Meet the dedicated researchers, specialists, and partners bringing the ancient world of Deultum into the digital age.
Our Team and Partners
Scientific Project Team
Lyudmil Vagalinski
Archaeologist, Professor at the Dept. of Classical Archaeology of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at Sofia.
Lyudmil Vagalinski is an archaeologist, Professor at the Dept. of Classical Archaeology of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at Sofia. His biography includes excavations of Danube Roman castles Iatrus, Ruse munisipality and Transmarisca, Silistra. Since 2003, he is the director of the archaeological studies of the Roman colony Deultum, Burgas municipality, and since 2007 – the director of the archaeological studies of the ancient town of Heraclea Sintica, near the village of Rupite, Petrich municipality. During 2011-2018 he was director of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Science.
Dilyana Boteva-Boyanova
Professor in ancient history and Thracian studies at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ”
Dilyana Boteva is a Professor in ancient history and Thracian studies at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ”, whose research covers a wide range of problems of the history and culture of ancient Thrace. She applies a semiotic approach to the analysis of diverse sources, and when working with iconographic monuments she emphasizes on the implementation of databases and quantitative methods.
Lyuba Traykova
Krasimira Kostova
Archaeologist, Director of the Municipal Historical Museum of Sredets and the archaeological reserve “Deultum”
Krasimira Kostova is an archaeologist and the director of the Municipal Historical Museum of Sredets and the archaeological reserve “Deultum”. Her higher education was at Sofia Universitty “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The main research interests of Krasimira Kostova are in the area of Classical archaeology, town planning in Antiquity, antique and late antique ceramics. Under her lead the archaeological reserve “Deultum” became the only archaeological reserve in Bulgaria to be awarded the European Heritage Label.
Lily Grozdanova
Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Ancient History and Thracology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ”
Lily Grozdanova is a Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Ancient History and Thracology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ”. Her main research interests are in the field of digital numismatics and the humanities. Her research is in the field of Roman provincial coinage and the development of the Roman Empire during the period of the “military emperors”.
Nikolay Dimitrov
Hristina Ivanova-Anaplioti
Head of the digital numismatics team of the project, Research Fellow in the Department of Cultures and Civilizations at the University of Verona
Hristina Ivanova-Anaplioti is the head of the digital numismatics team of the project Upgrading the Historical Narrative: DigiDeultum. She is a Research Fellow in the Department of Cultures and Civilizations at the University of Verona and is working on the portraiture of Septimius Severus and Caracalla for the ERC RESP project. She is a classical archaeologist specialised in ancient numismatics. Her research interests include Greek and Roman Provincial Numismatics, especially in Thrace, Macedonia and Greece, coin finds and circulation, digital numismatics, field archaeology, space syntax analyses, Greek sanctuaries, and various stylistic and iconographic subjects. She studied Classical and Near Eastern archaeology at the universities of Heidelberg, Athens, and the Humboldt University of Berlin, where she defended her PhD thesis including a die study of the complete coinage of Apollonia Pontica. She has worked as a student assistant for Corpus Nummorum, a research assistant at the German Archaeological Institute for the projects Kalapodi and Samos, an assistant and postdoc researcher at the University of Zurich, as well as for the Archaeological Services of St. Gallen. She is also collaborating with the projects Corpus Nummorum, Measuring Ancient Thrace, Ancient Coin Counterfeit Scientific Network.
Iliyan Lupov
PhD student in Ancient History and Thracian Studies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.
Iliyan Lupov is a PhD student in Ancient History and Thracian Studies, Department of Ancient History, Thracian Studies and Medieval History, Faculty of History, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. His research interests and previous educational experience are in the Roman history field and the Thracian population’s role in it. His dissertation topic, “Thracian soldiers in the Roman army (1st-3rd centuries)”, and the digital methodology that the colleague already uses in the research process, make PhD student Lupov a valuable research team member. The project will accelerate the professional development of PhD student Lupov, who in turn will enrich it through his perspective of scholarly inquiry.
Atanas Georgiev
Chief Specialist in Planning and Information Technologies at the Information Services Laboratory at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University.
Atanas Georgiev is a Chief Specialist in Planning and Information Technologies at the Information Services Laboratory at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University. He has solid experience in digital repositories and services, learning automation systems, open software development platforms and services, semantically based knowledge systems. He has participated in more than 10 EC RTD research and development projects. There are more than 20 publications.
External Scientific Project Experts
Hristo Preshlenov
Master degree of history, archaeology and philosophy – Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Assoc. Prof. PhD – NAIM-BAS
Master degree of history, archaeology and philosophy – Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Assoc. Prof. PhD – NAIM-BAS
Scientific interests, publications
Ancient settlement, architectural, maritime, economic, social and Christian archaeology and history on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast
Fieldwork
Deultum, Mesambria, Agathopolis, Eastern Haemus
Tutor course
Ancient society, power, economics, urbanization on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in Antiquity – NBU
Ivo Cholakov
Boyka Zlateva
Instrumental methods – XRF, RAMAN, FTIR, RADIOGRAPHY, ICP- AES, ICP- MS, Archaeometry, Archaeometalurgy, Glass, ceramic, organic residues, coins
Milena Raycheva
PhD thesis “The imperial cult in Thrace”, Currently works at NAIM-BASNAIM-BAS
Milena Raycheva graduated in Archaeology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, where in 2013 she also defended her PhD thesis “The imperial cult in Thrace”. Currently she works at NAIM-BAS. Her main research interests are related to Roman religion, art, and propaganda. Within the DigiDeultum project, she explores the stone sculpture and relief.
Victoria Russeva
Silva Sabkova
Architect, specializing in the field of architectural heritage preservation
Architect, specializing in the field of architectural heritage preservation. Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Research and Archaeological Map of Bulgaria at The National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Within the project, carries out activities from Work Package 2: Archaeological Sciences in the Photogrammetry and 3D reconstructions section. The work is focused on executing full photogrammetric documentation for the fortification system of Deultum and preparing scientifically based graphic reconstructions of its characteristic elements.
Sirma Alexandrova
Plamena Dakasheva
PhD candidate in Archaeology at Sofia University and Young Scholar at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Plamena Dakasheva is a PhD candidate in Archaeology at Sofia University and Young Scholar at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Her primary research interests focus on architecture, architectural ornament, and interior decoration of monumental buildings in Roman Thrace. Her current work concerns the analysis of the architectural decoration of public buildings discovered in Philippopolis and Deultum, where she has been involved in the archaeological research of the Roman colony since 2014.
Dakasheva participated in the international projects “Beyond the Northern Aegean: Architectural Interactions across Northern Greek, Macedonian, Thracian, and Pontic Regions in the late Classical and Hellenistic Periods” (2019 – 2024) and “Fingerprinting white marbles. Quarries and Cities of Roman Thrace, 1st – 3rd century AD” (2022 – 2023), and in 2022, she joined in the IMMERSIUM Heritage Field School at the Archaeological Park Viminacium.
Nadejda Borislavova
Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Archaeology at National Archaeological Institute with Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Nadezhda Borislavova is a Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Archaeology at National Archaeological Institute with Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She obtained her MA in Archaeology from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and PhD in Archaeology from NAIM – BAS. As a fellowship recipient of the American Research Institute in Turkey (Istanbul) and a postdoctoral researcher at NAIM-BAS (funded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science), she specializes in the study of Roman and Late Roman pottery. Her exploration focuses on ancient economy issues: trade patterns related to the supply of amphora-borne commodities, state control and taxation, regulations, etc. Her research interests include archaeometric analyses of pottery concerning raw materials, provenance and production. Member of Rei Cretariae Romanae Favtores (RCRF) and European Association of Archaeologists (ЕАА).
Theodor Todorov
Emil Dakashev
Curator and archaeologist at the Municipal History Museum of Sredets
Emil Dakashev has a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from Sofia University and has been a curator and archaeologist at the Municipal History Museum of Sredets since 2018. Since 2012, he has participated in the archaeological research of the Roman colony of Deultum. His primary research interests focus on Roman and Late Antique archaeology and numismatics.
Dobrina Harbalieva
Archeologist, Municipal History Museum – Sredets
I majored in archeology from SU “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Since 2012, I have been working as an archeologist for National Archaeological Reserve “Deultum – Debelt” and have frequently participated in the active research on Ancient Thermae in The Roman Colony of Deultum. From 2017 onwards, I have been working as the deputy scientific director of the site.
My professional interests revolve around analysis of glassware that stem from the Roman and Late Antiquity periods. I examine the glass materials from research studies in Deultum and other similar sites throughout Bulgaria.
Stephanie Daneva
Deyan Lesigyarski
Chief Assistant, PhD at the Department of Geophysics, National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography – BAS
Dr. Deyan Lesigyarski is a chief assistant at the Department of Geophysics, National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography – BAS. His scientific interests are focused on archaeometry. Dr. Lesigyarski is engaged in archaeomagnetic dating, as well as in the study of archaeological ceramics, glass, and metal artifact using magnetic and instrumental methods of analysis.
Partner Projects
Corpus Nummorum (CN)
Corpus Nummorum Online is an open access numismatic web portal that aims to collect and present comprehensive regional datasets of Greek and Roman provincial coinage and offers a research tool for their processing and analysis.
Archaeological Map of Bulgaria (AKB)
Aрхеологическа географска информационна система, съдържаща различни по вид геопространствени данни.
TELAMON
The aim of the Telamon project initiated by the Department of Classics to St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia is to create a digital library of the ancient Greek inscriptions found in Bulgaria.
TITULI
The TITVLI project aims at publishing a digital corpus of the Latin inscription found on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. The project was initiated by the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences which preserves the largest collection of Latin inscriptions from Bulgaria. It is carried out jointly with researchers from the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and with the cooperation of Bulgarian museums.
RESP – The Roman Emperor Seen from the Provinces
Imaging Roman Power in the Cities of the Empire from Augustus to the Tetrarchs (31 BC-AD 297).
An interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Research Council (Consolidator Grant G.A. 101002763) as part of the Horizon 2020 Programme. The project is hosted by the University of Verona for five years (2021-2026), in partnership with King’s College of London and the Warwick University Manufacturing Group (WMG).
The aim of the research is to investigate how Roman Emperors and members of the imperial family were represented in the visual culture of the provinces, in the western cities and especially in the eastern ones, from the reign of Augustus to that of Diocletian (c. 31 BC – AD 297).