Rock niches in the village of Oreshari

Overview

The trapezoidal rock-cut niches are one of the most characteristic for the territory of Bulgaria ancient rock carvings, distributed mostly in the central part of the Eastern Rhodopes, including the catchment area of ​​the Arda River along its middle course and that of the Harmanli River. This area is the area of ​​distribution of other monuments carved into the rocks (sharapani and rooms carved into the rock), which are accepted by some archaeologists as burial facilities of the Thracian tribes from the early Iron Age. The grandiose ensembles of niches carved into the rocks are in most cases carved at a great height on the vertical walls of rocks and massifs visible from afar. Most often, niches with a height of up to 80 cm and a depth of 20 - 40 cm are registered in groups of 3-4 to about 500 niches. Bulgarian archeological science has localized over 1500 separate units by 2001; this number increases to 3000, and the actual is 4200 units and is still growing - in 2021 new units were discovered in the land of the village of Golobrad. The complexes of rock niches near the villages of Angel Voyvoda, Nochevo, Zhenda, Ardino, Duzhdovnitsa, Sarnitsa, Efrem, Oreshari, Krasino, Skalina, Zhenda, Shiroko Pole, Oreshari and Dolno Cherkovishte are especially numerous. The dating and interpretation of the rock-cut trapezoidal niches is still a problem for Bulgarian archeological science. It is believed that these are monuments of a cult nature.