The marble female head that we unearthed in Heraclea Sintica is very well preserved, including all details on the face, Director of the National Archaeological Institute with a Museum (NAIM) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Dr. Lyudmil Vagalinski told Focus News Agency.

Dr. Vagalinski heads the excavations at the ancient site, and the discovery was made yesterday.

The head is perfectly preserved and is very finely crafted. It had been laid under the foundations of a Late Roman wall, the expert said. “We are joking, we have a very nice head but the body is missing, and, as you know, in August we uncovered another nice statue, a body of a man in his toga, but without a head,” said Dr. Vagalinski.

He said both discoveries raise interesting questions about why in ancient Heraclea Sintica they laid well preserved parts of sculptures under constructions; what symbolism was there; what kind of protection they sought. He went on saying that both the head and the togatus appear to have been very carefully placed and had not been used as a building material. According to Dr. Vagalinski, quite possibly they were used as symbolic protection for the buildings in that seismic area, where the ancient town of Heraclea Sintica was located.