Discovery and excavation
The site was accidentally discovered in October 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 (cenotaphs). 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 (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 (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 (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, Karanovo, Vin?a and 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 (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 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.

A 2nd century BC bronze sculpture of a Thracian boy found in the vicinity of the town is today a symbol of Varshets. The modern town is linked to Medeca, a Roman and Byzantine site first mentioned in the 6th century AD. Varshets’ existence was also evidenced in 16th century documents. The first state baths in Varshets were built in 1910 and were run by Damyan Ivanov, a balneologist who specialized in Austria-Hungary. The New Baths were built in 1930, and the Sun Garden was arranged in 1934. In 1950, Varshets was proclaimed a national resort.

The plain is part of North Thrace or Northern Thrace (Северна Тракия, Severna Trakiya) (as opposed to Western Thrace and Eastern Thrace to the south), which refers to the whole of southern (sub-Balkan) Bulgaria east of the Mesta River and Sredna Gora (thus also including hilly or mountainous terrain).

The climate is transitional continental. The highest temperature recorded in Bulgaria occurred here: it was 45.2 °C at Sadovo in 1916. The precipitation is 550 mm a year. Important rivers are the Maritsa and its tributaries, the Tundzha, the Stryama, the Topolnitsa, and the Vacha.

Important cities include Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Pazardzhik, Asenovgrad, Haskovo, Yambol and Sliven.

The valley is famous for its rose growing industry which have been cultivated here for centuries, and which produces 85% of the world’s rose oil[citation needed]. The extracts are used by perfumeries all over the world. The centre of the rose oil industry is Kazanlak, while other towns of importance include Karlovo, Sopot and Kalofer. Each year, festivals are held celebrating roses and rose oil.

The picking season lasts from May to June. During this period, the area gives off a pleasant scent and is covered with multi-coloured flowers. The gathering process, traditionally a woman’s task, requires great dexterity and patience. The flowers are carefully cut one by one and laid in willow-baskets which are then sent to the distilleries

In earlier times the mountains were known as the Haemus Mons. Scholars consider that Haemus (Greek ‘Aimos) is derived from an unattested Thracian word *saimon, meaning ‘mountain range’.

Stara Planina is remarkable for its flora and fauna. Edelweiss grows there in the region of Koziata stena.

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The relief of the Danubian Plain is hilly and has many plateaux and river valleys. The climate is well-defined temperate continental with a weak Black Sea influence in the east, precipitation being an average 450-650 mm a year. Important rivers include the Danube, the Iskar, the Yantra, the Osam, the Vit, the Rusenski Lom, the Ogosta and the Lom.

Among the major cities of the region are Varna, Rousse, Pleven, Dobrich, Shumen, Veliko Tarnovo, Vratsa, Vidin, Montana, Silistra, Targovishte, and Razgrad.

Georgraphy and Climate
The climate of the area is considerably influenced by the Black Sea and is predominantly transitional to Mediterranean. Major rivers in the area are the Veleka (147 km long) and the border river Rezovska (112 km long). Strandzha Natural Park, established in 1995 in the Bulgarian part of the mountain, is the largest protected area in Bulgaria, embracing 1,161 km?, or about 1% of the country’s total territory. 50% of Bulgaria’s flora can be observed in the park.

History and culture
Inhabited by the Thracians in antiquity, Strandzha is an area with a large concentration of ruins of Thracian sanctuaries and sacrificial altars, dolmens and other archaeological objects.

The mountains were the site of the Bulgarian Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903 crushed by Ottoman troops. The current Bulgarian-Turkish border in the region was established after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, when the northern part of Strandzha became part of Bulgaria.

Culturally, the Bulgarian part of Strandzha is known for the specific architecture that can be observed in Malko Tarnovo, Brashlyan and most other villages, the rich folklore and distinctive rituals, such as nestinarstvo (barefoot dancing on live coals), that preserve numerous pagan elements.

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The Preslav Literary School was the most important literary and cultural centre of Bulgaria and all Slavs until the capture and burning of Preslav by the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces in 972. A number of prominent Bulgarian writers and scholars worked at the school, including Naum of Preslav (until 893), Constantine of Preslav, John Exarch, Chernorizets Hrabar, etc.

The school was also a centre of translation, mostly of Byzantine authors, as well as of poetry, painting and painted ceramics. The school is likely to have had a key role for the development of the Cyrillic alphabet, as the earliest Cyrillic inscriptions have been found in the area of Preslav (see also Cyrillic alphabet).

Preslav School scriptoria were scattered over much of present-day northeastern Bulgaria, including monasteries at Pliska, Patleina, Khan Krum, Chernoglavtsi (present-day Shumen Province), Ravna, Varna (present-day Varna Province), and Murfatlar in Dobruja (now in Romania).