In the period 1879–1900, several local archaeological societies were established in the country, and in 1901, the Bulgarian Archaeological Society was constituted as a center of archaeological studies. Although some small collections of archaeological materials already existed in the mid-nineteenth century, the first museum collection was founded in 1878 at the public library in Sofia, and it was set up as the National Archaeological Museum in 1892. In 1880, another important archaeological museum was established in Plovdiv, and in 1891, a course in Greek and Roman archaeology started at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, the oldest Bulgarian university established in 1888.

The first archaeological excavations began in 1884 in Veliko Tarnovo, the last medieval Bulgarian capital. The special interest of scholars in the history of the medieval kingdom was completely reasonable in light of the establishment of the new Bulgarian State and, in 1899–1900, excavations of the other medieval Bulgarian capital, Pliska, were organized (K. Škorpil 1905). In 1898, the French scholar P. Jerôme started prehistoric research by drilling excavations in southern Bulgaria (Jerôme 1901), and H. and K. Škorpil published their survey on Thracian burial mounds in Bulgarian lands (H. Škorpil and K. Škorpil 1898). From 1904 to 1909, V. Dobrusky conducted excavations in the Roman provincial towns of Ulpia Oescus and Nicopolis ad Istrum.

During the first half of the twentieth century, a number of Bulgarian archaeologists who had studied abroad started working in their home country, and consequently, different European schools stimulated the development of Bulgarian archaeology. Important preliminary information was accumulated, numerous sites were registered, various finds were collected and studied, some important archaeological excavations were organized, and diverse studies were published, both in Bulgarian periodicals and abroad. In 1920, the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute was established, the most important archaeological institution even today, and some local museums were founded, becoming important centers for regional archaeological research.

In the early twentieth century, R. Popov organized excavations in different prehistoric sites in Bulgaria and studied Thracian materials of the first millennium b.c. (Popov 1912, 1928, 1930). A. Chilingirov excavated some prehistoric tells, and B. Djakovich worked in Thracian and ancient archaeology. Very important were the researches of G. Kazarow (1916, 1930, 1936, 1938) and D. Detschew (1976), who studied in detail the history, linguistics, and archaeology of ancient Thrace during the Iron Age and the Roman period. At the same time, B. Filow began his studies on the Roman period (Filow 1906, 1931); he established Thracian archaeology as well and later excavated one of the most remarkable Thracian burial sites (Filow 1917, 1934a, 1937). Filow was interested in Middle Ages Bulgarian art and published important studies in that area as well (Filow 1919, 1934b). Important research continued at medieval sites, with A. Protič studying medieval architecture (Protič 1924), and J. Gospodinov excavated at Presale, the second Bulgarian capital (Gospodinov 1914).

After World War I, a new generation of Bulgarian archaeologists began studying different topics. As a result of field surveys, V. Mika registered a number of prehistoric sites and undertook limited excavation of several tells (Mikov 1933, 1939); he also studied the mortuary practices of the ancient Thracians (Mikov 1942, 1954). P. Detev registered prehistoric sites and organized some excavation works. I. Velkov excavated a number of sites and did important research on ancient Thrace (Velkov 1930, 1931) and the medieval period (Velkov 1939). D.P. Dimitrov investigated the Roman period and published some important studies (Dimitrov 1937, 1942). K. Mijatev continued researching Pliska, Preslav, and Veliko Tarnovo and wrote key