Church № 4 from the Murfatlar Rock Complex – Some Newly Documented Graffiti Along the East-West Axis and Their Analogies
Church № 4 from the Murfatlar Rock Complex – Some Newly Documented Graffiti Along the East-West Axis and Their Analogies

Summary/Abstract: The occasion for yet another archaeological documentation in the research history of the Murfatlar rock monastery was provided by the continuous excavations (2005– 2010) of one particular site in Pliska – the so-called Round stone platform. Its rediscovery occurred a decade later in relation to a special study focused on the graffiti incised on 2% of the building material, most of which are invisible to the naked eye and convey Christian symbols, personages and scenes of Biblical character. These circumstances brought the research team to the most certain (and best preserved) possible analogy-the rock monastic complex of Murfatlar, in Constanţa County, Romania. The subject of this paper are the graffiti along the east-west axes in Church № 4. The photographic documentation of April 2022 attempted to cover with maximum precision all carvings, especially the shallowest ones and those that are practically invisible to the naked eye. As long as a drawing of this graffito has not been published so far, it can be said now that the so far unknown details in it are: additions and/or thorough corrections of the two Cyrillic inscriptions, as well as two rune-like inscriptions. We have completed full photographic and graphic visualization of the images, with details of the two human figures and that of the bird.

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