The previously unknown residential quarter of Kabyle has been discovered with geophysical surveying, and has been partly excavated during the 2016 digs in its archaeological preserve,
Stefan Bakardzhiev, Director of the Yambol Regional Museum of
History, has told BNT.
“The first phase [of the research] was a geophysical survey of a large
part of the territory of the archaeological site, which was carried out using modern-day methods, with magnetometers, resistometers, and a ground-pentrating radar (GPR)," says the archaeologist emphasizing that the research has produced “unexpectedly
good results".
“With these interdisciplinary methods, we have managed to establish the existence of an entire Late
Antiquity quarter which was probably built after 298 AD when Kabyle regained its status as a city, after the reign of [
Roman] Emperor
Diocletian (r. 284-305)," Bakadzhiev explains.
The archaeological team has found that the newly discovered quarter
had a territory of about 26 decares (app. 6.4 acres), its own fortress walls, and large public buildings with dimensions of 30 meters by 40 meters.
The 2016 digs in Kabyle’s “new" Late
Antiquity quarter are
still in progress, with the archaeologists excavating a large
stone building dating back to the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century, and having already exposed a 7-meter section of its wall.
“It seems to be turning out that at the time when it was once again proclaimed a city, Kabyle
had a total territory of about 60 decares (app. 15 acres), which would make it one of the significant cities in this period," Bakardzhiev elaborates.
http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2016/10/24/archaeologists-find-unknown-late-antiquity-quarter-showing-ancient-thracian-city-kabyle-flourished-in-late-roman-period/
