The Medieval Cemetery at the Southern Wall of Drustur (Silistra)

Abstract

During the year 1986, 102 graves outside the southern curtain wall of Dorostol-Drustur and 3 inside the fortress were excavated. Based on stratigraphic data and the recorded disturbances of grave pits, as well as the destruction of earlier skeletons by later burials, three horizontal burial levels have been identified within the cemetery.

The relative dating is based on the analysis of artifacts from the stratums in which the graves were dug, as well as from the layers above them. The earliest graves date to the 12th century, while the later ones belong to the first half of the 14th century. The number of 14th-century burials is small, as most of them were destroyed by later construction activities.

The cemetery was used by the Bulgarian Christian population of the town. Some contemporary graves with different orientations (north-south or south-north) can hardly be attributed to remnants of a pagan burial tradition. As in other Christian cemeteries of the period, the grave goods mainly consist of personal belongings such as jewelry for the head and body, with ritual offerings being extremely rare. Some of the jewelry pieces are exquisite works of art, while others are simple and widely used among the population at that time.

The closest parallel to the studied cemetery is the one near Kaliakra, dating to the 13th-14th centuries. However, the Drustur cemetery exhibits certain peculiarities, which this study aims to explain.