VARNA CHALCOLITHIC NECROPOLISTHE OLDEST PROCESSED GOLD TREASURE IN THE WORLD
Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis is one of the key archaeological sites in world prehistory. The oldest gold treasure in the world, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered at the site.Discovery and excavationThe site was accidentally discovered in October 1972. A total of 294 graves has been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of metallurgy (gold and copper), pottery (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells. Some graves do not contain a skeleton, but grave gifts (cenotaphs). These symbolic (empty) graves are the richest in gold artifacts.The artifactsThree 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 unbaked clay.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. Golden objects found in the Varna Chalcolithic necropolis are assumed to be the "oldest gold of mankind" according to their total volume and quantity.
The culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about afterlife and had developed hierarchical status differences.The site offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (Marija Gimbutas claims that the end of the fifth millennium BC is the time that the transition to male dominance began in Europe).The high-status male buried with the most remarkable amount of gold held a war adze or mace and wore a gold penis sheath. Bull-shaped gold platelets might also have venerated virility, instinctual force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople.The findings showed that the Varna culture had trade relations with distant lands, perhaps exporting metal goods and salt from the Provadiya rock salt mine — Solnitsata. The copper ore used in the artifacts originated from a Sredna Gora mine near Stara Zagora, and Mediterranean Spondylus shells found in the graves may have served as primitive currency.The artifacts can be seen at the Varna Archaeological Museum and at the National Historical Museum in Sofia.The Varna gold began to tour the world after 1973 and has been displayed in many of the leading museums and exhibition spaces in Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and Israel, among other places, and was featured in a cover story in National Geographic magazine.
