The Varna gold
A Bulgarian cemetery holds the oldest worked gold in the world — and the first clear evidence of a rich man.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 400 years
- Known to
- ± 100 years
- Era
- Neolithic, Holocene
Discovered by accident in 1972, the Varna necropolis contains around 3,000 gold objects weighing six kilograms, dating to roughly 4600-4200 BCE — more gold than had been found in the rest of the world for that period combined. It is concentrated: Grave 43 holds a single adult male with over a kilogram and a half of it, including a gold sheath for his penis, while other graves hold almost nothing. Inequality in the archaeological record rarely announces itself this plainly.