Faculty

I have the pleasure and honour to direct the Centre for Underwater Archaeology of the Bulgarian Ministry of ulture.
I am also an Assistant Professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Science. I received my BA, MA and PhD in Archaeology from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In 2012, I studied for a semester at the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, University of Arkansas, USA.

I have long had a passion for history, archaeology and the sea and found their intersection in maritime archaeology. My research in this field began with my PhD thesis “Interdisciplinary Methods for Reconstruction of Paleolandscapes and Predictive Modeling for Identification of Submerged Archaeological Sites”. This work shaped my interests and further research in submerged coastal landscapes, spatial analyses, remote sensing techniques in maritime archaeology, climate changes, sea level rise, etc.

I have directed and participated in numerous underwater archaeology projects – excavations of submerged Bronze Age settlements, submerged fortification of ancient Nessebar and St. Nicholas Bay Shipwreck in Chernomorets, maritime geophysical and remote sensing surveys – South Stream Pipeline and “Black Sea M.A.P”, underwater LIDAR scanning, dive surveys, etc. I have worked mostly in the Black Sea but I have some archaeological experience in the Israeli Mediterranean and the British Atlantic.

I am co-founder and program director of the Balkan Heritage Foundation (Bulgarian NGO) and manage several field school programs in archaeology and conservation. My primary goal is to run such a field school program in Underwater Archaeology.

The little free time I have away from my work, I spend with my small daughter, wife and our friends somewhere far-far from the cities, engagements and my beloved work.