Prof. Vassil Nikolov, Ph.D, Sc.D., Full member of BAS

Prof. Vassil Nikolov was born on December 31, 1951, in Byala Slatina. He graduated in History with a specialization in Archaeology from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in 1976. In 1982, he defended his first doctoral dissertation (equivalent to PhD), and in 1998 earned a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree based on research conducted as a Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow (1991 - 1993) at the Institute of Prehistoric and Early History and Near Eastern Archaeology at Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. He became a professor in 1999. He has spent his entire professional career as a prehistoric archaeologist at the National Archaeological Institute and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM - BAS), from 1984 to 2024. He served as Head of the Prehistory Department (1989 - 1999), Deputy Director (1999 - 2003), and Director (2003 - 2007) of NAIM. Between 2003 and 2015, he chaired the NAIM Academic Council. In 1991, he also served as Director of the Directorate for Museums and Art Galleries at the Ministry of Culture. He has been a member of the General Assembly and the Governing Board of BAS. From January 2017 to January 2021, he was Vice President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In October 2021, he was elected Academician (Full member) of BAS.
He has rich archaeological field experience, contributing to the development of excavation methodologies for prehistoric settlements and mounds. He identified and pioneered the study of a new type of prehistoric site in the Balkans: Neolithic and Chalcolithic pit sanctuaries. He discovered and has been leading the research at Provadia-Solnitsata, the earliest known prehistoric salt-production and urban center in Europe, along with the continent’s earliest stone fortresses linked to this wealth. His long-term excavations include key prehistoric sites such as the settlement mounds of Karanovo (Bulgarian-Austrian project), Kapitan Dimitrievo, and Krun; Neolithic settlements at Sapareva Banya, Kovachevo (Bulgarian-French project), Eleshnitsa, and Mursalevo; and pit sanctuaries near Lyubimets and Kapitan Andreevo. Of particular importance are his discoveries at the early Neolithic site of Slatina in Sofia.
His scholarly interests span the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze Age (6th – 3rd millennium BC) in the Bulgarian lands, Northwestern Asia Minor, and Southeastern Europe. He has authored 12 monographs and over 300 articles and studies published in Bulgarian and international journals. His works have been cited over 3,000 times, with more than half of the citations appearing in foreign-autors publications. His research has advanced numerous aspects of Late Prehistory, including the origins of Neolithic culture in the Eastern and Central Balkans; Neolithic ceramics and ornamentation; prehistoric architecture; specialized production in the Chalcolithic (e.g., salt production); complex Chalcolithic societies; religious-mythological systems of early farming communities; pit sanctuaries; and the earliest stone fortresses in Europe. He is a strong proponent of the theory that the first European civilization arose and developed in the Balkans, including present-day Bulgarian lands. He has presented his research at over 40 international congresses and symposia on prehistory, both in Bulgaria and abroad.
As Director of NAIM, he worked actively to improve the physical infrastructure of the National Archaeological Museum and update its exhibitions. He participated in the conceptual and scientific preparation of eight major archaeological exhibitions organized by the Ministry of Culture and successfully presented abroad (Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy). He has extensive expertise and serves as a member of the Specialized Expert Council for the Protection of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture.
He was editor-in-chief of the journal Archaeologia (2001–2024), Starini: Journal for Balkan Archaeology (1999–2005), and the Studia Praehistorica series (2004–2017), as well as the BAS general academic journal Papers of BAS (2017–2023). He is also a member of the editorial board of Istoriya journal and serves on the editorial boards of three international journals. He has edited or co-edited 24 volumes of collected papers in Bulgaria, 2 in Germany, and 4 in Austria. He has been a visiting professor at the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Salzburg on two occasions. For more than 20 years, he has taught lecture courses on the prehistory of the Bulgarian lands, Southeastern Europe, and Anatolia at several Bulgarian universities. He has supervised 12 PhD students, one international fellow, and numerous undergraduate theses. He has also delivered guest lectures at various foreign universities and research institutes.
He is a member of several Bulgarian and international scholarly organizations. He is a corresponding member of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna and of the Center for Archaeology and Cultural History of the Black Sea Region (Halle, Germany). He is an honorary member and two-term president of the Humboldt Union in Bulgaria, and an honorary member of the Institute of Archaeo-Mythology (Sebastopol, USA).
He is a recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz), with sash (2008). In 2010 and 2013, he was named Archaeologist of the Year by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. He has been honored as an Honorary Citizen of Provadia (2016), Sofia (2017), and Gorna Oryahovitsa (2022). In 2017, he received the “Golden Age” Honorary Badge – Necklace from the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria.