| Horizon | Old Europe |
|---|---|
| Period | Chalcolithic |
| Dates | c. 4550 BC – c. 4,100 BC |
| Type site | Varna Necropolis,Solnitsata,Durankulak |
| Preceded by | Karanovo culture,Hamangia culture,Gumelnița culture |
| Followed by | Cernavodă culture |
TheVarna culture was aChalcolithic culture of northeasternBulgaria, datedc. 4500 BC,[1][2] contemporary and closely related with theGumelnița culture. The oldest golden artifacts in the world (c. 4500 BC) were found in the Necropolis of Varna. These artefacts are on display in theVarna Archaeological Museum.[3][4][5]
The site was accidentally discovered in October 1972 by excavator operator Raycho Marinov. Research excavation was under the direction of Mihail Lazarov and Ivan Ivanov. About 30% of the estimated necropolis area is still not excavated.[citation needed]
The Varna culture is characterized by polychrome pottery and rich cemeteries, the most famous of which areVarna Necropolis, the eponymous site, and theDurankulak lake complex, which comprises the largestprehistoric cemetery insoutheastern Europe, with an adjoining coeval Neolithic settlement (published) and an unpublished and incompletely excavatedChalcolithic settlement. 294 graves have been found in the Varna necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of the oldestgoldmetallurgy in the world,copper metallurgy,pottery (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-qualityflint andobsidianblades,beads, andshells.
The oldest goldjewelry in the world found in the necropolis is dated 4650-4450 BC.[6]
The findings showed that the Varna culture had trade relations with distant lands, possibly including thelower Volga region and theCyclades, perhaps exporting metal goods andsalt from theSolnitsata rock salt mine. Thecopper ore used in Varna artifacts originated from theSredna Gora mine nearStara Zagora, andMediterraneanspondylus shells found in the graves may have served as primitive currency.
An analysis of wear traces oncarnelian andagatebeads crafted by the Varna culture found evidence for the use of "some sort of fast or lap wheel" in their production.[7]
Graves of theVarna Necropolis contained the oldest known examples of gold working in the world.[8] Burials included both crouched and extended inhumations. Somegraves did not contain askeleton, only grave gifts. These symbolic (empty) graves are the richest in gold artifacts. 3,000 gold artifacts were found altogether, with a weight of approximately 6 kilograms.[9] Three symbolic graves also contained masks of unfired clay.
"Varna is the oldest cemetery yet found where humans were buried with abundant golden ornaments. … The weight and the number of gold finds in the Varna cemetery exceeds by several times the combined weight and number of all of the gold artifacts found in all excavated sites of the same millenium, 5000-4000 BC, from all over the world, including Mesopotamia and Egypt. … Three graves contained gold objects that together accounted for more than half of the total weight of all gold grave goods yielded by the cemetery. A scepter, symbol of a supreme secular or religious authority, was discovered in each of these three graves." (Slavchev 2010)[10]
The Varna culture believed in theafterlife and developed hierarchical status differences. It has the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (Grave 43). Some authors have described the Varna elite males as 'kings'.[11][2] The end of the fifth millennium BC is the time thatMarija Gimbutas, founder of theKurgan hypothesis claims the cultural descent intomale dominance began inEurope. The high status male was buried with remarkable amounts ofgold, held awar axe ormace and wore a gold penis sheath or possibly a decorative (gold) belt tip. The bull-shaped gold platelets perhaps also venerated virility, instinctive force, warfare and a proto-castle cult.
The elite male from Grave 43 (c. 4495 BC) belonged to the paternal (Y-DNA) haplogroupT-M184 and the maternal (mtDNA) haplogroupU2.[12][13] Other male samples from the Varna necropolis belonged to the Y-DNA haplogroups I2a1, I2a2, G2a, T1a, E1b1b and R1b-V88.[14][13]
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![Durankulak, Bulgaria[15]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDurankulak-Golemija_ostrov.JPG)
![Site of the Solnitsata walled settlement[16]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a%25D0%259F%25D1%2580%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B2%25D0%25B0%25D0%25B4%25D0%25B8%25D1%258F_-_%25D1%2581%25D0%25BE%25D0%25BB%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B8%25D1%2586%25D0%25B0%25D1%2582%25D0%25B0.jpg)
| Chalcolithic Eneolithic, Aeneolithic, or Copper Age |
|---|
| ↑Stone Age ↑Neolithic |
By region Africa (2600 BC–1600 AD) West Asia (6000–3500 BC) Europe (5500–2200 BC)
Central Asia (3700–1700 BC) South Asia (4300–1800 BC)
China (5000–2900 BC) Mesoamerica (6500–1000 BC) |
Related topics |
| ↓Bronze Age ↓Iron Age |
This paper discusses the invention of gold metallurgy within the Southeast European Chalcolithic on the basis of newly investigated gold objects from the Varna I cemetery (4550-4450 cal. bc). Comprehensive analyses, including preceding gold finds, shed new light not only on the technical expertise of the so far earliest known fine metalworkers, but also on the general context and potential prerequisites in which the invention of gold metallurgy may be embedded. Here, these structural trajectories as well as the unprecedented inventions connected to this early gold working will be highlighted in order to contextualize the apparently sudden appearance and rapid development of this new craft.
