page_title: Valley of the Thracian Rulers
section_title: Helvetia mound
hierarchical_section_title: Valley of the Thracian Rulers / Helvetia mound
caption_attribution_description: English: view from inside
context_page_description: The Valley of the Thracian Rulers is a popular name which was made public by the archaeologist Georgi Kitov and describes the extremely high concentration and variety of monuments of the Thracian culture in the Kazanlak Valley. It is believed that there are over 1500 funeral mounds in the region, with only 300 being researched so far.
  The Kazanlak Tomb was discovered in 1944. Between 1948 and 1954 the ancient town of Seuthopolis was studied. Between the 1960s and the 1980s people made researches of the mound necropolis which belonged to residents of Sevtopolis. Another two brick tombs were found there. The Maglizh and Kran tombs were discovered in 1965. The 60s also marked the research of Thracian tombs from the Roman era in the regions of the villages of Tulovo and Dabovo, made by Prof. L. Getov. During the 70s M. Domaradski, Ph. D., researched a habitation and its surrounding necropolis in the Atanastsa region, village of Tazha.
  The period between 1992 and 2006, with short interruptions, marked the research made by Senior Research associate G. Kitov, Ph. D., and the expedition TEMR led by him.
context_section_description: The mound is located 0.5 km southeast of the town of Shipka. The tomb was discovered on 28 July 1996 during regular archaeological excavations led by Senior Research Associate Georgi Kitov, Ph. D.
  The tomb consists of a long, wide corridor, an antechamber and a rectangular chamber.
  The Dromos (Greek Δρόμος) was built from different-sized crushed and processed stones based on mud soldering and contacts with the façade by a joint. Its floor and the floors of both rooms are covered with thick lime plaster whose level shows an appreciable slope of the southeast exit.
  The antechamber and the chamber are completely and perfectly preserved. They have a common spatial solution and uniform construction - large, well-processed blocks, soldered with lead inundated iron clamps. The walls are covered with thick lime plaster - an imitation of stone construction by means of deep horizontal and vertical grooves. The plastering refers at least to two construction periods. The walls are vertical up to a certain height, followed by a double-pitched, slightly curved coverage, which is interrupted by a horizontal fascia.
  At the bottom of the burial chamber a ritual bed is adhered, which is made from small stones and plastered the same way as the walls. Each of the lateral walls has a stone bench. The access to the central room is through an inward opening two-winged lacunar stone door.
  The tomb was robbed way back in ancient times. In the antechamber a horse skeleton in anatomical order was discovered. Another horse skeleton was found in front of the corridor's east wall head. The monument dates back to the 4th century BC.
caption: Helvetia - entrance to the tomb
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