Archaeology
Ada Tepe is the Earliest Gold Mining Area in Europe
The Ada Tepe hill near Krumovgrad has historically been called the “Island of Gold”. Like many other ridges in the mythical Rhodope Mountains, it is a site of sacred meaning. DPM partnered with the Bulgarian National Archaeological Institute and Museum with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to carry out archaeological surveys, which discovered that gold mining at the top occurred as early as the second millennium BCE, the time of Mycenae and Troy.
Archaeological studies conducted and funded by DPM have shown that Ada Tepe was inhabited as early as 3500 BC. The site featured mining and metallurgical activity, a settlement linked to mining, and a shrine, which attracted worshippers for many centuries.
Assoc. Prof. Georgi Nehrizov led the initial investigations of the shrine, which started in 2001. Evidence of ancient gold mining on the Ada Tepe slopes was first studied in 2005.
A team led by Prof. Dr. Hristo Popov, Director of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM-BAS), conducted a series of detailed surveys, making the Ada Tepe area one of the most extensively studied archaeological sites in Bulgaria.
In line with our respect for history and Krumovgrad's culture, DPM has worked to build awareness for the rich cultural and historical importance within Bulgaria and internationally.
Clay vessels discovered during the archaeological excavations at Ada Tepe
FIRST GOLD MINE
“Ada Tepe: the Earliest Known Gold Mine in Europe” was an exhibition held from March 6 to June 25, 2017 in the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna. The visitors to the exhibition exceeded 100,000, making it the most visited exhibition in the Ancient History Department.
GOLD AND BRONZE
DPM helped to host the exhibition “Metals, Processes and Contacts on the Eastern Balkans in the Bronze Age,” which was the first-ever Bronze-Age exhibition in Bulgaria.
Gold museum in Krumovgrad
DPM has set up the unique Museum of Gold in Krumovgrad. The museum and the exhibition opened doors on 18 August 2022.
Main hall of the Museum of Gold in Krumovgrad
On the Feast of the Dormition of St. Ivan Rilski, the patron saint honoured by miners, DPM, the Krumovgrad Municipality, and the National Archaeological Institute with Museum with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM-BAS) inaugurated the first Museum of Gold, showcasing mining from 3500 BC to the present day.
The exhibition features a reconstruction of an ancient mining settlement and mine, offering insight into the culture of the earliest miners in these lands.
The enormous amount of data demonstrate how intimately related mining and metallurgy are with the history of the region. The development of the Ada Tepe mine has become a landmark and pioneering project in advancing mining archaeology and making archaeological artefacts accessible to the public, with the aim of promoting archaeology and history.
