
01/07/2025
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This astonishing burial, discovered at the Varna Necropolis in Bulgaria, dates back to approximately 4,500 BCE, making it one of the oldest known graves containing gold artifacts. The skeleton is that of a high-status male, often referred to as the "Golden Man of Varna," whose body was interred with a dazzling array of grave goods—over 1.5 kg of gold, including pendants, bracelets, beads, ceremonial weapons, and ornate jewelry.
Surrounding the bones are polished stone tools and copper implements, alongside symbolic arrangements of gold spheres and plates placed with ritualistic precision. The richness of the tomb suggests not only immense wealth, but the existence of early social hierarchy, spiritual belief systems, and long-distance trade networks in Neolithic Europe.
Here lies not merely a man, but a milestone—where metallurgy, ritual, and power converged to illuminate the birth of European civilization.