Belintash

Belintash ( en búlgaro : Белинташ , pronunciado como Belantash y Belǎntash en algunos dialectos locales búlgaros) es una pequeña meseta en los montes Ródope, en Bulgaria, que conserva vestigios de actividad humana. Se presume que se trata de un lugar de culto de los antiguos tracios , aunque su esencia y propósito aún no se comprenden del todo. También se sugiere que el santuario estaba dedicado al dios Sabazios ( en griego antiguo : Σαβάζιος) y que fue construido y administrado por la tribu tracia independiente de los Bessi . La plataforma superior de la meseta está marcada con agujeros redondos tallados, senderos, nichos y escalones que algunos investigadores interpretan como un mapa estelar . Algunos medios búlgaros afirman que, en 2006, turistas anónimos descubrieron la llamada "Inscripción de Belintash", un petroglifo tallado en la roca que, según algunos teóricos, confirma que los tracios poseían un alfabeto propio anterior al griego . Sin embargo, la autenticidad del petroglifo aún no ha sido confirmada ni desmentida por los arqueólogos que trabajan en el yacimiento de Belintash.

Administrativamente, pertenece al municipio de Asenovgrad, en la provincia de Plovdiv . Belintash se encuentra en la cresta de Dobrostan, en la parte central de los montes Ródope . Está a 3  km al sur del pueblo de Vrata y a 3  km al suroeste del pueblo de Sini Vruh . Ocupa una posición central con respecto a un grupo de santuarios rupestres en la zona montañosa mencionada: Pitvoto, In Kaya, Turskata Kulya cromlech , Karadzhov Kamuk Arc y Haydushki Kamuk. ^{[ 1 ]}

The plateau is a large rock elevation with a top area of about 5000sq.m., and south–north orientation of its longitudinal axis. Three areas – northern, central and southern – had formed on the plateau as a result of the rock sinking in most ancient times. The ancient Thracians cut in the north most part of the first area steps and niches of various sizes. Hundreds of round holes (about 300) are seen in the northern and central areas of the plateau, as well as two large "sterns" (used for sacrificial pits according to some theories) and cut in the rock beds for wooden beams. Two dug by treasure-hunters stone tumuli were discovered 500m in the north of the triangulation spot of Belintash. The tumuli mark the only way to the plateau and had been parts of a necropolis, the major part of which had been discovered.

The first archaeological studies conducted on Belintash plateau by Bulgarian archaeologists Iveta Moreva - Arabova and Georgi Velev from Historical Museum of Asenovgrad (Bulgaria) took place in 1975.^[2]

The site had been studied during the 1980s by a team of Bulgarian archaeo-astronomers that made Belintash of interest in Bulgarian archaeology. According to the archaeo-astronomers the plateau was used as sanctuary used by ancient Thracians as well as a solar observatory – to satisfy the needs of certain agricultural and religious activities of society at the time.^[3]

A silver votive plate from Roman period with the representation of Dionysus-Sabazius was found among the rocks. It is kept now in the collections of Bulgarian National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. According to Bulgarian archaeologist Ivan Hristov, the silver plate should be dated in an earlier epoch. A resemblance with a monument that was discovered in 2004 in the already famous tumulus of Svetitsata near the town of Shipka, Bulgaria gave a reason to this conclusion of Hristov. The above-mentioned monument is the gold mask of so-called Teres discovered by Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Kitov and has almost identical facial features with those of the male figure on the silver plate found among the megalithic rocks in the base of the Belintash plateau.

• Belintash  – Sitio web archivado el 19 de julio de 2020 en Wayback Machine.