A 7,600-year-old grave, most probably of a mother buried with her child, from the Early Neolithic has been discovered by archaeologists excavating the prehistoric Slatina Settlement in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia.

The 7,600-year-old skeleton found in the Slatina Neolithic Settlement in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia is believed to have belonged to a mother whose child was also buried nearby, right next to a prehistoric home. Photo: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences press service

The discovery in the 8,000 Slatina Neolithic Settlement has been made by a team of archaeologists led by Prof. Vasil Nikolov, Vice President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and former head of its National Institute and Museum of Archaeology.

“This is an extremely rare find," Nikolov says, as cited by the press service of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

“The newly discovered skeleton most probably belongs to a mother with her child nearby, right next to the remains from a house [located] in the periphery of the settlement," the lead archaeologist explains.

It is noted that during the Neolithic, humans were laid to rest into “Mother Earth" in the fetal position.

Lead archaeologist Prof. Vasil Nikolov is seen looking at the newly unearthed 7,600-year-old skeleton in the Slatina Neolithic Settlement. Photo: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences press service

A billboard at the site of the Slatina Neolithic Settlement in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. Photo: Wikipedia

A map showing the location of the Slatina Neolithic Settlement, 3-4 km from Sofia’s downtown. Map: Wikipedia

The Slatina Neolithic Settlement in today’s Bulgarian capital Sofia is a testimony to how developed Europe’s first civilization really was.

Many of the prehistoric homes discovered in the Slatina Settlement were really massive, and deemed to have been Europe’s largest prehistoric dwellings from that period: one home has an area of nearly 300 square meters, another – 147 square meters, and still another – 117 square meters.

The partly excavated ruins from the Slatina Neolithic Settlement are located in today’s quarters Slatina and Geo Milev, along the Shipchenski Prohov Boulevard, some 3-4 kilometers from Sofia’s downtown.

The prehistoric settlement itself existed for a period of about 500 years – from the end of the 7th millennium BC, when the first settlers arrived and made the place their home, until the middle of the 6th millennium BC (i.e. ca. 6,000 BC – ca. 5,500 BC).

The Slatina Neolithic Settlement was surrounded with concentric circles which had “precautionary and magical functions", while sacrifices were carried out inside them, says the press service of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The latest artifact finds from the prehistoric site in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia include various household and ritual items such as a bone spoon, pottery vessels, a pintadera (ancient stamp), and parts from ritual tables used for performing sacrifices.

One of the most intriguing artifacts found in the Slatina Neolithic Settlement over the past few years has been a nephrite frog-like swastika, one of several nearly identical prehistoric artifacts to have been found in Bulgaria.

“The upcoming research [of the 7,600-year-old grave] is going to provide information about the physical features of the people who in today’s Bulgaria gave the start of the first European civilization," the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences says.

A bone spoon and other artifacts discovered during the latest excavations of the Slatina Neolithic Settlement in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. Photos: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences press service

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