A large burial site located in Bulgaria known as the Varna Necropolis was accidently discovered by excavator Raycho Marinov in 1972. Marinov recovered over 3000 golden objects from 294 graves. The graves, dating back to 4200-4600 B.C.E., belonged to the Varna culture. Symbolic graves that contained no skeleton were the richest in gold artifacts with most of the gold being 23.5 carats. Gold items in symbolic graves also had the items placed where you’d expect them to be found on a skeleton, a gold bracelet in the area you would expect an arm to lie and gold earrings where the head would be. The gold objects are of fine craftsmanship and indicate some level of technology by employing techniques such as hammering, piercing, and cutting.
The amount of gold objects found in a grave signifies social stratification and paved the way for the development of social classes. The Varna Necropolis is important because it offers the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male. Also, the Varna cultures sudden discontinuity has lead to much speculation including theories of climate change, war, and land exhaustion.
