Into the Tsar's residence: geophysical survey of the early medieval Bulgarian capital of Veliki Preslav

During the late first millennium AD, the Bulgarian Empire emerged in the eastern Balkans on the door-step of the Byzantine Empire. In a bid to reconcile with-and impress-its powerful neighbour, Tsar Simeon I selected the fortified site of Veliki Preslav as a new capital city. Through the ninth and tenth centuries AD, the city was developed into one of the largest cities of the early Middle Ages in Europe. A fortified Inner City of palaces, churches and state buildings was accompanied by a large defended Outer City. The authors present the results of a recent geophysical survey, revealing patterning in the spatial and socio-economic organisation of the urban landscape between the ninth and fourteenth centuries AD.