Varna Gold: Humanity’s first gold jewelry was discovered in a graveyard along with a gold “penis sheath”

In the fall of 1972, workers in the Bulgarian coastal city of Varna stumble upon an ancient cemetery filled with treasure. The burial site contains more than 3,000 gold artifacts dating from 4,600 to 4,300 BC, making them the oldest gold artifacts in the world.

After 20 years of excavations, archaeologists discovered gold objects in 62 of the approximately 300 graves in Varna cemetery. But a third of the gold discovered came from a single burial site, Grave 43, which also contained the remains of a man who was over 60 years old when he died nearly 6,000 years ago.

The man in grave 43 is believed to have been a metalsmith, and was buried with a variety of gold artifacts, including beaded gold necklaces, bangles, earrings, and pendants. A small gold disc that was once attached to his clothing. An ax with a handle wrapped in gold. Also the golden penis sheath.

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Archaeologists discovered a total of more than 13.2 pounds (6 kilograms) of gold at the Varna cemetery. Dating up to 6,600 years ago, this treasure trove boasts the world’s oldest evidence of human processing of gold. (Small gold beads discovered in 2016 at another archaeological site, Tell Yunat in southern Bulgaria, may be a century old, but that date has not been confirmed.)

Archaeologists do not yet know why goldworking was invented in the Balkans during the Copper Age (approximately 4500 BC to 3000 BC) more than 6,000 years ago, but it may be related to a number of innovations in mining, metallurgy and long-distance trade that occurred during this period, said the Varna Archaeological Museum, which houses the gold collection.

“The Varna Cemetery marks the early stages of the emergence of a class-separated society, the prototype of its social and political structure,” writes representatives of the archaeological museum. “As attributes that indicated the social status of their owners, gold objects were sacred and symbolic rather than indicators of wealth.”

According to the museum, several people buried in Varna Cemetery with unusual amounts of gold, such as the man in Tomb 43, were probably leaders of the society, making Varna perhaps one of the earliest civilizations in the world.

For more amazing archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archive.