Varna Man and the Wealthiest Grave of the 5th Millennium BC
In the 1970s, archaeologists in Bulgaria stumbled upon a vast Copper Age necropolis from the 5th millennium BC containing the oldest golden artifacts ever discovered near the modern-day city of Varna. More than 300 graves were uncovered in the necropolis, and between them over 22,000 exquisite artifacts were recovered, including 3,000+ items made from gold.
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A human face peers out of cracked clay—a man made image found in a cenotaph. With a diadem placed on the forehead, round plates on the eyes, a rectangular plate on the mouth, and piercings, earrings, and necklaces, some archeologists think this was the clay head of a figurine buried for religious beliefs. (Varna Regional Museum of History)
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Other precious relics found within the graves included copper, high-quality flint, stone tools, jewellery, shells of Mediterranean mollusks, pottery, obsidian blades, and beads.
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| Gold Beads |
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Gold pendants like these were often strung with stone beads. Some are believed to represent pregnant women. (Varna Regional Museum of History)
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This pendant necklace of gold, carnelian, and Spondylus shell was found in a cenotaph, a grave with no human remains. Archeologists believe it hung from the neck of a woman during the late Copper Age. A typical female adornment, its white, red, and gold are a unique color combination that offers clues to the world’s oldest known social stratification. (Varna Regional Museum of History)
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Most people have heard of the great civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley, which are all noted for being the earliest known civilizations to feature urbanization, organized administration, and cultural innovation. But few have heard of the mysterious civilization that emerged on the shores of lakes of the Black Sea some 7,000 years ago in Bulgaria.
The Varna culture, as it has come to be known, was not a small and inconsequential society that emerged in a little corner of Bulgaria and disappeared quickly into the pages of history. Rather, it was an amazingly advanced civilization, more ancient than the empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the first known culture to craft golden artifacts.
The Rise of the Varna Culture
Evidence suggests that it was between 4600 and 4200 BC, when gold smithing first started in Varna. As advances were made, and craftsmen mastered metallurgy of copper and gold, the inhabitants now had something extremely valuable to trade. Increased contacts with neighbours both north and south eventually opened up trade relations within the Black Sea and Mediterranean region, which was of great importance for the development of the society. The deep bay, along which the settlements of Varna, provided a comfortable harbor for ships sailing across the Black Sea and Varna became a prosperous trading center.
And so, the foundations had been laid for the emergence of a powerful and flourishing culture, whose influence permeated the whole of Europe for thousands of years to come.
The Varna culture, as it has come to be known, was not a small and inconsequential society that emerged in a little corner of Bulgaria and disappeared quickly into the pages of history. Rather, it was an amazingly advanced civilization, more ancient than the empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the first known culture to craft golden artifacts.
The Rise of the Varna Culture
Evidence suggests that it was between 4600 and 4200 BC, when gold smithing first started in Varna. As advances were made, and craftsmen mastered metallurgy of copper and gold, the inhabitants now had something extremely valuable to trade. Increased contacts with neighbours both north and south eventually opened up trade relations within the Black Sea and Mediterranean region, which was of great importance for the development of the society. The deep bay, along which the settlements of Varna, provided a comfortable harbor for ships sailing across the Black Sea and Varna became a prosperous trading center.
And so, the foundations had been laid for the emergence of a powerful and flourishing culture, whose influence permeated the whole of Europe for thousands of years to come.
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| Gold, copper, and stone artifacts from Grave 4, Varna |
Elite members of society were buried in shrouds with gold ornaments sewn into the cloth wrappings and their graves were laden with treasures, including gold ornaments, heavy copper axes, elegant finery, and richly decorated ceramics, while others had simple burials with few grave goods.
Grave 36
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Excavators of grave 36 at Varna cemetery found a symbolic tomb filled with artifacts but no human bones in the fall of 1974. Within four layers of soil were rings, appliqués, strings of beads, two bull figurines with bracelets, a miniature crown, a scepter, a sickle, and a sheep knuckle-bone commonly used in the ancient world as a die—all made from gold. (Varna Regional Museum of History)
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| Grave 36 |
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Carefully polished with no grooves for inlays, this 1.3-inch tall crown (top) was found among the symbolic offerings in grave 36. Models of a hammer-headed staff (left) and its grooved companion (right), both found in grave 36. (Varna Regional Museum of History)
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Gold zoomorphic appliqués, more than six millennia old, appears to be a bull but has buffalo-like horns. / A. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Images)
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While there were many elite burials uncovered, there was one in particular that stood out amongst the rest – grave 43. Inside grave 43, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a high status male who appears to have been a ruler/leader of some kind – more gold was found within this burial than in the entire rest of the world in that period. The male was buried with a scepter – a symbol of high rank or spiritual power – and wore a sheath of solid gold over his penis.
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Each weighing upwards of 110 grams, these bracelets were worn by the community’s chief and were an indicator of his high rank.
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The burials in the Varna necropolis have also offered a lot more than the precious artifacts found within them and discoveries relating to social hierarchies; the features of the graves have also provided key insights into the religious beliefs and complex funerary practices of this ancient civilization.
Read more at Ancient Origins and Smithsonian Mag
Most people have heard of the great civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley, which are all noted for being the earliest known civilizations to feature urbanization, organized administration, and cultural innovation. But few have heard of the mysterious civilization that emerged on the shores of lakes of the Black Sea some 7,000 years ago in Bulgaria.
The Varna culture, as it has come to be known, was not a small and inconsequential society that emerged in a little corner of Bulgaria and disappeared quickly into the pages of history. Rather, it was an amazingly advanced civilization, more ancient than the empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the first known culture to craft golden artifacts.
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The Varna culture, as it has come to be known, was not a small and inconsequential society that emerged in a little corner of Bulgaria and disappeared quickly into the pages of history. Rather, it was an amazingly advanced civilization, more ancient than the empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the first known culture to craft golden artifacts.
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Archaeologists in Bulgaria have discovered the rests of what they have descrived as a "giant skeleton" at the center of Varna, a city on the shores of the Black Sea, whose rich cultural history dates back up to 7,000 years in the past.
Giant skeleton exhumed in Bulgaria, 2015
The Sophia's News Agency, Novinite, reports the skeleton was found in what was once the ancestral city of Odeso, a trade base established by the milesians at the beginning of the VI century b.C, which always suffered the influence of the Thrace's neighboring peoples. The city was destroyed by the getae and conquered by rome, after having put up with the Huns and Slavs' invasions.
Researchers state that the first analysis about the rests indicate they belong to a man who lived between the IV and V century a.C., in the times when Odeso was an incipient Christian área.
Valeri Yotov, who is part of the team carrying out the excavations there, reported to the local media the bones' size is "outstanding" and they belonged to a "very high man". Till now the information concerning this is relatively low and the exhumed skeleton's size hasn't been revealed.
The skeleton was found in the vicinity of an ancient wall. "His position, with the hands on the waist and his head pointing to the east, clearly indicates he was buried with decorum", Novinite reports.
Giant skeleton Goliath, Romania, 2012
It isn't the first time a skeleton of generous proportions is found in Eastern Europe. In 2012, archaeologists exhumed in Santa Mare, Romania, the giant skeleton of a warrior which would date from the year 1600 b.C. He was baptized with the nickname of ‘Goliath’ and his heigth exceded the 2 meters, something unusual for the people of the area in his time. The warrior was buried with a dagger which in comparison allows to see with the naked eye his "giant" quality.
Varna's necrópolis, also known as the Varna's cemetery, is an archaeological burial site which is located in the western part of the industrial zone of Varna, in Bulgaria. Dated between the 4,600 to 4,200 b.C., pursuant to several experts it hides the European civilization's craddle, as well as the world's first worked gold.
The idea is enough at odds with what you tend to imagine about prehistory; however, approximately in three hundred analyzed tombs collars, bracelets, scepters, amulets and, even, a phalus of gold have been found. The site was discovered in front of the Varna's harbor in 1972 and it is estimated that 30% of the necropolis' zone still remains to be excavated.
The idea is enough at odds with what you tend to imagine about prehistory; however, approximately in three hundred analyzed tombs collars, bracelets, scepters, amulets and, even, a phalus of gold have been found. The site was discovered in front of the Varna's harbor in 1972 and it is estimated that 30% of the necropolis' zone still remains to be excavated.
294 tombs were found in the necropolis, formally equal, with the same coloration, when their lands became ochre, but the grave goods vary, reflecting the social category of each deceased person. Some contain sofisticated articles of metallurgy (gold and coper), pottery (around 600 pieces, including some painted with gold), sharp objects of high quality made of flint and obsidian, and accounts.
Some tombs don't contains skeletons but funereal presents. The interesting part is that the (empty) symbolic sepulchers are the reachest with regards to artifacts of gold. 3000 of said objects were found, with an approximate weight of 6 kg. Three symbolic sepulchers contained masks made of unfired clay.
This culture possessed sofisticated religious believes concerning life beyond death and created hierarchical differences, as the evidence of the oldest sepulcher of a man belonging to the elite ever known proves. The buried man's elevated hierarchy is demonstrated thereby the immense quantity of gold, the adze or mallet he held and the case of gold for his penis. The bull-shaped gold platelets might have served as veneration of the virility, the strength and the qualities as warrior as well.
Some tombs don't contains skeletons but funereal presents. The interesting part is that the (empty) symbolic sepulchers are the reachest with regards to artifacts of gold. 3000 of said objects were found, with an approximate weight of 6 kg. Three symbolic sepulchers contained masks made of unfired clay.
This culture possessed sofisticated religious believes concerning life beyond death and created hierarchical differences, as the evidence of the oldest sepulcher of a man belonging to the elite ever known proves. The buried man's elevated hierarchy is demonstrated thereby the immense quantity of gold, the adze or mallet he held and the case of gold for his penis. The bull-shaped gold platelets might have served as veneration of the virility, the strength and the qualities as warrior as well.
MORE AND MORE THINGS...
A tomb from the Varna necropolis (Black Sea,Bulgaria), circa 4600 BC, with the world's oldest gold jewellery yet discovered.
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