EDUCATION
Ivelina Petkova graduated her Bachelor’s degree (2000) and a Master’s degree (2002) in ancient history and culture at the New Bulgarian University, Sofia, and a second Master’s degree in archaeology (2021) at the University of Plovdiv “Paisiy Hilendarski”.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In 2019, Ivelina started working in the Center for Underwater Archeology (CUA). From 2009 to 2019, she was director of the History Museum “Prof. Alexander Fol” in Malko Tarnovo. In 2000, Ivelina took part in the first field school of Maritime History and Underwater Archeology conducted by the CUA, during which she become an a open water scuba diver. She participated in excavations of a post-medieval ship wrecked near Urdoviza /Kiten/ from 2000 to 2003, organized by a Bulgarian-American expedition INA Black Sea Shipwreck Excavation. She obtained a scuba diving instructor qualification to the NAUI system in 2009, in the framework of the CUA project “TRAMARISK – Thracian maritime cultural heritage at risk. Research, Documentation, Conservation”,
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE
Ivelina Petkova participated in a number of archaeological surveys – the sunken fortresses and harbors of Nessebar, surveys of the waters off of Kavarna and Shabla, the harbors near Sozopol and the Bay of the Ropotamo River, the prehistoric settlements near the Bay of the Ropotamo River and Sozopol, shipwrecks in theBays of Atliman, Cengene Skele and Cape Urdoviza.