Evidence that beer was produced at the Provadia-Solnitsata prehistoric complex – Europe’s oldest known salt-producing and urban centre, dating from 5600 to 4350 BC, was discovered during this year’s archaeological excavations, excavation leader Academician Vasil Nikolov said on Monday as he presented the finds uncovered by his team this summer. He said the discovery was probably the earliest evidence of beer production in what is now Bulgaria and possibly in Europe as a whole.
Nikolov said botanist Elena Marinova worked on the discovery. A halved vessel containing grains of two-grained einkorn wheat that had sprouted in a way that produces malt was found in a house under excavation that had burned down in a fire.
It had been believed that beer production began during the Bronze Age in the Near East and Egypt, but there is now the first evidence that beer was being made here as early as around 4500 BC, Nikolov said.
This summer, archaeologists continued excavating Late Chalcolithic houses dating from around 4500 BC. One of them measures about 35 square metres, but it has become clear for the first time that the house also had a fairly large basement. The postholes of the two-storey structure are clearly visible, while the floor of the first storey is curved like a trough, with what appears to have been a cellar underneath, Nikolov explained.
He recalled that all the houses discovered at the site were two- or three-storey structures. People stored their wealth – salt, on the first floor, while the household occupied the second floor.
The Late Chalcolithic was a period of a very rich material culture, and the people who lived there were wealthy, Nikolov said. He showed a completely preserved vessel discovered this year that had been used as a mould for making salt. Smaller moulds were also found, which ancient inhabitants used to produce salt ingots that were purchased by customers. According to Nikolov, the moulds had different “denominations” and were in use between 4700 and 4350 BC. Salt served as a form of currency, he said.
Nikolov did not rule out the possibility that salt had served this function even before 4700 BC, but there is no direct evidence of how it was transported out of the settlement. Most likely, he said, it was carried in sacks.
Among this summer’s finds is a strange, polished stone with two holes, flat on one side and bulging into a hemisphere on the other. Similar finds from the Late Chalcolithic period have been discovered in southern Bulgaria, but they are rare and do not have holes, Nikolov said. He explained that such unusual stones are believed to have been used to make ceramic vessels, as people at the time did not know the potter’s wheel, yet they produced finely crafted and richly decorated pottery.
The excavation leader also showed a distinctive vessel resembling a colander. According to him, however, it was not used for straining but for churning butter.
Many arrowheads were again found during the excavation season, providing evidence that the inhabitants of Solnitsata had good reason to build Europe’s earliest fortification walls. A spearhead was also found, as well as a pointed piece of flint that was probably a dagger for close combat.
Alongside the evidence of military aggression, archaeologists again found bone and ceramic figurines shedding light on the religious and mythological system of the ancient inhabitants. According to Nikolov, their beliefs differed from those of other people of the period, again because they were engaged in salt production.
He recalled that numerous ritual pits have been found in the area, but few figurines of the Mother Goddess have been discovered. She was the protector of farmers and herders, and the salt producers apparently sought other deities to protect them, the archaeologist said.
“This year, we have fragments of plaster that had been painted in almost all of the houses under excavation,” Nikolov said. Different colours were used for the wall paintings, but it is impossible to say what they depicted. In one house, a wooden post covered with plaster and red paint was found, but it is in poor condition and the image cannot be identified.
Because the inhabitants of the settlement were wealthy, they could afford to hire craftsmen to build multi-storey houses and decorate them, Nikolov said. Workers from surrounding villages were also apparently employed in salt production. Around 400 people, including children, lived in the fortified settlement, and they could not have handled salt production, trade, food production and maintenance of the fortifications on their own, meaning that hired labour must have been used, he said.
Nikolov also presented details about discoveries related to the residence of a Thracian aristocrat, which was built on top of the prehistoric settlement. The prehistoric settlement mound is about nine metres high, while the burial mound above it reaches about 13 metres. The chronological gap between the two parts is approximately 4,300 years.
Nikolov said this year’s excavations of the Thracian-period remains showed that the aristocrat had divided the mound with a massive wall, part of which has been uncovered. It has a high stone foundation topped with mud bricks. There was also a tall gateway, which archaeologists have almost fully uncovered.
A house was found on one side of the wall, along with a grave, part of which is still located in the unexcavated section of the mound. The other part of the area is covered with ritual pits.
A white coating made of fine clay and kaolin was discovered directly on the mud-brick wall, with drawings on its surface. Archaeologists will investigate the secrets of these decorations in the coming years. “I cannot find any parallels for the wall painting we discovered,” Nikolov said, adding that there had been no similar finds dating from the 1st century BC to the present.
While uncovering the grave cut into the remains of the Thracian aristocrat’s structures, archaeologists found drawings on one of the stones. Nikolov stressed that the stones had been brought from elsewhere and had not been worked at the site.
The stone bearing the engravings had been placed vertically, with the drawings on one side. According to the archaeologist, the person who made them probably used a knife to carve them. The images clearly depict a deer and two does, while another unclear image below them could be a horse.
Beer Production Found at 6,500-Year-Old Solnitsata Prehistoric Complex near Provadia THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-21 13:16:26
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