Underwater heritage of the Bulgarian Black sea

The Bulgarian coast and sea are extremely rich in underwater cultural monuments. The Black Sea is an exceptional basin because it has a great heritage, a variety of underwater sites, very well preserved. The oldest discovered sites are prehistoric settlements sunk by the rise of the Black Sea waters, Naiden Prahov, director of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology, told BNT breakfast show "The Day Begins" on August 9.

He added that the rising of the water level began after the last ice age period, 19 000 years ago, a process that continues to date.

Two such prehistoric settlements have been discovered in the port of Sozopol, one from the Chalcolithic epoch, and one from the early Bronze Age, from 3,000 BC. Very well preserved sites with wooden structures and with a lot of pottery, thick layer of poetry and artefacts.

Shipwrecks, very well preserved, in the deep Black Sea, the ships are preserved because of the high content of hydrogen sulphide, which reacts with oxygen, eliminating it, moreover the sulphur strongly limits the bacterial environment.

The oldest ship found at the largest depth is a fifth century ship from the time of the great Greek colonization, an extremely well preserved ship, found at a depth of 2 km. It was explored with a drone, during an expedition with ships from the oil and gas industry, which have such drones for exploration at great depths, which made it possible to trace these wrecks, he expalined.