Special Jubilee Exhibition Presents Startling Finds from 20 Years of Digs at Provadiya-Solnitsata Prehistoric Settlement – Europe’s Oldest Town

A special jubilee exhibition entitled “The Lords of Salt” has been opened in Sofia to showcase the most startling finds from the 20 years of archaeological excavations at what is proving to be the oldest town in Europe – the Provadiya-Solnitsata (“the Salt Pit”) prehistoric settlement mound in today’s Northeast Bulgaria.

The exhibition which presents one of the most important places in the civilization of Old Europe along the Lower Danube and the Black Sea was inaugurated on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology, part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia.

“The exhibition is dedicated to the 20^th anniversary of the beginning of the archaeological research at the oldest rock mining and urban center in Europe,” the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences declared in a statement.

The exposition at the National Museum of Archaeology in Sofia showcases over 530 finds from the excavations at the Provadiya-Solnitsata Settlement Mound led by Prof. Vasil Nikolov from the museum.

The settlement’s dwellers grew rich already in the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic on their mining and exports of rock salt.

The fate of the Provadiya-Solnitsata Settlement Mound is believed to have been connected to that of the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis (4,500-4,200 BC) and its Varna Gold Treasure, the oldest hoard of gold objects found in the world, which is located 37 km to the east, on the Black Sea coast.

“The Lords of Salt” exhibition features over 500 finds discovered during the 20 years of archaeological excavations at the Provadiya-Solnitsata Settlement Mound, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has announced in a statement.

Most of the finds on display are artifacts from the Late Prehistory period – the 6^th-5^th Millenium BC.

However, the exposition also features items from the Late Hellenistic period and the Antiquity.

“The [finds] testify to the large-scale development of the only early rock salt mining in the region, the salt trade, the accumulation of wealth by the communities in the region, their need for protection behind massive stone walls, and the social hierarchy of the complex prehistoric society from 5600 BC until 4350 BC,” says the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Its statement notes that “The Lords of Salt” exhibition was created with joint efforts of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology and the Provadiya Museum of History.

To enhance the authenticity of the exhibition experience the curators have implemented audio guides and “added reality” in it.

The opening of “The Lords of Salt” exhibition was attended by Bulgaria’s Vice President Iliyana Yotova, former President Georgi Parvanov, Culture Minister Nayden Todorov, and Tourism Minister Evtin Miloshev.

“Our country has endless [cultural] riches. Each artifact [on display] can serve as the basis for writing a history spanning centuries,” Yotova said at the opening.

She presented a salt box as a present to Prof. Vasil Nikolov, the lead researcher of the Provadiya Settlement Mound, who is a former Director of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia, and a former Vice Chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

“The National Museum of Archaeology shows the romantic face of science,” the Academy Chairman Prof. Yulian Revalski has said in his speech, while thanking Nikolov for their collaboration over the years.

At the same time, Provadiya Mayor Dimo Dimov has announced that his administration is going to launch by the year’s end an international contest for the creation of “Salt Museum,” which will showcase all finds from The Salt Pit Settlement Mound.

“With our work on researching the Provadiya-Solnitsata Prehistoric Settlement Mound we have managed to affirm the idea of the first European civilization, which developed on the territory of the Eastern and Central Balkans,” declared Prof. Vasil Nikolov.

2024 is doubly special for Nikolov because, in addition to marking the 20^th year of his research of Provadiya-Solnitsata, earlier this year he also celebrated the 40^th anniversary since he joined the ranks of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The exhibition “The Lords of Salt: Provadiya-Solnitsata, 5600-4350 BC” is also dedicated to the 155^th anniversary since the establishment of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Some of the most intriguing and striking exhibits showcased in it include prehistoric ceramic anthropomorphic figurines, pottery vessels, pottery cult (religious) tables, bone tools, Spondylus shell bracelets, arrow tips, and other tools.

Altogether, the exhibition presents over 530 finds from The Salt Pit Settlement Mound in Bulgaria’s Provadiya.

While the majority of the artifacts are from the Late Prehistory period, there are also some finds from the Late Hellenistic and Antiquity periods.

The exhibition is a joint project of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia and the Provadiya Museum of History.

It also features a number of posters presenting the most interesting archaeological structures exposed on the site of the prehistoric settlement mound.

The exhibition catalogue features information on all exhibits, plus two research articles.

“The Lords of Salt” exhibition can be seen at the National Museum of Archaeology in Sofia from June 12, 2024, until September 18, 2024.

Update: In August 2024, one of the exhibition artifacts – a 5th century BC Scythian warrior’s scepter was declared exhibit of the month of the National Museum of Archaeology.

Learn more about the Provadiya – Solnitsata (The Salt Pit) prehistoric settlement in Bulgaria’s Provadiya in the Background Infonotes below!

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Background Infonotes:

The prehistoric settlement of Provadiya – Solnitsata (i.e. “The Salt Pit”), also known as the Provadiya Settlement Mound is located 6 km southeast of the modern-day town of Provadiya, Varna District, in Northeast Bulgaria.

It is a prehistoric settlement mound which in a later historical period was turned into a large Ancient Thracian burial mound. It has been dubbed “Europe’s oldest prehistoric town.

The prehistoric settlement mound has an archaeological layer of about 6 meters, and a diameter of 105 meters at the only rock salt deposit in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It is has a territory of 7 decares (app. 1.75 acres).

The extraction of rock salt began during the Late Neolithic, about 5,400-5,000 BC, with the prehistoric residents of the town boiling water from a local salt water spring in ceramic vessels placed inside large domed kilns, and producing salt bricks which they traded and used for the preservation of meat.

The Salt Pit settlement near Provadiya is Europe’s earliest known case of the use of this salt-making technology making Provadiya the oldest salt producing center on the continent.

The life of the Providiya – Solnitsata settlement continued during the Mid Chalcolithic, i.e. between 4,600 and 4,500 BC, and the Late Chalcolithic, between 4,500 and 4,200 BC, when it developed further into a major salt making complex, with the initial kilns being replaced by open-air salt pits up to 10 meters in diameter.

The prehistoric people would light an open fire at the bottom of the pit to boil the salt water in large clay bowls. It is estimated that in this period the town was inhabited by about 350 people.

The Salt Pit settlement near Bulgaria’s Provadiya has yielded a number of other intriguing discoveries such as Europe’s earliest two-storey homes from the Late Neolithic which were used for both dwelling, and salt making, as well as a granary where the archaeologists have found four sickles made of deer horns.

The lucrative extraction and trade of rock salt are believed to have led to the accumulation of wealth by the prehistoric inhabitants of the Provadiya – Solnitsata settlement, and have been linked to the gold treasure of the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis (4,500-4,200 BC), the oldest hoard of gold objects found in the world, which is located 37 km to the east.

The riches of the settlement had to be protected which is why during the Mid Chalcolithic its inhabitants built a fortification consisting of a moat and a rampart wall of oak poles covered with clay as well as two large-scale stone bastions.

The bastions were destroyed by an earthquake around 4,550 BC leading the prehistoric people to build new walls made of stone, which also were destroyed by an earthquake. The moat in front of the fortress walls had a diameter of about 100 meters, and was over 2 meters wide, and 3.3 meters deep.

The archaeological artifacts from the fortified prehistoric settlement Provadiya – Solnitsata are part of the collections of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia and Provadiya Museum of History.

Europe’s oldest prehistoric town was first excavated in 2005, and has been studied ever since, by lead archaeologist Prof. Vasil Nikolov from the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.