Beglik Tash
Beglik Tash (Bulgarian: Беглик Таш, Turkish: Beylik Taşı) is a prehistoric rock sanctuary situated on the southern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, a few kilometers north of the city of Primorsko. It was re-used by the Thracian tribes in the Iron Age.
At the end of the 19th century, the Czech-Bulgarian historian and archaeologist Karel Škorpil produced the first scientific account of the sanctuary, which was then known as Apostol Tash.[1] In 2002, Bulgarian archaeologists started excavations under the supervision of Tsonia Drazheva.
Etymology
The meaning of Beglik Tash is probably related to the "beglik," which is the tax on sheep collected by Ottoman authorities until 1913, and a Turkish word to describe an area made of large stones, "taşlar"[2] – a natural rock-formation consisting of megaliths of hardened magma that erupted from a Mesozoic era volcano.[citation needed]
Description
Most of the megaliths have traces of carvings for the purposes of Thracian rituals. There are also the remains of a labyrinth that visitors can pass through. A Thracian sun-clock is formed from huge stones. There is also a 150-ton rock that rests on the ground in only two places, and a "womb-cave".[citation needed]
Archaeologists have found ceramic artefacts from the Early Iron Age (10th–6th century BC), classical antiquity, and the Middle Ages, as well as a man-made stone altar at the end of the natural cave which proves that it was used as a place of worship. Every day at noon, a ray of sunlight enters the narrow entrance of the cave, and projects itself on the back of cave. According to the Bulgarian archaeologist Alexander Fol some of the Thracian womb-caves had the property of letting the sunlight in only at certain times of the day, a natural phenomenon seen by the Thracians as acts of symbolic fertilization of the Earth womb or the Mother Goddess by the sun phallus of the Sun God.[citation needed]
The site is an open-air museum maintained by the Burgas Historical Society. It is visited annually by 40,000 tourists.[3] Beglik Tash is located in the vicinity of two other Thracian sites: the city of Ranuli and the fortress of Pharmakida in the Strandzha Mountains.
Gallery
- A general view
- A part of the complex
- Begliktash BG General Plan
See also
- Thrace
- Thracians
- Heros (mythology)
Notes
External links
- Pictures of Bulgaria – Beglik Tash
- Thracian sanctuary Beglik Tash
- Archaeology in Bulgaria, 14 March 2016: Ancient Thrace shrine Begli Tash near Bulgaria's Black Sea resort Primorsko attracts over 40,000 visitors annually
- Minka Vazkresenska: Bulgaria's Stonehenge? in Vagabond, Bulgaria's English Monthly, 28 July 2009
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- Metsamor
- Zorats Karer
- Beglik Tash
- Garlo
- Tatul Sanctuary
- Barnenez
- Tumulus of Bougon
- Caixa de Rotllan
- Carnac
- Menhir de Champ-Dolent
- Dolmen de Bagneux
- Broken Menhir of Er Grah
- Dolmen de Mané-Kerioned
- Filitosa
- Gallardet Dolmen
- Gavrinis
- Harrespil
- Hotié de Viviane
- Kerzérho
- Locmariaquer megaliths
- Mane Braz
- Paddaghju
- Peyre-Brune
- Tombeau de Merlin
- Tremeca
- Verziau of Gargantua
- Altendorf
- Denghoog
- Fraubillen cross
- Harhoog
- Lancken-Granitz dolmens
- Lohra
- Megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Niedertiefenbach
- Oldendorfer Totenstatt
- Riesenstein
- Route of Megalithic Culture
- Sieben Steinhäuser
- Wotanstein
- Züschen
- Castel Menhir
- Le Creux ès Faïes
- Déhus Dolmen
- Les Fouillages
- La Gran'mère du Chimquière
- Le Trépied
- La Varde
- List of five-stone circles
- List of multiple-stone circles
- Aideen's Grave
- Ardgroom
- Ardristan standing stones
- Beltany stone circle
- Bohonagh
- Brennanstown Portal Tomb
- Brownshill dolmen
- Brú na Bóinne
- Carrigagulla
- Carrowmore
- Castlenalacht Stone Row
- Castlestrange Stone
- Creevykeel Court Tomb
- Drombeg
- Gaulstown Portal Tomb
- Glantane East
- Grange stone circle
- High cross
- Kealkill
- Knocknakilla
- Meehambee Dolmen
- Mount Venus
- Piper's Stones
- Poulnabrone dolmen
- Reask
- Templebryan Stone Circle
- Turoe Stone
- Uragh Stone Circle
- Megalithic Temples (Borġ l-Imramma
- Borġ in-Nadur
- Buġibba
- Debdieba
- Ġgantija
- Ħaġar Qim
- Ħal Ġinwi
- Kordin
- Mnajdra
- Qortin l-Imdawwar
- Santa Verna
- Skorba
- Ta' Ħaġrat
- Ta' Marżiena
- Ta' Raddiena
- Tal-Qadi
- Tarxien
- Tas-Silġ
- Xemxija
- Xrobb l-Għaġin)
- Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum
- Xagħra Stone Circle
- Almendres Cromlech
- Anta de Adrenunes
- Anta de Agualva
- Anta do Alto da Toupeira
- Antas do Barrocal
- Anta de Carcavelos
- Anta da Estria
- Antas da Valeira
- Anta do Monte Abraão
- Antas do Olival da Pêga
- Anta da Pedra dos Mouros
- Anta das Pedras Grandes
- Anta da Vidigueira
- Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro
- Barreira Megalithic Complex
- Dolmen of Cunha Baixa
- Dolmen of Carapito I
- Great Dolmen of Comenda da Igreja
- Menhir of Outeiro
- Menhir of Bulhoa
- Vale Maria do Meio Cromlech
- Xerez Cromlech
- Picture stones
- Runestones
- Stone circles
- Stone ships
- Boundary Stones
Kingdom