Varna Gold Treasure

The Varna Gold Treasure was discovered in 1972 at a Copper Age necropolis located in the industrial city of Varna, Bulgaria. The site is situated near the western coast of the Black Sea. The discovery was accidental, initially uncovered by a local excavator operator digging a trench.

The Varna Gold Treasure dates back to roughly 4600 to 4200 BCE, making it from the late Eneolithic (Copper Age) period. This carbon dating makes it roughly 6,500 years old. Because of its extreme age, it is widely considered by archaeologists to be the oldest large cache of processed gold in the world.

Archaeologists uncovered an astonishing 296 graves at the site, containing more than 3,000 individual gold artifacts. The total weight of the recovered gold is over 6.5 kilograms (14.3 pounds). Grave 43 alone contained more gold than had previously been found in the entire rest of the world from that era combined.

The primary collection of the Varna Gold Treasure is permanently housed at the Varna Archaeological Museum in Bulgaria. The museum relies heavily on this spectacular find as its signature exhibit. A few of the most prominent pieces are occasionally loaned to major international museums for temporary exhibitions.