Editing History of Bulgaria (section)

==Prehistory==
{{Main|Prehistory of Southeastern Europe}}
{{See also|Prehistoric Europe|First Temperate Neolithic|Old Europe (archaeology)|Neolithic Europe|Proto-Indo-European homeland|Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European migrations|Yamnaya culture}}

[[File:Magura - drawings.jpg|thumb|left|220x220px|[[Magura Cave|Magura cave]] drawings]]
[[File:20140611 Varna 08.jpg|thumb|[[Varna culture]] burial, 4500 BC (reconstruction)|221x221px]]

The earliest human remains found in Bulgaria were excavated in the [[Kozarnika]] cave, with an approximate age of 1,6 million BC. This cave probably keeps the earliest evidence of human symbolic behaviour ever found. A fragmented pair of human jaws, which are 44,000 years old, were found in [[Bacho Kiro cave]], but it is disputed whether these early humans were in fact [[Homo sapiens]] or [[Neanderthals]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sale |first=Kirkpatrick |title=After Eden: The evolution of human domination |date=2006 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0-8223-3938-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2q9780EgEBEC&pg=PA48 48]}}</ref>

The earliest dwellings in Bulgaria – the [[Neolithic Dwellings Museum|Stara Zagora Neolithic dwellings]] – date from 6,000 BC and are amongst the [[List of the oldest buildings in the world|oldest human-made structures]] yet discovered.<ref>[http://museum.starazagora.net/brunches/brunches.html#dwelling The Neolithic Dwellings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128233055/http://museum.starazagora.net/brunches/brunches.html |date=28 November 2011 }} at the Stara Zagora Neolithic Dwellings Museum website</ref> By the end of the Neolithic, the [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]], [[Hamangia culture|Hamangia]] and [[Vinča culture|Vinča]] cultures developed on what is today Bulgaria, southern Romania and eastern Serbia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Slavchev |first=Vladimir |date=2004–2005 |title=Monuments of the final phase of Cultures Hamangia and Savia on the territory of Bulgaria |url=http://revistapontica.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/pontica-37-38-pag-9-20.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718095224/http://revistapontica.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/pontica-37-38-pag-9-20.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2011 |website=Revista Pontica |pages=9–20 |volume=37–38}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=John |title=Fragmentation in Archaeology: People, Places, and Broken Objects |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4151-5803-9 |location=London |page=239}}</ref> The earliest known town in Europe, [[Solnitsata]], was located in present-day Bulgaria.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Squires |first=Nick |date=31 October 2012 |title=Archaeologists find Europe's most prehistoric town |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |access-date=1 November 2012 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The [[Durankulak]] lake settlement in [[Bulgaria]] commenced on a small island, approximately 7000 BC and around 4700/4600 BC the stone architecture was already in general use and became a characteristic phenomenon that was unique in Europe.

The [[eneolithic]] [[Varna culture]] (5000 BC)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaysov |first=I. |title=Атлас по история на Стария свят |date=2002 |publisher=Херон прес |isbn=978-9-5458-0021-4 |location=Sofia |page=14 |language=Bulgarian}}</ref> represents the first civilization with a sophisticated social hierarchy in Europe. The centrepiece of this culture is the [[Varna Necropolis]], discovered in the early 1970s. It serves as a tool in understanding how the earliest European societies functioned,<ref>[http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/harsova/en/dobro3.htm The Gumelnita Culture], Government of France. ''The Necropolis at Varna is an important site in understanding this culture.''</ref> principally through well-preserved ritual burials, pottery, and golden jewellery. The golden rings, bracelets and ceremonial weapons discovered in one of the graves were created between 4,600 and 4200 BC, which makes them the oldest gold artefacts yet discovered anywhere in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grande |first=Lance |title=Gems and gemstones: Timeless natural beauty of the mineral world |date=2009 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-30511-0 |location=Chicago |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RnE9Fa4pbn0C&pg=PA290 292] |quote=The oldest known gold jewelry in the world is from an archaeological site in Varna Necropolis, Bulgaria, and is over 6,000 years old (radiocarbon dated between 4,600BC and 4,200BC).}}</ref>

Some of the earliest evidence of [[grape]] cultivation and livestock [[domestication]] is associated with the Bronze Age [[Ezero culture]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mallory |first=J.P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |title=Ezero Culture |date=1997 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |series=[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]]}}</ref> The [[Magura Cave]] drawings date from the same era, although the exact years of their creation cannot be pin-pointed.