The Varna Cemetery is a site located in Varna, in southern Bulgaria, on the shore of the Black Sea by the inlet of Varna. This site was unearthed by a local farmer when he was plowing his fields. He unearthed the historic graves in 1972. Among the many cemeteries found in this area, none where as rich as Varna.
The estimated age of the graves is 6000 years old. These graves were new during the time of the Copper Age. The Copper Age lasted from approximately 4500 B.C. to 2500 B.C.
Most of the graves found were not human graves, although a few were. The non-human graves consisted of symbolic instruments with clay masks. The wealth did not belong to individuals. The graves were full of copper pieces and a total of six kilograms of gold. In the human graves, the corpses originally had copper and gold sheet-ornaments sewn on their clothing. Among these were gold-scepters and shaft-hole axes.
The Varna graves are thought to be associated with the wooden "pile-villages." The wealth of these people declined as the exploitation of the wild horse herds began. This changed the power distribution of the steppes of the area.
Cunliffe, Barry eds. The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe. Phillips, Patricia. The Prehistory of Europe. Bloomington: Indiana. University Press, 1980.