The Oldest Gold in the World (on the occasion of the exhibition in the Israel Museum)

The present paper reviews the data on the famous Chalcolithic cemetery VarnaI in available and current literature, and provides some information on the Chalcolithic of Bulgaria as a whole. The author focuses on the gold Varna treasures, taking note of the similarity in weight and size to the latters of the gold Chalcolithic adornments from the Nahal Kana cave in Samaria Hills. The sophisticated technology of copper production, intrinsic to the Bulgarian Chalcolithic may be compared with the achievements of the ancient metallurgists of the Southern Levant, which are reflected mainly in the Nahal Mishmar hoard. Thus, the North of Balkan Peninsula as with the Southern Levant is considered to be the largest metallurgical center of the Chalcolithic in the whole Eurasian region.

Английский

Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society. – 1994–1995. – № 26. – P. 159–173.