Sozopol – An Ancient Harbour
The harbour of Sozopol, located between the island of Sts. Kirik and Julita and the Skamni Peninsula, has a long history of use and transformation – from Antiquity to the present day. While the natural conditions make it a convenient place for mooring, its current appearance is the result of large-scale construction works during the XX century, especially between 1927–1930 and in the 1980s. These works led to the discovery of significant archaeological finds – ranging from prehistoric times through the Ottoman period to modern history.
Archaeological research in the waters of Sozopol began actively in the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with the earliest years of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology, when the methodology of underwater work was being developed and a strong scholarly community interested in maritime studies and underwater archaeology began to form. Key Bulgarian scholars such as Alexander Fol, Mihail Lazarov, Ventsislav Popov, Kalin Porozhanov, Bozhidar Dimitrov, and Atanas Orachev were among the pioneers of this research. At that time, traces of submerged settlements from the Late Chalcolithic (late IVth millennium BC) and Early Bronze Age (early IIIrd millennium BC) were discovered, as well as substantial accumulations of remains indicating continuous use of the harbour from the VII century BC to Late Antiquity.
After a more than 15-year hiatus in research, in 2020 a team from CUA resumed fieldwork in the waters of the Old Fishing Harbour in Sozopol. These rescue underwater excavations were linked to a project by the Municipality of Sozopol to install floating piers. The investigations led to a reassessment of the results of earlier XXth-century research and the launch of a long-term programme for underwater archaeological research in Sozopol’s waters. During these excavations, a layer containing numerous materials from the Ottoman period – part of the historical harbour – was traced at depths between -4.7 m and -5.1 m. In the lower layers, down to -5.6 m, archaeologists uncovered a rich layer from the ancient harbour of Apollonia, densely packed with fragments and nearly intact tableware and cooking vessels, amphorae, lamps, pithos fragments, and more. These materials accumulated over a period of more than 1,000 years – from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity. At a depth of about -6.3 m, a layer corresponding to the seabed from the VII century BC was identified. The formation of the ancient harbour layers occurred through the discarding of damaged crew items and unsalvageable cargo from ships.
The earliest finds – mainly ceramic fragments of fine and tableware – date to around 600 BC. From the Archaic period, mostly drinking cups and fewer bowls decorated with simple bands and additional elements such as dotted rosettes were discovered. The Classical period is represented almost exclusively by black-glazed pottery. The most numerous finds come from the Archaic and Classical periods (VI–V centuries BC), with drinking vessels being the most frequently found type of tableware. In addition to tableware, a large number of transport amphorae were discovered—again most numerous from the Archaic and Classical periods. The ceramic assemblage also includes a relatively high number of cooking pots (chytra), usually with lids and wider openings.
The analysis of data from the 2020 excavations confirmed that in historical periods, the harbour of Sozopol was accessible to larger ships only from the north, where there was a very narrow entrance – only 12–14 metres wide. Today, this entrance is blocked by a breakwater connecting the island to the mainland. The deepest part of the harbour, reaching -8.3 m, was located near the island of Sts. Kirik and Julita. The historical harbour spanned almost the entire width of the water body between Sts. Kirik and Julita and Skamni. From the entrance, the seabed gradually rose toward the southwest to about -3 m. Depths between -3.6 m and -4.5 m were most suitable for securely anchoring larger vessels. The harbour had no southern entrance usable by ships drawing more than 1 m due to shallows along the line connecting the southern tip of the island and the mainland. These natural features of the water area between the island and the Skamni Peninsula were radically altered during the harbour’s construction in 1927–1930, when the narrow northern entrance was closed and a new, wider entrance was dredged from the southwest. During the 1927 dredging and subsequent underwater construction, much of the accumulation layer from the historical harbour was destroyed – along with large sections of the Early Bronze Age layer.
If you want to learn more about Sozopol – An Ancient Harbour, explore the Annual Reports and individual scholarly articles in the Scientific Publications section.
In the following field seasons (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), as part of the long-term programme of CUA, remains of submerged prehistoric settlement structures from the late IVth and IIIrd millennium BC were also uncovered alongside the excavation of layers from the ancient harbour of Sozopol. Learn more about this in the section Sozopol – Prehistoric Settlement.
