site.btaArchaeological Exhibition in Dryanovo Shows Beginning of Human Presence in Europe


At the Dryanovo History Museum, an archaeological exhibition entitled Heritage in Stone and Bone is presenting the earliest human presence in Europe, Dr. Venelin Barakov, museum chief curator, told BTA on Tuesday.
Among the exhibits are authentic fossils, including fragments of human bones and an upper jaw, as well as stone tools, ornaments and jewelry. Of particular interest are some of the oldest jewelry in Europe, made from cave bear teeth, which is a symbol of the emerging abstract thinking and social organization, Barakov pointed out.
"DNA samples were taken from the bone material and from there a dating was given for the remains found in the Bacho Kiro cave near Dryanovo," the chief curator said, noting that the studies were done at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, which estimated the date at about 45,000 years before our time. This means that the remains represent is the first homo sapiens which began to penetrate into the Balkan Peninsula and from there into Europe, Barakov said.
"The specificity of the objects may not be interesting to history buffs, but the discoveries are particularly interesting. However, they are from the most ancient period of human history, the period of processing flint, stone and bone", he noted, adding that the remains are of different sizes and types.
The chief curator of the exhibition is Dr. Tsenka Tsanova from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The exhibition was prepared by a team including experts from the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the University of Norwich and the Belogradchik History Museum.
/NF/
Additional
news.modal.image.header
news.modal.image.text
news.modal.download.header
news.modal.download.text
news.modal.header
news.modal.text