Public lecture by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margarit Damyanov from NAIM-BAS on “The Archaic pottery from the St. Kirik Island and the place of Apollonia Pontica in the chronology of the early Greek colonisation of the Black Sea”

On Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 17:00, in the building of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum in Sofia, 1 Atanas Burov Sq. (opposite the Presidency Building), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margarit Damyanov is going to present a lecture, as part of the “Academic seminar of NAIM” lecture series, on the Archaic pottery discovered on the St. Kirik Island, nowadays Sozopol, and its significance for the history of the ancient town of Apollonia Pontica in the context of the early Greek colonisation of the Black Sea.

The archaeological research on the St. Kirik Island, conducted over the last 24 years, has uncovered the religious centre of Apollonia Pontica, as well as traces of the earliest habitation period of the town, related to Greek colonists. The acquired ceramic assemblage from the Archaic Period is the first one, discovered in the territory of modern Bulgaria during regular excavations. With its aid, we can now compare the earliest development of Apollonia with that of other contemporaneous Greek colonies in the Black sea region, such as Histria (modern Romania) and Borystenes (modern Ukraine).

Dr. Margarit Damyanov is an Associated Professor at the Department of Thracian Archaeology in the National Archaeological Institute with Museum, at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He studied Archaeology in the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, where he acquired a Master’s degree in 2000, followed by a PhD in Classical Archaeology in 2006. Since 2009, he has been employed as an assistant professor at the National Archaeological Institute, while during 2022 he became an associated professor. Dr. Margarit Damyanov is the author of a large number of scientific contributions mostly dedicated to the material aspects of the Greek colonisation along the Western Black sea coast. Since 2001, he has participated in the archaeological research of dozens of Ancient sites, predominantly located within the boundaries of the town of Apollonia Pontica and its territory.