The Tundzha Regional Archaeological Project (TRAP) is a long-term, international, multi-disciplinary project exploring the landscape archaeology and palaeo-ecology of the upper and middle Tundzha (Tonzos) river valley from the Kazanluk region in the northwest through the Yambol region in the southeast.
TRAP uses a range of approaches to explore the ancient landscape of our region, emphasising:
For more information, contact us; if you are a student interested in developing expertise in any of these fields, consider volunteering.
We are currently processing and analysing the data from 2011 season in the Kazanluk region and preparing a final publication of TRAP fieldwork 2009-2011.
Several of the TRAP leaders have been awarded the National eResearch Collaborative Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) eResearch Tools grant to assemble a comprehensive information system for archaeology.The grant scheme represents a new initiative of the Australian government to improve research infrastructure and stimulate knowledge sharing in different disciplines;the ‘Federated Archaeological Information Management System’ (FAIMS) was the only successful project in teh field of archaeology.
Adela Sobotkova has finished her PhD at the University of Michigan in January 2012 and will be one of the coordinators of the FAIMS project. Petra Janouchova has completed her MA at the Charles University in Prague and started a PhD in Thracian epigraphy.
No survey seasons are planned for 2012; a short ceramics analysis campaign is tentativelly scheduled at the end of the summer (August-September 2012). Please, check this website for details later in the year.
We had a wonderful final season in Kazanluk during November 2011 thanks to an unseasonally dry and warm weather. The core TRAP team was joined by 16 students of archaeology and geology from the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney, Australia. The team covered over 20 sq km of the Kazanluk valley, including areas previously submerged by the Koprinka reservoir. A large necropolis was mapped and soil samples collected to assess the rates of erosion in the valley. All of these activities were recorded by the UNSW TV crew and will serve as the basis for instructional videos, as well as, a TRAP documentary!
The fall season of visiting and registering legacy sites and excavation finished in mid-December! Activities centred on the Thracian (?) - Late Roman fortified settlement of Dodoparon, near the village of Golyam Manastir in the Elhovo district of the Yambol region.
Surface survey and satellite remote sensing planned for the Kazanluk region was completed on 11 April 2010. Finds processing, total pick ups and follow-up environmental analyses have followed.