A picturesque small country called Bulgaria has existed for more than 13 centuries in Europe, linking East and West. Bulgaria remembers ancient civilisations and great people that wrote its turbulent history. Situated in Southeastern Europe, Bulgaria occupies the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
One of the earliest traces from Antiquity were found in the Bacho Kiro Cave close to the Dryanovo Monastery. These are flint and bone implements of labour and pottery from the middle and late Paleolithic Age. Of value to science are the finds from the settlement mounds near the village of Hotnitsa (Hotnitsa treasure) and the village of Karanovo (Karanovo settlement mound). The gold objects found in the Varna Chalcolithic necropolis have been described as the oldest processed gold in the world. The most ancient copper mines in Europe have been found in the vicinities of Stara Zagora. Copper ore had been mined in their galleries as far back as at the end of the 5th millennium B.C. and copper products were made. Featuring among the preserved masterpieces of the late prehistoric art in the Balkan Peninsula are the unique cave drawings in the Magoura Cave (northwest of Belogradchik).
