The medieval paintings and inscriptions over stone, ceramics, plaster, bones, metal, etc. are called graphites due to the specific performance technique- images are scribbled over the soft limestone with a sharp object (a knife, a chisel, an awl, etc.). Graphites were found in many objects in Preslav which date back to the town’s capital period: the Rotunda, the complex in the Under the Zabuite site, the civil complexes in Selishte site, the commercial rooms etc. The graphites are laid on the inner surface of the fortress wall mostly on the second, third and fourth row of the construction, 2.00 m. high. They were found during the research of Prof.Dimitar Ovcharov in 1971. They became part of the fortress wall’s extension on the north. They cover an area of 150 m.
They date back generally from the end of the 9th century to the beginning of the 10th century- the period of construction of this part of the building till the town’s falling under Byzantine rule in 971. Depending on the subject covered Prof.Ovcharov divides the paintings in four main groups: images of animals, images of people, symbolic signs and pictures and figured compositions. The latter are united in several groups: military, hunting, erotic and ritual scenes.
Probably they were made by the soldiers who guarded the old capital. The witch- doctor cult was widespread. The anthropomorphous image of a witch doctor and an animal figure can be seen in the most well preserved section of the fortress wall. There is an erotic feeling even in the military and hunting scenes full of bulls, deers, eagles and horses. There are many crosses in the symbols showing that signs also have a religious and magical meaning. The inscription ‘Yan the sinful wrote in prison standing’ makes historians think there were also prisons for the guilty soldiers around the fortress wall.