ملف:National Archaeological Museum Sofia - Bronze Head from the Golyama Kosmatka Tumulus near Shipka.jpg

It was discovered in 2004 in the 'Golyama Kostnatka' burial mound in the Kazanlak valley near Shipka, Stara Zagora region. The tumulus - 20m high and some 90m in diameter - is among the largest ones in Tracia found so far. It conceals a monumental tomb with three chambers separated by a two-folding stone door facing south. Later on, it was re-structured with an additional dromos (a passageway) and with an impressive facade.

The rich grave goods placed in the burial chamber that resembles a sarcophagus comprise a golden wreath, vessels of gold, silver, bronze and clay, bronze weaponry and a gold set horse harness. These objects (now on display at the Kazanlak Museum of History) date the most recent burial in the mound to the early 3rd century BC. This dating was supported by four coins discovered within the dromos - three of Seuthes III, and one from the time of Kasander.

The inscriptions engraved on a silver vessel and on a helmet with the name of Seuthes in possessive case, indicate that the sepulcher may be the resting place of Seuthes III himself, ruler of the Odrysae. He reigned during the last decades of the 4th century BC, and his capital city of Seuthopolis lies presently under the water of the nearby dam Koprinka.

The bronze head was placed vertically facing south. It was supported with stones and ritually buried (during or after the funerary ceremony) some 7 metres from the facede of the 23-long alley leading from the mound's periphery toward the sepulcher.

The direct connection of the bronze head with the tomb and the burial ritual, the way in which the hair and the beard are depicted and the vague resemblance to the images of Seuthes on the coins found in Seuthopolis allows for the possibility that the bronze head is part of a sculpted portrait of the Tracian ruler himself.