Archaeologists in Bulgaria claim to have unearthed Europe's oldest prehistoric town, dating back to roughly 1,500 years before the start of ancient Greek civilization.
The walled fortified settlement was uncovered near the modern town of Provadia, and is thought to have been an important center for salt production. According to archeologists, it is the oldest prehistoric town found to date in Europe. The town's discovery in north-east Bulgaria may also explain the great gold hoard found nearby four decades ago.
Archeologists believe that the uncovered town housed some 350 people, and dates back to between 4700 and 4200 BC. The residents took water from a local spring and boiled it to create salt bricks, which in turn were traded and used to preserve meat. Salt was a highly valuable commodity at the time, and experts believe this may be the reason why the town was ringed in those huge defensive stone walls.
Excavations at the site started back in 2005, and have since uncovered the remains of two-story houses, a number of pits used for rituals, as well as various parts of a gate and bastion structures. Earlier this year archeologists also found a small necropolis, or burial ground, and are still studying it.
"We are not talking about a town like the Greek city-states, ancient Rome or medieval settlements, but about what archaeologists agree constituted a town in the fifth millennium BC," Vasil Nikolov, a researcher with the National Institute of Archaeology in Bulgaria, told the AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, archaeologist Krum Bachvarov from the same institute described the find as "extremely interesting."
"The huge walls around the settlement, which were built very tall and with stone blocks... are also something unseen in excavations of prehistoric sites in south-east Europe so far," Bachvarov told AFP.
Similar salt mines found near Turda in Romania and Tuzla in Bosnia further prove the existence of a series of civilizations which also mined gold and copper during the same period in the Carpathian and Balkan mountains.
The latest discovery may also be the most likely explanation for the treasure found four decades ago at a cemetery on the outskirts of Varna. The 3,000 jewelry pieces and ritual objects made of gold have been internationally recognized as the oldest gold treasure ever found in the world, sparking amazement at how a culture of farmers and stock-breeders from such a region could acquire such wealth.
The excavations at the site have suffered from a lack of state funding, which Nikolov reportedly replaced with private donations. Moreover, a British anthropologist, a Japanese ceramics expert, as well as a German team of radiocarbon specialists have spent this season on the site working for free.
