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Beglik Tash
the southern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, a few kilometers north of the city of Primorsko
RELIGIONS Paganism
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELIGIOUS SITE
DESCRIPTION Beglik Tash (Bulgarian: Беглик Таш), 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.
HISTORICAL RELEVANCE 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. In 2002, the Bulgarian archaeologists started excavating the place under the supervision of archaeologist Tsonia Drazheva.
Beglik Tash - an expression whose meaning is probably related to the tax on sheep collected by the Ottoman authorities until 1913, the "beglik", and a Turkish word to describe an area made of large stones, taşlar - is a natural phenomenon of huge megaliths arranged and carved by a Thracian tribe and later used for religious ceremonies. It is part of a wider surrounding area and a natural rock formation of huge monolithic blocks of volcanic origin, and were formed of hardened magma that erupted from a volcano active during the Mesozoic era.
INTER-RELIGIOUS RELEVANCE 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".
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE Inside it, 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.
HOW TO USE WITH THE STUDENTS The students need to visit the sanctuary in order to broaden their knowledge.
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