Varna culture

The Varna culture (also written Varna culture, Bulgarian Варненска култура / Warnenska kultura ) is a form of culture in Northern Bulgaria from the end of the Copper Age ( 4400-4100 BC - corresponds to the Karanowo culture VI), named after its place of discovery in west of the Bulgarian city Varna. In the Varna culture is most likely a local variant of the prehistoric Karanowo culture (Bulgarian: Карановска култура ), named after the settlement mound near the village Karanowo ( Bulgarian Караново ), District Sliven in Southern Bulgaria.

Special

Typical of the Varna culture are rich grave goods, as well as a fine ceramic with a glossy, polished surface that was probably made with the potter's wheel. The most impressive testimony of the Varna culture is the cemetery of Varna with its rich grave goods from the Chalcolithic period. Similarly, there is a complex with archaeological finds of this culture in Dourankoulak, which consists mainly of a village from the Neolithic period and also includes 1200 graves. These tombs represent the largest prehistoric treasure in Southeast Europe dar. It is noteworthy that the local houses were built on high stone foundations. The inhabitants of the north-western Black Sea region had a highly developed community whose traditions were incorporated possibly also in the cultural heritage of the Thracian culture.

For the people of Varna culture of the Black Sea was the main connection for trade relations. The sea enabled them to maintain relationships with people in remote areas. The proximity to the sea has played a role in the economic and social development of the people of the epoch of Varna culture. About the Black Sea were contacts in southern Bessarabia possible and to the tribes between the rivers Prut and Dniester. All signs indicate that the Varna culture was one of the first civilizations in Europe. Your mysterious disappearance of the end of the 5th millennium BC, is brought by some researchers with the dramatic climate change at that time in context.

Meaning of Varna culture

For science, the Varna culture is important in so far as they considered the world's earliest cultivated form is valid for one, which was already developed socially and technically so far in the Copper Age that they could win and edit gold. Enormous scope has on the other hand, the fact that the cemetery of Varna contains the previously oldest known evidence of a clearly marked social differentiation (vertical differentiation ) and the existence of a male upper class.

The dating of the tombs in the Copper Age 4600-4200 BC, was reconfirmed in 2004 by AMS radiocarbon dating.

Exhibition

Some of the archaeological artifacts of the Varna culture are part of the permanent collections at the Archaeological Museum of Varna and the National Historical Museum Sofia.