Menhirs Near Pliska

The Menhirs Near Pliska are groups of large, unworked upright stone blocks in fields near Pliska, Bulgaria, outside the bounds of the palace complex. They extend mainly toward the southwest, toward the ancient settlement of Kabiyuk, with additional groups to the southeast and south. No stone blocks have been found north of the palace. Thirty-three groups are known, including 8 to the east, 7 to the south and 18 to the west.

The stones reach 1,5 m in height and have varied geometric forms and orientations aligned with the four directions. Some bear carved runic signs, especially on their buried portions. Excavations found animal bones, bells, a knife and a horseshoe. The blocks form rectangles with an odd number of stones in each row—5, 7 or 9. Most have been moved or destroyed for farmland, and none remains standing in its original position; no human burials were found beneath them.

The site was described by Konstantin Jireček in 1884, studied by Karel Škorpil in 1905, and mentioned by Géza Fehér in 1929 under the name Aboba. Later research was conducted by Stacho Vaklinov and Rasо Rashev. The western groups stand along the road from Pliska toward the western earthwork camp of the mound of Kabiyuk. Scholars have interpreted them as Proto-Bulgarian memorials or as stones associated with commemorative practices, but no supporting human graves have been discovered.

A group east of s. Tsarev brod survived in the form photographed by Karel Škorpil in 1905, unlike many stones broken up for roads or railway rails. Some blocks show attempts to cut them lengthwise for reuse in construction, although these efforts were abandoned. Reusing old buildings as building material was common during the Middle Ages and in the Ottoman Empire. As a general context, monuments of this kind are usually called menhirs, or standing stones, and their purpose often remains uncertain.

Menhirs Near Pliska is a menhir (standing stone) in Zlatna niva, Bulgaria. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Bulgarian article "Девташлари край Плиска", shown in the original language.