Digging out Metro tunnels and stations in many European cities often results in the discovery of interesting and ancient archaeology. In some cities these discoveries hardly come as much of a surprise. After all, many have had continuous habitation that stretches back a couple of thousand years. Excavations for some of the central metro stations in Athens produced spectacular finds. What’s more, these stations and even the platforms provide superb opportunities for the in situ and near-in situ display of archaeological artefacts recovered and features exposed. In Paris, for example, foundations of the notorious 14th century Bastille fortress can be seen on the platform of the Bastille Métro.

One of the latest European cities open its metro archaeology in 2016 is the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Although the wider area has evidence for human occupation dating back to at least the Neolithic, the centre of the city is widely believed to have been a settlement called Serdica or Sardica, inhabited by the Serdi Thracian tribe. After a brief spell under the control of Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the city was conquered by the Romans in about 29 BC and renamed Ulpia Serdica. In 45 AD it became an administrative centre in the Roman Province of Thrace, and under Emperor Trajan it became a self governing centre, referred to officially as “The most brilliant city of the Serdi.” Over the following six centuries the city flourished, and Constantine the Great is said to have called Serdica “my Rome”.

The archaeology of these first six centuries is what makes up the Archaeological Complex ‘Serdica’; ruins of Sofia’s Roman past that were discovered between 2010 and 2012 during excavations for a metro line. While the presence of archaeology was not a surprise (the exposed East Gate, nearby in the underpass between the Ministry Council and the Presidency have been known about for some time), the remarkable preservation of structures uncovered was. The archaeological research here was carried out by two teams of archaeologists from the National Archaeological Institute with Museum and the Sofia History Museum.

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