Archaeologists found a Thracian tomb near the town of Ivailovgrad, at the Bulgarian-Greek border.

The tomb was discovered during excavations, led by the Thracian archaeology expert Georgi Nehrizov, Bulgarian Academy of Science’s National Institute of Archaeology and Museum said.

Treasure-hunters destroyed the antechamber of the tomb with a digger in the autumn of 2006, but the burial chamber is completely preserved, two m high and two to 1.8 m wide.

The tomb dates back to the fourth or third century BC, Focus news agency reported.

Conservation experts arrived at the excavations and were to discuss preservation of the tomb.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian archaeologists, historians and scientists are considering a series of archaeological and ethnographic studies in the area Ongula, where the first Bulgarian kingdom was established. The area is situated at the mouth of the Danube River, in today’s Moldova and Ukraine.

Historian Georgi Atanasov, one of the initiators of the studies, said that currently, 80 000 people, Besarabian Bulgarians, were living in the area. The excavations would help increase their ethnic self-esteem.