Varna Necropolis
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The '''Varna Necropolis''' ({{lang-bg|Варненски некропол}}) (also ''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), [[Bulgaria]], internationally considered one of the key archaeological sites in world prehistory.
[[Image:Or de Varna - Nécropole.jpg|thumb|A burial at Varna, with some of the world's oldest gold jewelry]]
==Discovery and excavation==
The site was accidentally discovered in October [[1972 in archaeology|1972]] by excavator operator Raycho Marinov. Research excavation was under the direction of Mihail Lazarov (1972-1976) and Ivan Ivanov (1972-1991). About 30% of estimated [[necropolis]] area is still not excavated.
294 graves have 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.
==Chronology==
The graves have been dated to 4600-4200 BCE ([[radiocarbon dating]], 2004) and belong to the [[Eneolithic]] [[Varna culture]], which is the local variant of the KGKVI.
==Burial rites==
There are crouched and extended inhumations. Some graves do not contain a skeleton, but grave gifts ([[cenotaph]]s). Interestingly, the symbolic (empty) graves are the richest in gold artifacts. 3000 gold artifacts were found, with a weight of approximately 6 kilograms. Grave 43 [http://www.inrne.bas.bg/Varna2005/sights/varna-3.jpg (photo)] contained more gold than has been found in the entire rest of the world for that epoch. Three symbolic graves contained masks of unburnt clay [http://www.omda.bg/images_more/varna_necropolis_mask_md_1.jpg (photo)].
The findings showed that the Varna culture had trade relations with distant lands (possibly including the lower [[Volga]] and the [[Cyclades]]), perhaps exporting metal goods and salt from the [[Provadiya]] rock [[salt mine]]. 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 culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about afterlife and developed hierarchal status differences: it offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (the end of the fifth millennium BC is the time that [[Marija Gimbutas]] claims 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. The bull-shaped gold platelets [http://www.omda.bg/images_more/varna_necropolis_applique_object_gold.jpg (photo)] perhaps also venerated virility, instinctional force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople.
==Historical impact==
According to M. Gimbutas (1991), "The discontinuity of the [[Varna culture|Varna]], [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]], [[Vinča culture|Vinča]] and [[Lengyel culture|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 the second half of the 5th millennium B.C.). Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of [[Kurgan]] cultural traits."
According to J. Chapman ([http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/reviews/05_02_govedarica.htm 2005]), "Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was widely accepted that steppe nomads from the North Pontic zone invaded the Balkans, putting an end to the Climax Copper Age society that produced the apogee of tell living, autonomous copper metallurgy and, as the grandest climax, the Varna cemetery with its stunning early goldwork. Now the boot is very much on the other foot and it is the Varna complex and its associated communities that are held responsible for stimulating the onset of prestige goods-dominated steppe mortuary practice following the expansion of farming."
==Museum exhibitions==
The artifacts can be seen at the [[Varna Archaeological Museum]] and at the [[National Historical Museum (Bulgaria)|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 gold of Varna 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 1970's. 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]].
== External links ==
* [http://www.varna-bg.com/museums/archaeology/enexhibit/enhall5.htm Varna Archaelogical Museum] contains many of the Varna Necropolis artifacts.
* [http://www.amvarna.com/eindex.php?lang=2&lid=2&slid=&slid=1 Varna Archaelogical Museum] - more photos.
* [http://www.goldensands.bg/cultural/treasure-varna.asp Varna Necropolis Cultural Tourism] page on the [http://www.goldensands.bg/index.htm Golden Sands Resort] web site.
* [http://www.hadjimishev.com/Bulgaria%20-%20A%20Land%20of%20Ancient%20Civilizations/images/varna_chalcolithic_necropolis.jpg Another photo by Ivo Hadjimishev]
== Bibliography ==
* Avramova, Maia. ''Mit, ritual i zlato na edna "nesustoiala se tsivilizatsiia"'' / Maia Avramova. Varna i razhdaneto na evropeiskata tsivilizatsiia / Ivan Ivanov. Sofiia : Izd-vo Agató, 1997.
* A. Fol/J. Lichardus (eds.). ''Macht, Herrschaft und Gold: das Graberfeld von Varna (Bulgarien) und die Anfänge einer neuen europäischen Zivilisation''. Saarbrücken, Moderne Galerie des Saarland-Museums 1988.
* Bahn, Paul G. ed. ''100 Great Archaeological Discoveries'' (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1995) (No. 34).
* Bogucki, Peter, Pam J. Crabtree eds. ''Ancient Europe: an Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World, 8000 B.C. – A.D. 1000'' (New York: Scribners, 2004) (p. 341).
* Chapman, John. 1990. ''Social inequality on Bulgarian tells and the Varna problem'', in R. Samson (ed.) The social archaeology of houses, 49—98, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
* Chapman, John. 1991. ''The creation of social arenas in Varna.'' in P. Garwood (ed.), Sacred and profane. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Monograph 32: 152-171.
* Hayden, Brian, 1998. ''An Archaeological Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm''. In ''The Virtual Pomegranate'', issue 6, 1998.
* Higham, T., Gaydarska, B. & Slavchev, V. ''The first AMS dates for the Varna cemetery''. ''Antiquity'' 2004.
* Ivanov, Ivan Simeonov; Avramova, Maia. ''Varna i razhdaneto na evropeiskata tsivilizatsiia''. (Sofia, 1997)
* Ivanov, Ivan, M. Avramova. ''Varna Necropolis'' (Sofia, 2000).
* Marazov, Ivan. 1997 ''The Blacksmith as 'King' in the Necropolis of Varna.'' In: ''From the Realm'', J. Marler, ed.
* Marler, Joan, 1999. ''A Response to Brian Hayden's article "An Archaeological Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm.'' In ''The Virtual Pomegranate'', issue 10, 1999.
* Renfrew, Colin. 1978. ''Varna and the social context of early metallurgy''. Antiquity 52: 197-203.
* Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn. 1996. ''Archaeology: theories, methods, and practice''. New York: Thames and Hudson.
* Slavchev, V. ''Fragmentation research and the Varna Eneolithic Cemetery Spondylus rings''. ''Proceedings of the Varna Round Table'', 2004.
* Todorova, Henrieta. ''Kupferzeitliche Siedlungen in Nordostbulgarien.'' München: Beck 1982. Materialien zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, Band 13.
* Todorova, Khenrieta. ''The eneolithic period in Bulgaria in the fifth millennium B.C.'' Oxford : British Archaeological Reports , 1978. BAR supplementary series 49.
== See also ==
*[[Old European culture|Old Europe]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Archaeology]]
[[Category:Anthropology]]
[[Category:History of Bulgaria]]
[[Category:History of the Balkans]]
[[Category:History of Europe]]
[[Category:Indo-European]]
[[Category:Metallurgy]]
[[Category:Prehistory]]
[[Category:Varna]]
[[ar:فارنا نيكروبولس]]
[[bg:Варненски халколитен некропол]]
[[de:Gräberfeld von Warna]]
[[es:Necrópolis de Varna]]
[[fr:Nécropole de Varna]]
[[sh:Varnanska nekropola]]