Varna Necropolis
The Varna Necropolis (Bulgarian: Варненски некропол), or Varna Cemetery, is a burial site in the western industrial zone of Varna (approximately half a kilometre from Lake Varna and 4 km from the city centre), internationally considered one of the key archaeological sites in world prehistory. The oldest gold treasure and jewelry in the world, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered at the site.[1] Several prehistoric Bulgarian finds are considered no less old – the golden treasures of Hotnitsa, Durankulak, artifacts from the Kurgan settlement of Yunatsite near Pazardzhik, the golden treasure Sakar, as well as beads and gold jewelry found in the Kurgan settlement of Provadia – Solnitsata (“salt pit”). However, Varna gold is most often called the oldest since this treasure is the largest and most diverse.[2][3][4][5]
Further information: Varna culture, Old Europe (archaeology), and Danube civilisationChronology[edit]
The graves have been dated to 4569–4340 BCE by radiocarbon dating in 2006 [7][6] and belong to the Chalcolithic Varna culture, which is the local variant of the KGKVI.
Museum exhibitions[edit]
The artifacts can be seen at the Varna Archaeological Museum and at the National Historical Museum in Sofia. In 2006, some gold objects were included in a major and broadly advertised national exhibition of antique gold treasures in both Sofia and Varna.
The Varna gold started touring the world in 1973; it was included in "The Gold of the Thracian Horseman" national exhibition, shown at many of the world's leading museums and exhibition venues in the 1970s.[12][13][14] In 1982, it was exhibited for 7 months in Japan as "The Oldest Gold in the World – The First European Civilization" with massive publicity, including two full length TV documentaries. In the 1980s and 1990s it was also shown in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and Israel, among others, and featured in a cover story by the National Geographic Magazine.
The Varna necropolis artifacts were shown for the first time in the United States in 1998 and 1999 as part of a major Bulgarian archaeological exhibition, Thracians' Riches: Treasures from Bulgaria.[15] In 2009–2010, several artifacts were shown at the New York University Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in a joint Bulgarian-Romanian-Moldovan exhibition entitled The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000–3500 BC.[16][17][18]
Old Europe
Prehistoric Balkans
Anthony, D. W., J. Y. Chi (Eds.) 2010. The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000–3500 BC. Princeton, U.P.
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Chapman, J. 1990. Social inequality on Bulgarian tells and the Varna problem. – In: R. Samson (ed.). The Social Archaeology of Houses, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 49–98.
Chapman, J. 1991. The creation of social arenas in Varna. – In: P. Garwood (Ed.). Sacred and Profane. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Monograph 32, 152–171.
Chapman, J., T. Higham, B. Gaydarska, V. Slavchev, N. Honch. 2006. The social context of the emergence, development and abandonment of the Varna Cemetery, Bulgaria. – European Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 9, No. 2–3, 159–183.
Chapman, J., B. Gaydarska, V. Slavchev. 2008. The life histories of Spondylus shell rings from the Varna I Eneolithic cemetery (Northeast Bulgaria): transformation, revelation, fragmentation and deposition. – Acta Musei Varnaensis, 6, 139–162.
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Fol, A., J. Lichardus (eds.). 1988. Macht, Herrschaft und Gold: das Graberfeld von Varna (Bulgarien) und die Anfänge einer neuen europäischen Zivilisation. Saarbrücken, Moderne Galerie des Saarland–Museums.
Gimbutas, M. 1977. Varna: a sensationally rich cemetery at the Karanovo civilization: about 4500 B.C. – Expedition, Summer, 39–47.
Hayden, B. 1998. An archaeological evaluation of the Gimbutas paradigm. – In: The Virtual Pomegranate, 6.
Higham, T., J. Chapman, V. Slavchev, B. Gaydarska, N. Honch, Y. Yordanov, B. Dimitrova. 2007. New perspectives on the Varna cemetery (Bulgaria) – AMS dates and social implications. – Antiquity, 81, 313, 640–651.
Ivanov, I. 1977. La nécropole chalcolithique de Varna. – Obzor, 38, 87–96.
Ivanov, I. 1978. Les fouilles archéologiques de la nécropole chalcolithique а Varna (1972–1976). – Studia Praehistorica, 1–2, 13–26.
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Ivanov, I. 1988. Die Ausgrabungen des Gräberfeldes von Varna. – In: Fol, A., J. Lichardus (Hrsg.). Macht, Herrschaft und Gold. Moderne–Galerie des Saarlands–Museum, Saarbrüken, Krüger, 49–66, 67–78.
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Ivanov, I., M. Avramova. 2000. Varna Necropolis. The Dawn of European Civilization. Sofia, Agató, 55 p.
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Kostov, R. I. 2016. Symmetry of form and weight: standardization of gold and mineral artifacts from the Varna Chalcolithic necropolis (5th millennium BC). – In: Symmetry Festival 2016 (Ed. by G. Darvas). Vienna, 18–23 July 2016, 176–179.
Kostov, R. I., O. Pelevina. 2008. Complex faceted and other carnelian beads from the Varna Chalcolithic necropolis: gemmological analysis. – In: Proceedings of the International Conference "Geology and Archaeomineralogy". Sofia, 29–30 October 2008. Sofia, Publishing House "St. Ivan Rilski", 67–72.
Kostov, R. I., T. Dimov, O. Pelevina. 2004. Gemmological characteristics of carnelian and agate beads from the Chalcolithic necropolis at Durankulak and Varna. – Geology and Mineral Resources, 11, 10, 15–24 (in Bulgarian with an English abstract).
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[online
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Marler, J. 1999. A response to Brian Hayden's article "An archaeological evaluation of the Gimbutas paradigm". – In: The Virtual Pomegranate, 10.
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doi
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Todorova, H. 1978. The Eneolithic Period in Bulgaria in the Fifth Millennium B.C. Oxford, British Archaeological Reports, BAR supplementary series 49.
(in Bulgarian and English).
Varna Archaeological Museum website
(in Bulgarian)
Specialized Varna Necropolis website
Another photo by Ivo Hadjimishev
The Durankulak Lake Town – Kibela's Temple (Древното селище при Дуранкулашкото езеро – Езерният град)
Archived 2015-09-27 at the Wayback Machine