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https://doi.org/10.48027/hnb.41.02001

Bird images in the mosaics of Late Antique basilicas in the town of Sandanski (Blagoevgrad Region, SW Bulgaria)


Zlatozar Boev https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8049-7509

3 January 2020 · volume 41 · [issue 2] · pp. 13–21 · PDF [full text]

Abstract: This paper presents and analyses for the first time all data on bird images of two Late Antique basilicas of the Roman period (5th–6th c. AD) in the town of Sandanski (SW Bulgaria). A total of eight species have been recognised on the floor mosaics of both basilicas: Anas platyrhynchos, Bucephala clangula, Dendrocygna viduata, Nettapus coromandelianus, Marmaronetta angustirostris, Porphyrio porphyrio, Psittacula krameri, and Sypheotides indicus. Exotic birds of Palaeotropic (Ethiopian) and Indomalayan (Oriental) distribution confirm once again the active ancient Roman contacts with East and Trans-Saharan Africa and the Hindustan Peninsula.

Keywords: ancient art, birds in antiquity, birds-man interrelations, Late Holocene birds, ornithoarchaeology

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Boev Z. 2020 Bird images in the mosaics of Late Antique basilicas in the town of Sandanski (Blagoevgrad Region, SW Bulgaria). Historia naturalis bulgarica 41: 13–21.

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