etc. Each site had a different plan of the temenos area, which was closely related to the specific rituals and the religious beliefs (Raduncheva, 2003, 79-138). The rock sanctuaries also met certain requirements for astronomic observations, which were an extremely important part of the rituals performed there. The sanctuaries were situated on places where magnetic anomalies have been found and the rock thrones and basins were situated on the spots of the anomalies, a circumstance that had influence on the quality of the water in the basins. It probably had an influence over the reactions of the people who stood for a long period near the thrones or were seating on them (Stoev, Muglova, 1996). The elements forming the prehistoric rock sanctuaries consisted of anthropomorphic images or substantial parts of them, human heads mainly; animal figures – lions, leopards, bears, horses, serpents, tortoises and hedgehogs; birds – eagles and swans; various thrones and altars, ritual pits carved into the rocks, natural caves or caves cut into the rocks, stairways leading to nowhere or should we say to heaven, water reservoirs (wells and basins cut into the rocks) and water sources (springs or small streams) flowing through the territory of the sanctuary, niches cut into the rocks, etc. There are effigies of suns and moons in various phases as well as syncretic effigies of creatures having both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features – sphinxes, sirens-birds with human faces or sculptures of mythological creatures with human faces and serpent’s bodies. The combination of different elements resulted in a great variety of rock sanctuaries. Today we are aware of the fact that all sacred places differ from each other

notwithstanding the fact that they consisted of identical or similar elements. The various components comprising the plan of the temenos area have been chosen according to the cult practices and the rituals performed there. As I have mentioned many times, the religious beliefs defined the type of the rock effigies and the way they have been made. In some cases the natural curves of the rocks have been used, sometimes they needed additional modification and have been slightly cut in order to be given a shape required by the ritual, and sometimes monumental sculptures have been made from rocks and rock pieces. In the sanctuary on the Harmankaya peak near the Gassak neighbourhood in the village of Dolna Chobanka, the anthropomorphic effigies were made of larger or smaller pieces of rocks, which were carefully arranged to fit each other (Fig. 1). In most cases the cuts and the reliefs were made on the horizontal as well as on vertical rocks. Both, the sculptures cut into the rocks and the carvings, find parallels among the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic finds discovered during excavations of prehistoric settlements.

Fig. 1. Human’s head made of rock pieces cut to fit each other (right); parallel image from Israel (left)

The time when the rock cult places and sanctuaries were established has become a constant research issue in the recent years and by default they are dated to the Thracian period. The fact that the type of Neolithic and Chalcolithic finds from prehistoric settlements precisely correspond to the type of

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structures cut into the rocks, provide a reason to date the establishment of the entire sanctuary network to the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic. Here are some arguments supporting the proposed date. The following sequence has been observed in the sanctuaries under research: various effigies were cut into the main rocks and were covered after that by layers yielding pottery and finds dated mainly to the second half of the Chalcolithic and in a few cases – to the Neolithic. This fact provides ground to date the majority of the rock structures and sanctuaries to the final Late Chalcolithic. After the end of the Chalcolithic, these cult places were abandoned for a period of ca. 2000 years. It was as late as the Late Bronze Age when human activity is recorded again although the newcomers used only certain sectors from the old temene. Sectors from the prehistoric settlements continued to be used in the Early Iron Age as well. This chronological pattern is recorded everywhere – in the sanctuaries of both the Eastern and the Western Rhodope Mountains (Belantash near the village of Vrata, Assenovgrad Region, Perperek near the village of Gorna Krepost, Kardzhali Region, Tatul near the village of Dolna Chobanka, Raven-Center, Raven-North, Raven-West, Adzhioluk, Kazan Beyug, Chukovo, Chomakovo, Momchilgrad Region, Fotinovo and Benkovski, Kirkovo Kale locality, “the Tower of Babylon” and Uch Kale near the town of Dzhebel, Adata, Krumovgrad Region, Pchelarovo, Haskovo Region, at Dzhambaz Tepe in Plovdiv, the numerous cult places along the Borovitsa and Dazhdovnitsa Rivers, at the village of Dzhanka, Zhenda near

the villages of Nochevo and Angel Voyvoda, Kardjali Region, at the Bosilkovo neighbourhood in the village of Davidkovo, Smolyan Region, at the village of Dolno Dryanovo, Blagoevgrad Region and in the sanctuaries in the Sredna Gora Mountains (at Buzovgrad, near the village of Karnara on the Stryama River, in the Turchov Kamak locality (Kitov, 1979), a dozen of sites near the town of Strelcha (Vasilev, 2007) as well as in the Stara Planina Mountains (at the village of Gortalovo, Pleven Region (Mikov, 1982; etc.). To give the reader only a clue for the number of the rock sanctuaries one can mention that only in the Momchilgrad Region their number exceeds 100 and each survey adds new sites to the map. The archaeological excavations at the Arkata locality at the village of Oreshare made by S. Ivanova in 2008 supported the stratigraphic observations of the sanctuaries listed above. About 80% of the sherds collected during the surveys and the excavations are dated to the Late Chalcolithic; certain ritual objects such as ceramic and triangular bone figurines as well as small ritual arrows made of flint and agate are also dated to the same period. Large size stone tools (axes and adzes) used probably for cutting the soft rocks at the sanctuaries have also been found. It is worth mentioning that 90% of the finds yielded by the large pits cut into the rocks of the sanctuary near the village of Pchelarovo, Haskovo Region are dated to the end of the Late Chalcolithic. The finds comprise complete and fragmented ceramic vessels, marble (Shukerova, 1985) and clay figurines as well as stone tools. These finds were found in pits whose depth sometimes reached several metres. The tradition of the ritual pits came from the Early Neolithic and survives through the entire Chalcolithic period.

Fig. 2. Tatul sanctuary, view from the West.

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The type of stone sculptures that have close parallels to Neolithic and Chalcolithic finds both from Bulgaria and the adjacent areas are essential for the identification of the exact time span of the emergence and most intensive use of the prehistoric rock sanctuaries. The notorious trapezoidal structure known as “Orpheus’s grave” at the sanctuary at the Vezhnitsa neighbourhood of the village of Tatul finds a close parallel in a ceramic object discovered during the excavations of the Chalcolithic shrine complex near the village of Dolnoslav, Plovdiv Region (Raduncheva, 2003, 283, 129) and it is my deep believe that it was not related to Orpheus at all. The more important thing is that the same structure exists at the site of Tatul and it is hard to believe that it can be interpreted as the second grave of the same mythological person, who is not even supposed to have a grave as told by the myth. The vessel cut into the rocks of Tatul and shaped as a jar has the same shape as the ritual pit of the Early Neolithic complex with a marketplace near Simeonovgrad, Haskovo Region (Raduncheva, 2003, 247, 54б-в). The effigy of a tortoise cut into the Eastern wall of the trapezoidal rock at the sanctuary (Raduncheva, 2003, 239, 36, 37) is identical to the effigy of the same animal (a clay relief) in a shrine at the Chalcolithic shrine complex near the village of Dolnoslav, Plovdiv Region (Raduncheva, 2003, 258, 74). The entire Western part of the same sanctuary is covered by a monumental composition presenting a lioness’s head, two lion figures with manes and a gigantic profile of a human figure holding a sun in its left hand (Ovcharov, B; book cover) (Fig. 2) and having close parallel in a VI mill. BC find from Spain (Sandars, 1968, 141, 57a), which dates back the Bulgarian find as well. In fact the so-called “grave of Orpheus” is situated just on the head of the figure holding the sun and is probably related to it. The four enormous rock figurines (Raduncheva, 2003, 233, 22), each of them exceeding a height of 3 m, which were placed at the Western wall of the Easternmost room of the large shrine at the Perperek sanctuary and which survived for 6000 years and were recently destroyed by archaeologists (Ovcharov, A; 1, 20), find close parallels in the marble Neolithic and Chalcolithic figurines. The enormous human head made from rock pieces intentionally dressed to fit each other and situated on the central rock of the sanctuary at Dolna Chobanka is very similar to a VI mill. BC figurine from Israel (Fig. 1). The polychrome frescoes on the Eastern part of the “sacred rock” at the Belantash sanctuary presenting a horseman going to the North, a leopard and enormous human silhouettes find their close parallels in the frescoes in Çatalhöyük temples and are dated back to the VIII mill. BC. A considerable part of the rock reliefs and sculptures are similar as images to some of the Late Chalcolithic figurines (Raduncheva, 2003, 254, 50; Mellaart, 1999, 77-99). It has to be mentioned that painted suns or suns presented as graffiti are found in caves – at the Kazanbeyug sanctuary near the Vaz neighbourhood of the village of Raven, Faran near the Gassak neighbourhood of the village of Dolna Chobanka and in the Koshcha locality in the suburbs of Momchilgrad – and they resemble very much the sun representations at the Chalcolithic shrine complex near the village of Dolnoslav, Plovdiv region (Raduncheva, 2003, 267, 93; 2006, 57-72). The face in the Koshcha Cave finds its close parallels in the

Paleolithic art (Drossler, 1967, 199, Abb. 92). Here it is worth mentioning that stone sculptures almost 2 m high are situated on the bank of the Stryama River near the village of Karnare and they are replicas of the type which was most common in the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic. The rock structure called “The Gate of the Goddess” in the sanctuary near Buzovgrad, Kazanlak Region has very close parallels to Chalcolithic and even Paleolithic effigies (Drossler 1967, 222, 90). The main rock structures listed above and many others, which are not presented in the current paper, reveal that the emergence of the peak sanctuaries started as early as the Early Neolithic and continued till the end of the Late Chalcolithic. As I already mentioned above, 2000 years later the Thracians having kings, treasures and architectural skills reused sectors of the sanctuaries for a short period. All said above provides reason to date back this type of rock sites to the prehistoric period. They have been established and functioned for several millennia and the Thracians used them only for a short time. They also used the prehistoric rock structures as altars, thrones, stairways, niches and basins cut into the rocks. A good example is the interior of the shrines at Perperek. The later Thracian temple at Tatul was built directly on top of the prehistoric rock structures. When discussing the date of the emergence of the rock sanctuaries it should be reminded that few traces of metal tools were found on the rocks. Clearly visible traces are observed on small spots and they are related to secondary cutting. One more fact related to the above mentioned arguments has to be mentioned. The ancient authors writing about the Thracian cuts sites and religious beliefs did not provide any information about established at that time cult places or sanctuaries – an activity, which could not have remained unnoticed by the contemporaries due to the large scale of construction work. Apparently they did not have information or did not suppose that cult places established millennia ago have been reused and recorded their use only in relation to the Thracian cults. In some of my previous works I have provided arguments supporting my belief that in the prehistoric period the Rhodope Mountain became a sacred mountain – a gigantic composite altar for worshiping the supreme deities (Raduncheva, 2002; 2003). In my opinion the same is true for other mountainous regions on the Balkans. It seems that the plan and the construction of some of the sanctuaries strongly resemble a certain type of “cult tables” or “lamps” whose sides were decorated with zoomorphic or anthropomorphic heads. A good example is provided by the enormous bull head and the human figure beside, cut into the upper ridge of the Perperek sanctuary (Ovcharov, B; 3-4). A head of a tortoise completes the Eastern end of the Raven-North sanctuary and the sanctuary itself has the shape of a tortoise shell. Two lions are sculptured at the sanctuary near the Gasak neighbourhood of the village of Dolna Chobanka. The boundaries of the Belantash sanctuary to the East and to the North are delineated by two mountain ridges resembling gigantic lying human figures (Raduncheva, 2003, 242, 45). The sanctuary at the Vezhnitsa neighbourhood of the village of Tatul is situated on the pate of a gigantic prehistoric figurine, whose face finds numerous parallels among the prehistoric figurines (Fig. 3) (Nikolova, Genov, 2008). Apparently the clay cult tables (or

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lamps) have been considered miniature models of the cult places in the mountains and some of them probably were considered as altars for offerings which is the case of a find from the Tell near the village of Sedlare, Momchilgrad Region. There is a human head on the table strongly resembling the rock head of a rock altar (badly damaged by the archaeological excavations) at the Tatul sanctuary.

Fig. 3. Tatul sanctuary, aerial photograph (above) and a human-like image (below)

There are not many aerial photographs of the sanctuaries. However, such a photograph taken years ago is available for the Perperek sanctuary. It is clearly visible on this photograph that the sanctuary has the shape of a lying human figure (Ovcharov et al., 19). The second aerial photograph taken of the site revealed the main concept of the sanctuary plan. It resembles a gigantic seated male figure holding with his left arm in his lap the great rock temple. The right arm of the figure is bent at the elbow and raised to the shoulder with the palm turned outwards and fingers tightly pressed to each other. The pate of the giant’s head reaches the top of the hill and his legs – the foothill. The rocks shaping the left arm, from the elbow to the palm are now destroyed. The only part preserved are the five fingers, which in fact are “staircases” leading from nowhere

to nowhere in the middle room of the large rock temple. The thrones are situated in the same room, one of them having lions on the back and a seated figure beside; it is a figure of a “man with cat ears” – a character known from the frescoes and reliefs on the walls of the Çatalhöyük temple, dated to the VIII millennium BC. There are several altars in the next room, which beyond any doubt are prehistoric and at least two of them have eyes shaped according to the traditions of the Late Chalcolithic. Following this line we can try to reconstruct the concept of the prehistoric sanctuary builder – the largest temple is in the lap of the supreme god who protects it. Another interpretation is also possible – the giant is offering the temple to the deities, holding it in his left hand and raising his right arm to salute them. The figure was related to other structures – the large basin, the temple situated to the East, the sacred road, the thrones and the various rock structures on the plateau; a great part of which was destroyed by the recent excavations. All mentioned above makes definitions such as “city of the rock people”, “city”, “capital city”, “Sitalk’s palace”, “site of an oracle of Dionysus”, “Perperikon”, “Pergamum”, “Pergan”, etc. sound absurd. In fact we are facing a bright example of material expression of the supreme emanation of beliefs and the complex organization of spirituality in the prehistoric period. Many authors wrote about the lack of credibility of these definitions as well (Atanasov, 2002, 89-96; Iliev, 2007, 89-98; Tacheva, 2007, 251-259; Rabadjiev, 2008). As we know the religious and the everyday life of the prehistoric people have been managed and controlled by civil and religious structures functioning on various levels – family level, tribal level and related to the tribe alliances in the final Late Chalcolithic. The supreme power was exercised by representatives of the supreme priesthood, who were in charge of the ritual practices performed at the rock sanctuaries (Raduncheva, 2003, 75-138). Some of the rituals were closely related to astronomical observations and calculations as well as to different kinds of predictions. The rituals were divided into two parts – profane and sacred. The profane part included various performances, a theatre for the worshippers and pilgrims, who came to hear the will of the deities. The sacred (hidden) one was related to the astronomical knowledge and records, observations of movement of stars and celestial phenomena – an activity providing ground for precise predictions of the future. This sacred knowledge was accumulated, kept and transferred from generation to generation (Raduncheva, 2002, 78-111). It was also most probably directly related to the fact that the pilgrims visiting the sanctuaries during various seasons or times of the day saw different images as demanded by the sacred part of the ritual.

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