Kalugerski caves

The Калугерски пещери, also called Манастирски пещери, form a rock-cult complex in Sofia Province, Bulgaria, on the boundary between Горна Малина and Мирково. They lie in a small limestone massif in the valley of the Смолска River, 4,1 km east of Байлово and 5,1 km west of Смолско.

Four small caves occupy the karst rock at 5 to 15 m above the local ground and are known locally as Калугерските дупки. Their openings face south. Rock drawings, carved symbols and worked surfaces survive, including signs interpreted in some studies as records of lunar phases and possible calendar observations.

The caves were used from prehistoric times, but their dates remain uncertain. General arguments place them in the Chalcolithic, although some images have been dated as medieval. Studies have proposed a date of 3500 BCE, while an archaeoastronomical dating placed the site in the middle of the fourth millennium BCE; neither has been confirmed by archaeological excavation. The drawings and carvings were also badly damaged by treasure hunters.

The site was interpreted as a Thracian sanctuary, first associated with the Sun and later with the Moon, but no Thracian cult of the Moon is documented. In 1986, Мария Златкова documented the images and noted that they were not all complete circles. Later research recorded 256 images of successive lunar-disk changes and 240 images in the rock-cut monument; one linked sequence was read as 29,5 days.

Kalugerski caves is a megalith (abstract root) in Bulgaria. Wikidata describes it as: rock sanctuary in Bulgaria. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Bulgarian article "Калугерски пещери (Байлово)", shown in the original language.