Scientists will run a series of tests on the bones of Tsar Samuil and the remains of his family members, in Bulgaria and abroad, professor Lyudmil Vagalinski of the National Archaeological Institute and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences told BTA. Vagalinski leads the team, which also includes associate professor Victoria Ruseva and PhD student Donika Yordanova.
The team brought three coffins with the remains from Greece on October 3. The larger one holds the body of Tsar Samuil, laid out full-length on his back, with the bones in their natural anatomical order. The other two hold the remains of people from his family. Scientists still need to confirm how the three are related, and whether the two coffins hold Samuil's son, Gavril Radomir, and his nephew, Ivan Vladislav.
Scientists have already carried out two interdisciplinary studies on the tsar, going beyond physical anthropology alone, Vagalinski said. The work now under way includes chemical analysis, isotope testing and DNA testing.
The scientists will present new findings from the study at a press conference on October 8 at 10:00 at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia. Besides Vagalinski, Ruseva and Yordanova, associate professor Hristo Popov, the institute's director, will also take part.
Vagalinski said the public takes a strong interest in Tsar Samuil, and scientists have a duty to share everything they find out about him. He said information should be shared at every stage it becomes available, because people have a right to know and scientists have a duty to tell them.
Greek archaeologist professor Nikolaos Moutsopoulos found the remains of Tsar Samuil in 1969 in the Basilica of St. Achillius on Small Lake Prespa, and they have been kept at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki ever since. An official handover ceremony took place in Thessaloniki on October 3, attended by prime minister Rumen Radev and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Bulgarian delegation also included deputy prime minister Ivo Hristov, culture minister Evtim Miloshev and academics, while Greece was represented by culture minister Lina Mendoni. The remains were flown to Bulgaria on a Spartan military transport plane.
The handover is part of a deal between Sofia and Athens: Greece returns the remains of Tsar Samuil and Bulgaria gives Greece 48 church relics.
Work began on September 25, at the culture ministry's initiative, on a special sarcophagus that will be placed in the southern part of the transept of the Church of St. Sofia. The Sofia Metropolitanate decided on its design, with the blessing of Patriarch Daniil, and it is being carved from marble quarried in the lands of Samuil's kingdom.
Tsar Samuil, a member of the Komitopuli dynasty, ruled from 997 to 1014 and fought to defend Bulgarian statehood against the Byzantine Empire. After the Bulgarian army lost the Battle of Kleidion on July 29, 1014, Byzantine emperor Basil II ordered around 14,000 captured Bulgarian soldiers blinded. Samuil died on October 6 that year. He is the only medieval Bulgarian ruler whose grave and remains have survived. In 2014, on the 1,000th anniversary of his death, the remains went on public display.
Professor Vagalinski praised the Bulgarian government, ambassador to Greece Valentin Poryazov and consul in Thessaloniki Anton Markov. He also credited culture minister Evtim Miloshev, deputy culture minister Plamen Slavov, associate professor Victoria Ruseva and PhD student Donika Yordanova. Archaeologists and two physical anthropologists took part in preparing the October 3 handover.
"None of this would have worked without such strong will to cooperate, without a good team, government, diplomats and experts. I'm very glad and very happy that we did our job well," professor Vagalinski told BTA.