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Solnitsata
Solnitsata ( bg, Солницата, "The Saltworks") was a prehistoric town located in present-day Bulgaria, near the modern city of Provadia. Believed by archaeologists to be the oldest town in Europe, Solnitsata was a fortified stone settlement - citadelle, inner and outer city with pottery production site and the site of a salt production facility approximately six millennia ago; it flourished ca 4700–4200 BC. The settlement was walled to protect the salt, a crucial commodity in antiquity. Although its population has been estimated at only 350, archaeologist Vassil Nikolov argues that it meets established criteria as a prehistoric city. Salt production drove Solnitsata's economy, and the town is believed to have supplied salt throughout the Balkans. A large collection of gold objects nearby has led archaeologists to consider that this trade resulted in great wealth for the town's residents — Varna Necropolis. Nearby is the ancient Anhialos, whose livelihood was the extra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varna Culture
The Varna culture is a Chalcolithic culture of northeastern Bulgaria, dated ca. 4500 BC, contemporary and closely related with Gumelnița in southern Romania, often considered as local variants. It is characterized by polychrome pottery and rich cemeteries, the most famous of which are Varna Necropolis, the eponymous site, and the Durankulak complex, which comprises the largest prehistoric cemetery in southeastern Europe, with an adjoining coeval Neolithic settlement (published) and an unpublished and incompletely excavated Chalcolithic settlement. 294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of copper and gold metallurgy, pottery (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells. 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 necropo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater. The open ocean has about of solids per liter of sea water, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food, including otherwise unpalatable food. Salting, brining, and pickling are also ancient and important methods of food preservation. Some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6,000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts; a salt-works in China dates to approximately the same period. Salt was also prized by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, Byza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varna Necropolis
The Varna Necropolis ( bg, 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. 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. Discovery and excavation The site was accidentally discovered in October 1972 by excavator operator Raycho Marinov. The first to value the si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Europe (archaeology)
Old Europe is a term coined by the Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas to describe what she perceived as a relatively homogeneous pre-Indo-European Neolithic and Copper Age cultural horizon or civilisation in Southeastern Europe and part of Central-Eastern Europe, centred in the Danube River valley. Old Europe is also referred to in some literature as the Danube civilisation. The term ' Danubian culture' was earlier coined by the archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe to describe early farming cultures (e.g. the Linear Pottery culture) which spread westwards and northwards from the Danube valley into Central and Eastern Europe. Old Europe Old Europe, or Neolithic Europe, refers to the time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe, roughly from 7000 BCE (the approximate time of the first farming societies in Greece) to c. 2000 BCE (the beginning of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia). The duration of the Neolithic varies from place to place: in Southeastern Europ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varna Province
Varna Province ( bg, Област Варна, translit=Oblast Varna), formerly known as Varna okrug, is a province in eastern Bulgaria, one of the 28 Bulgarian provinces. It comprises 12 municipalities with a population of 494,216 inhabitants as of April 2016.http://www.grao.bg/tna/tab01.html“ The province is named after its administrative centre, Varna. Geography The province's territory is 3,819.5 km². It borders the Black Sea and covers parts of the hilly Danubian Plain (including parts of the Franga Plateau, South Dobruja, the Provadiya Plateau, Ludogorie, and the Avren Plateau), Eastern Stara Planina, the Varna– Devnya valley with the lakes ( limans) of Varna and Beloslav, and the Kamchiya river valley. Other rivers include Provadiya, Devnya, and Batova, and the largest artificial lake is Tsonevo. The Black Sea coast is hilly and verdant, mostly cliff, with a couple of rocky headlands (Cape Galata, Cape St. Athanasius), several expansive sand be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perperikon
The ancient Thracian city of Perperikon (also Perpericum; bg, Перперикон, el, Περπερικόν) is located in the Eastern Rhodopes, 15 km northeast of the present-day town of Kardzhali, Bulgaria on a 470 m high rocky hill, which is thought to have been a sacred place. The village of Gorna krepost ("Upper Fortress") is located at the foot of the hill and the gold-bearing Perpereshka River flows nearby. Perperikon is the largest megalith ensemble site in the Balkans. The name "Perperikon" The name Perperikon dates from the Middle Ages – 11th–13th centuries. The original name Hyperperakion was shortened by scribes to Perperakion or Perperikon. There are at least two theories about the origin and meaning of the name, both associating it with gold-mining: The city may have been named after a Medieval high-temperature gold-refining process (Medieval Greek ), or the resumed use of a classical-era name for the site, derived from a word for altar-fire (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karanovo Culture
The Karanovo culture is a Neolithic culture (Karanovo I-III ca. 62nd to 55th centuries BC) named after the Bulgarian village of (Караново, Sliven Province ). The culture, which is part of the Danube civilization, is considered the largest and most important of the Azmak River Valley agrarian settlements. Discovery Archaeologists discovered the Karanovo settlement in the 1930s when a tell - a settlement mound - was excavated at Karanovo. The hilltop settlement is constituted of 18 buildings, which housed some 100 inhabitants. The site was inhabited more or less continuously from the early 7th to the early 2nd millennia BC. The Karanovo culture served as the foundation of the East Balkan cultural sequence. The layers at Karanovo are employed as a chronological system for Balkans prehistory. This culture had seven major phases: Karanovo I and II, which existed parallel to Starčevo; Karanovo III (Veselinovo); Karanovo IV; Karanovo V (Marica); Karanovo VI (Gumelniţa); ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tell Yunatsite
Tell Yunatsite ( bg, Селищна могила Юнаците), also known as ''Ploskata mogila'' ( bg, Плоската могила, "The Flat Mound"), is situated in the Pazardzhik Province of southern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), some to the west of the district capital Pazardzhik. The tell stands above modern ground level and has a diameter of . It is situated on a low terrace at the right bank of the former Topolnitsa riverbed near to its confluence with the Maritsa River (ca. away from the site). Medieval, Roman, Iron Age, Early Bronze Age, and Copper Age periods have all been attested at the site. Parallel to the Maritsa River on the Pazardzhik plain lays the so-called Via Diagonalis, one of the most important ancient European roads, which passes through the Balkans and connects West and Central Europe to Anatolia and the Near East. The former road bears witness to the rich history and importance of the region. The plain slants from west to east (300 m to 100 m asl.) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durankulak (archaeological Site)
Durankulak is a prehistoric archaeological site on the Golemija ostrov (Big Island) in Durankulak lake, Bulgaria. Prehistoric settlement commenced on the small island approximately 7000 BP and lasted for thousands of years. The first inhabitants were the Hamangia culture, dated from the middle of the 6th millennium to the middle of 5th millennium BC, and were the first manifestation of the Neolithic life in Dobrudja. Hamangia people were small-scale cultivators and plant collectors who built houses, made pottery, herded and hunted animals. Around 4700/4600 BC the stone architecture was already in general use and became a characteristic phenomenon that was unique in Europe. The settlement in Durankulak was a well-organized aggregation of buildings of substantial size with several rooms. They were coherently laid out according to a plan that was repeated over successive generations of house reconstructions. Buildings were rectilinear and large, narrow paths separated individual hous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provadia
Provadia ( bg, Провадия ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Varna Province, located in a deep karst gorge (Provadia syncline) along the Provadiya River not far from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is the administrative centre of Provadia Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 12,901 inhabitants. Provadia served as a customs point since ancient times. It is well known for salty mineral waters, its mild climate and a total of 70 km of caves in the surrounding mountain walls. It can be reached by train from Sofia or Varna and there are also hourly buses from and to Varna, and a sophisticated road system. History Provadia is the site of Solnitsata, Europe's oldest prehistoric town. Excavations on city walls that started in 2005 reveal a town that dates back to between 4,700 BC and 4,200 BC. It is believed to have been the site of salt trading. Historical names of the medieval fortress, the ruins of which have been preserved unti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Museum, Pomorie
The Salt Museum in Pomorie is a specialized outdoor museum – visitors may see both the museum building and the 20 decares of salt-pans adjacent to the museum, where salt is still being produced. The museum showcases the ancient Anchialos method for salt production and in particular sea salt. It is dedicated to the production of salt through solar evaporation of seawater. This is the only salt museum in Southeast Europe. The production of sea salt was the main livelihood and wealth of Pomorie in the Middle Ages. There is evidence and it can be assumed that the ancient colony Anchialos of Apollonia, Thrace originated in the 5th century BC, around the extraction of sea salt. In all probability, the tradition is connected and transferred from the ancient and neighboring Solnitsata. The Pomorie salt pans were a major supplier of salt to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, where Thessaloniki was an alternative center. It was not until the Middle Ages that the extraction of rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mask From Provadia
The Mask from Provadia is a Chalcolithic artifact that was found at the Provadia-Saltworks Solnitsata ( bg, Солницата, "The Saltworks") was a prehistoric town located in present-day Bulgaria, near the modern city of Provadia. Believed by archaeologists to be the oldest town in Europe, Solnitsata was a fortified stone settlemen ... archeological site. The mask has no mouth and features a stylized nose and elliptical eyes. There are small holes on the artifact that are believed to have been used to hang up or wear the artifact. The artifact is one of many others found at the site. The area also includes a mass grave and salt extraction facilities.Nikolov, Vassil. "Salt, early complex society, urbanization: Provadia-Solnitsata (5500-4200 BC) (Abstract)" http://naim.bg/contentFiles/ARH_2012_1_res1.pdf. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 1 November 2012 Ancient cities of the Balkans Archaeological sites in Bulgaria History of Varna Province Destroyed towns Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
