Mr Pavel Yordanov Georgiev BA, MA
Postgraduate research student, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Archaeologist, Centre for Underwater Archaeology, Sozopol
Pavel Y. Georgiev is a Postgraduate Research student at the Centre for Maritime Archaeology with interests in the human response to the changes in the coastal environment and digital documentation of cultural heritage as means to bequeath our discoveries to future generations.
Understanding the past will allow us to better prepare for the future
I graduated with honours my BA in Archaeology from the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria in 2014. Already during my studies there, I was fascinated by maritime archaeology and its immense potential to provide insight into the human past. From the same university, I hold two MA Hons one in archaeology with a focus on conservation and restoration of cultural artefacts and one in archaeometry which is on digital photogrammetry of a submerged multiperiod archaeological site. In the course of my higher education, I developed strong critical thinking and a desire to have an unbiased view of the question at hand. Those motives inspired my interest in interdisciplinary studies as means to support and enrich archaeological research. It also gave me a specific attitude that it is quality and not quantity that provides the best results.
My career in underwater archaeology started in 2017 when I joined in the underwater excavation in the bay of the Ropotamo river. It was part of the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (BSMAP), an international collaboration with no previous analogue. The main partners of which were the Centre for Maritime Archaeology (CMA), the University of Southampton and the Centre for Underwater Archaeology (CUA) to the Ministry of Culture, Bulgaria. Without exaggerating this was a life-changing event that set my path to discover, record and present the submerged secrets of the past. It led me in 2018 to a full-time appointment as an archaeologist in the CUA and in 2020 I was awarded the “Hristina Angelova” scholarship by the Expedition and Education Foundation, England (EEFE) for a PhD in the CMA.
To facilitate my interest in underwater archaeology in 2013 I received my first recreational diving qualification of CMAS* diver. After many years of hard training that culminated in 2018 when I became CMAS * instructor and also acquired a CMAS Scientific diver certificate in 2014. Furthermore, I underwent training in “Basic Offshore Safety Induction & Emergency Training” and “CA-EBS Initial Deployment Training” for offshore work. Qualifications that are essential for the archaeological survey on commercial activities in open seas.