Peter Leshtakov

Petar Leshtakov was born in the city of Sliven. In 2000, he graduated in Archaeology from St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo. Since 2006, he has worked as an archaeologist in the Prehistory Section of the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
His academic interests are focused on the Late Prehistory (6th - 4th millennium BC), with particular attention to the development of settlement systems, the emergence and advancement of early metallurgy, and the procurement and exchange networks for raw materials. Since 2007, he has led numerous archaeological excavations and non-destructive archaeological surveys. He has investigated several significant prehistoric settlements along the Southern Black Sea coast (Sozopol-Budzhaka, Sozopol-Stadiona, Chernomorets-Akladi cheiri), in Thrace (the multi-layered site at Chirpan), and in the Eastern Rhodopes (Orlovo-Belene). He has directed fieldwork on a number of nationally and internationally funded projects exploring ore extraction and metal production in the Rosen, Varlibriaz, and Prohorovo mining fields.
He has managed fieldwork for preliminary archaeological assessments along the routes of major infrastructure projects, including the Nabucco and South Stream gas pipelines, the Greece–Bulgaria Interconnector, the Vertical Gas Corridor looping from Rupcha to Vetrino, the reconstruction of railway sections Skutare–Orizovo and Orizovo–Mihaylovo, and the overhead power line from Nea Santa to Maritsa East. He has presented the results of his archaeological research at numerous national and several international conferences and symposia.
Since 2006, he has been a member of the team excavating the prehistoric salt-production and urban center Provadia-Solnitsata, and since 2011, he has served as the deputy director of the archaeological excavations. Using non-destructive methods, he has conducted in-depth investigations of the Chalcolithic settlement system in the Royak-Provadia and Avren plateaus. He has also directed excavations at the Chalcolithic fortified site of Avren-Bobata, which controlled the communication route between Provadia-Solnitsata and the Chalcolithic sites around the Varna lakes.