Gold anthropomorphic figurine

Stray find from a tell near Kushla dere (now Kosharitsa), Nessebar Municipality, Burgas Province

Late Chalcolithic, second half of the 5th millennium BC

The gold anthropomorphic figurine is among the most intriguing finds from the dawn of gold metallurgy. The image represents a schematic female figure. The eyes are marked by indentations, the arms are bent at the elbows along the body, and the legs are separated in their lower part. Like similar bone and marble figurines, it depicts a stylized representation of the Mother Goddess. It was probably hung or sewn on as an amulet through the holes pierced at the folded arms. The artefact belongs to the period of appearance and development of the earliest gold metallurgy in the world, which became widely known after the discovery and study of the Varna Chalcolithic necropolis.

Bibliography:

Николов 2006: В. Николов. Култура и изкуство на праисторическа Тракия. Пловдив, 2006.

Todorova, Vajsov 2001: H. Todorova, I. Vajsov. Der kupferzeitliche Schmuck Bulgariens. Prähistorische Bronzefunde, XX, 6, Stuttgart, 2001.