{"id":8261,"date":"2025-07-23T08:52:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.cua-sozopol.com\/projects\/prehistoric-settlements\/ropotamo\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T08:36:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T08:36:52","slug":"ropotamo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/projects\/prehistoric-settlements\/ropotamo\/","title":{"rendered":"Ropotamo"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Ropotamo \u2013 Early Bronze Age Settlement\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Underwater, near the mouth of the Ropotamo River, archaeologists have uncovered traces of human presence dating back to the Early Bronze Age. In recent years, the team of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology has been conducting systematic underwater excavations in the bay between Cape Saint Dimitar (Skombolito) and the river mouth. The primary focus is a settlement from the Early Bronze Age, which existed around 3000 BC.

In 2018, investigations continued in two main zones\u2014designated as squares T2 and T3. Archaeologists identified seven cultural layers containing finds from different historical periods. In the upper layers (approximately 3 metres below the sea surface), vessels from the Ottoman period and the Middle Ages were discovered. Slightly deeper\u2014around 4.2 metres\u2014ceramics and objects from Late Antiquity were found, including amphorae, cooking and tableware, clay oil lamps, and glass fragments.

The most intriguing layer lies at a depth of over 5 metres, revealing structures and artefacts from the Early Bronze Age settlement. Complete vessels such as a jug, a bowl, and a kantharos have been unearthed, along with numerous fragments of handmade pottery and chunks of burnt clay. The most remarkable discovery is a group of 11 wooden posts driven vertically into the ancient sand layer – most likely the foundations of residential structures. Radiocarbon dating of the wood places them between the IVth and IIIrd millennium BC.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 2019, the research continued with new objectives: <\/p>

  • to uncover a larger portion of the Bronze Age settlement;<\/li>
  • to search for evidence of an even earlier Chalcolithic (Copper Age) settlement beneath it;<\/li>
  • to explore a new area closer to the shore to determine the \u201ccentre\u201d of the ancient settlement.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    The excavations confirmed that the settlement was originally located on dry land,<\/p>

    1. which was later submerged by the sea. <\/li>
    2. The newly explored area (T4)<\/li>
    3. suggests that the central part of the settlement was likely closer to the shoreline,<\/li>
    4. at the base of the shallows southwest of Cape Skombolito.<\/li>
    5. At the same time, the hypothesis of an older Chalcolithic settlement beneath the Bronze Age layer was ruled out.<\/li>
    6. Stratigraphic analysis indicates that at the end of the IVth millennium BC, sea level in the Ropotamo area was about 5.8 metres lower than today. This discovery is significant not only for archaeology but also for understanding long-term climatic and environmental changes in the region.

      Curious to learn more? Explore the underwater research methods and findings from the \u201cRopotamo\u201d site in the Annual Reports section of the CUA website.<\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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      Ropotamo \u2013 Early Bronze Age Settlement Underwater, near the mouth of the Ropotamo River, archaeologists have uncovered traces of human presence dating back to the Early Bronze Age. In recent years, the team of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology has been conducting systematic underwater excavations in the bay between Cape Saint Dimitar (Skombolito) and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6425,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8261","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8262,"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8261\/revisions\/8262"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cua-sozopol.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}