Bulgaria - The royal necropolis of the Thracian city of Seuthopolis – a serial site, extension of the Kazanlak Thracian tomb

Cult-mortuary complex in Ostrusha mound - Center Point Coordinates 42°41'23.5"N 25°21'03.8"E Tomb in Golyama Kosmatka mound - Center Point Coordinates 42°42'00.2"N 25°20'00.5"E Tomb in Shushmanetz mound - Center Point Coordinates 42°42'24.7"N 25°20'55.5"E Tomb in Golyama gola mogila mound, the so-called “The Griffins” - Center Point Coordinates 42°42'19.5"N 25°20'40.6"E Tomb in Malka gola mogila mound, the so-called “Helvetia” - Center Point Coordinates 42°42'19.9"N 25°20'47"E Tomb in the so-called Golyama Arsenalka mound - Center Point Coordinates 42°41'58"N 25°18'33.8"E Tomb in the so-called Sarafova mogila mound (Kran 2) - Center Point Coordinates 42°40'32.1"N 25°22'53.3"E Masonry grave in the so-called Svetitzata mound - Center Point Coordinates 42°41'16.7"N 25°22'07.9"E Balkan hollows lying between the Stara planina (the Balkan) and Sredna gora. Its area is about 780 square kilometres (94 km in length with an average width of 10 km), the average altitude is 350 meters. It is drained by Tundzha and Tyzha rivers. Typical forms of relief are the alluvial cones, located in its northern areas. They are joined together to form a convex accumulation surface sloping south. According to the climatic zoning of Bulgaria, the territory of Kazanlak hollow belongs to the European continental climatic region, temperate continental sub-zone. According to the administrative division, it includes the municipalities of Kazanlak, Pavel Banya and Muglizh with 47 settlements. The first attempts to map and describe the archaeological monuments in the Kazanlak hollow are made still in the second half of the 19th c., but the beginning of their targeted study started in the 90s of the 19th century. The scientific searches in this area became more intense during the period up to the World War II, but the exceptional archaeological discoveries in the 40s and 50s of the 20th century – the Kazanluk tomb and the Thracian city of Seuthopolis, naturally provoked the interest of a large group of researchers who contributed to the expansion of knowledge about the historical development of the region from prehistory to Middle Ages. The most famous tomb among those discovered in the valley is exactly the Kazanlak tomb, a monument, inscribed under No. 42 in the World Heritage List in 1979 under criteria I, III and IV, dating back to the 4th - 3rd century BC, which is the only one in Europe of its kind with preserved murals. The discovery and complete study of the Thracian city - the capital of the realms of the Odrysian king Seuthes III, in the region of today Koprinka dam, is a fact of exceptional scientific importance. The building of Seuthopolis has started at the beginning of the last third of the 4th c. BC, while the boom in its development began in the Early Hellenistic era. With this time is also connected the building of the most impressive tomb facilities for prominent Thracian aristocrats.