Ancient Copper Mines 8000 B.C.
Bulgaria /
Stara Zagora /
World
/ Bulgaria
/ Stara Zagora
/ Stara Zagora
, 10 km from center (Стара Загора)
World / Bulgaria / Stara Zagora
mine, interesting place, historic landmark
The mine at Ai Bunar (Five Bears) is roughly contemporary with the mine at Rudna Glava, and the miners used similar techniques. They excavated narrow open trenches to follow the veins of copper carbonates into the hills. As at Rudna Glava, archaeologists found antler picks and stone mauls in the mine shafts, in addition to two shaft-hole copper tools and the remains of three human individuals.
The ceramics found at Ai Bunar are characteristic of the ceramics found in the sixth layer at the Karanovo tell (Karanovo VI) and date to the late fifth millennium B.C. While this discovery demonstrates that the mines at Ai Bunar were in use during the later fifth millennium B.C., other evidence suggests the mines probably were in use somewhat earlier, possibly as early as the end of the sixth millennium B.C. Copper objects and ore that have been demonstrated chemically to have derived from the sources at Ai Bunar were found at several sites in south-central Bulgaria that are contemporary with Karanovo V, a phase that dates to the beginning of the fifth millennium B.C.
Chemical analyses, primarily lead isotope analyses, carried out by E. N. Chernykh, Noël H. Gale, and several Bulgarian specialists have demonstrated that Ai Bunar and Rudna Glava were not the only sources for copper ore in prehistory. The analysis of copper artifacts from several sites in south-central Bulgaria suggests that at least four other copper sources were exploited, though they remain unidentified.
www.rimstz.eu/en/chalcolithic-copper-mines
www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-...
www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-oldest-copper-meta...
routes.e-tours.bg/en/place/khalkolitni-medni-rudnitsi
The ceramics found at Ai Bunar are characteristic of the ceramics found in the sixth layer at the Karanovo tell (Karanovo VI) and date to the late fifth millennium B.C. While this discovery demonstrates that the mines at Ai Bunar were in use during the later fifth millennium B.C., other evidence suggests the mines probably were in use somewhat earlier, possibly as early as the end of the sixth millennium B.C. Copper objects and ore that have been demonstrated chemically to have derived from the sources at Ai Bunar were found at several sites in south-central Bulgaria that are contemporary with Karanovo V, a phase that dates to the beginning of the fifth millennium B.C.
Chemical analyses, primarily lead isotope analyses, carried out by E. N. Chernykh, Noël H. Gale, and several Bulgarian specialists have demonstrated that Ai Bunar and Rudna Glava were not the only sources for copper ore in prehistory. The analysis of copper artifacts from several sites in south-central Bulgaria suggests that at least four other copper sources were exploited, though they remain unidentified.
www.rimstz.eu/en/chalcolithic-copper-mines
www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-...
www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-oldest-copper-meta...
routes.e-tours.bg/en/place/khalkolitni-medni-rudnitsi
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 42°25'31"N 25°32'35"E
- Yagoda Sand Quarry Lake 15 km
- Sowing Shanovo - Zimnitsa 19 km
- Maritsa-Iztok Mining And Electricity Complex 33 km
- Dyadovo Stone Pit 40 km
- TPP AES Galabovo (ex Maritza iztok 1) 41 km
- Former Lead Zinc Ore Mine 91 km
- Kamenets Stone Quarries 100 km
- Adatepe 110 km
- "Gorno ezerovo" Quarry 148 km
- Burgas Salt Works 159 km
- "Deroni" Factory 1.2 km
- Old "Kalvacha" AD - Headquarters 2.8 km
- The Land of Pryaporets Village 3.4 km
- Stara Zagora Region 4.6 km
- Baninsko Lake 5.1 km
- Old cooperative agricultural farm 6.5 km
- Stara Zagora Municipality 7.6 km
- Military Proving Ground 12 km
- Kazanlak Municipality 26 km
- Upper Thracian Plain 34 km