Bulgaria The Land of Thracian Kings. The Mysteries of Varna Civilization. The hidden knowledge of Varna Civilization. Varna Civilization Europe -- World's First Gold, Ancient Secrets The oldest golden treasure in the world, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered at the site. An astonishing find of pure gold, the largest and oldest in the world uncovered in the cemetery of Varna, Bulgaria, offered a glimpse into the remarkable prehistoric cultures of Europe. The unique discovery of spiritual and material wealth explains why, some 6,500 years ago Varna became the birthplace of a European Chalcolithic civilization. The Varna Civilization Bulgarian: Europe (Варненски некропол) is a burial site in the Varna, Bulgaria, internationally considered one of the key archaeological sites in world prehistory. The oldest golden treasure in the world, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered at the site. Some graves do not contain a skeleton, but grave gifts (cenotaphs). These symbolic (empty) graves are the richest in gold artifacts. Three thousand gold artifacts were found, with a weight of approximately six kilograms. Grave 43 contained more gold than has been found in the entire rest of the world for that epoch. Three symbolic graves contained masks of unfired clay. The culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about afterlife and developed hierarchical status differences: it offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male. The bull-shaped gold platelets perhaps also venerated virility, instinct force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople. The discontinuity of the Varna, Karanovo, Vinča and Lengyel cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, land exhaustion, or epidemics (for which there is no evidence in Europe in the 5th millennium B.C.). Among the metallic (gold and copper) and non-metallic (minerals, rocks, pottery, pigments, biofacts) artifacts in the graves from the Varna Chalcolithic site are numerous beads of a chalcedony (carnelian) and agate composition. In 2009, logician H. Smolenov suggested that the Varna culture people had achieved certain advanced mathematical knowledge testified by the artifacts from the necropolis, some of which might have been used for navigation purposes apart from their possible sacral function. This is where the first European civilization was born, reaching its peak starting in the 5th millennium before the Common Era. It was succeeded by the Thracians, the Greeks (6th century BCE), the Romans (1st-3rd century), the early Byzantine Empire (4th-6th century), nascent Christianity and the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet. It all happened here, in Varna Archaeological digs in Bulgaria since the 19th century have uncovered material evidence of some 100,000 years of human history. Let's briefly explore that history. The glorious Copper Age World's first gold Some 4,600 years before the Common Era, a mysterious civilization emerged on the shores of lakes near the Black Sea—not far from the modern-day city of Varna. For its time, this Varna culture was amazingly advanced, both culturally and technologically. The first evidence of its existence was found in lovely ceramics, bone and stone idols and copper tools. Then an astounding chance discovery came to light, making headlines around the world. Just a few kilometres from Varna was a Copper Age necropolis (cemetery) containing the oldest gold objects ever discovered. Between 4600 and 4200 BCE, long before Mesopotamia or the Egypt of the pyramids, goldsmithing first began on the shores of the Black Sea, in the land that is today Bulgaria. Study of the 300 or so graves in the Varna I necropolis showed that there was a highly structured society here in the Copper Age. The richest graves contained gold diadems and sceptres, heavy copper axes and spear points, elegant finery and richly decorated ceramics. A large amount of shell jewellery was evidence of trade with the South, for the molluscs in question were from the Mediterranean. Complex funerary rites The society had elaborate funerary rites: (mostly male graves), the skeleton was laid on its back; in others (mostly female graves), the skeleton was curled in a foetal position; and some graves even contained no skeleton at all. These symbolic graves, or cenotaphs, were richer than the ordinary graves and contained gold and copper objects. Another unusual rite: three of these symbolic graves contained only a human-sized clay mask, buried in the place where the head would have been. Perhaps a memorial to an individual who died far away, or ancestor worship.

• published: 01 Feb 2014
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