World’s oldest gold artefact found in Europe’s oldest urban settlement

Posted On: Sep 29th, 2016 at 17:18

Bulgaria
A tiny gold ‘bead’, just 4mm in diameter, may be the world’s oldest gold artefact and may predate the current oldest gold artefact – found in 1972 and also in Bulgaria – by 200 years.
The site in southern Bulgaria, near the town of Pazardzhik, dates to between 4600 and 4500 BC – 6,600 years ago. It is also considered the first “urban” settlement in Europe, and was supposedly populated by people who migrated from Anatolia around 8,000 years ago (6000 BC).
That date means the settlement is older than Sumer, still considered by some to be the oldest “urban” settlement in the world, but by now that should be deleted from the history books.
This beautiful little bead may only change history by 200 years, but as we see time and time again, dates for sites, migrations, settlements, and many other important discoveries, are being pushed back further and further. The idea that just a few thousand years ago men were chasing hogs with spears while women cooked at home with one eye on the children needs to be removed entirely from our consciousness. It’s not only horrendously wrong, it’s immensely insulting.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-archaeology-gold-idUSKCN10L0YQ