"8000 year-old Sun temple found in Bulgaria"

Source

The oldest temple of the Sun has been discovered in northwest Bulgaria, near the town of Vratsa, aged at more then 8000 years, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on December 15 2010. The Bulgarian 'Stonehenge' is hence about 3000 years older than its illustrious English counterpart. But unlike its more renowned English cousin, the Bulgarian sun temple was not on the surface, rather it was dug out from under tons of earth and is shaped in the form of a horse shoe, the report said. The temple was found near the village of Ohoden. According to archaeologists, the prehistoric people used the celestial facility to calculate the seasons and to determine the best times for sowing and harvest. The site was also used for rituals, offering gifts to the Sun for fertility as BNT reported. This area of Bulgaria was previously made famous because remnants of the oldest people who lived in this part of Europe were found. Archaeologists also found dozens of clay and stone disks in the area of the temple. "The semantics of the disks symbolise the disk of the Sun itself, which means that this is the earliest ever temple dedicated to the worship of the Sun God, discovered on our lands," archaeologist Georgi Ganetsovski told the BNT.

So... this is older than Stonehenge by 3,000 years and also is in the same country where the earliest evidence of people living in that region Europe was found. I think that is pretty cool. It seems that most cultures and regions from around 8,000 years ago had interest and knowledge in astronomy. I wonder when they will finally say enough is enough and rewrite the history books. When I went to school they never told us about anything like this so far back unless it was Egypt or Judea. I sure feel like 6,000 BC is a long time ago

I wish they had more pictures of this find! I did a search and all they show on every site with mention of this story is the same picture I posted from the source.

Wow I just did a quick search and seems like I need to do some reading. I never knew this about Bulgaria. This is from a travel guide...

travelguide.bulgariantour.com

Cradle of civilizations The oldest high developed civilization in Europe, dated to the 6th - 5th millenia BC, comprising vast area in some part of present East and South Bulgaria, existed in parallel to the civilizations of Asia Minor and the valleys of Tigris and Euphrates, Palestine and Egypt, and perhaps millenia before them. They were those who had formed the Thracian people. Land of golden treasures The oldest crafted gold in the history of mankind (Varna Necropolis, 6th - 5th millenia BC), as well as the Thracian gold treasures which conquered the world, were discovered in the Bulgarian lands! Meeting point of civilizations With more than 40,000 cultural and historical monuments Bulgaria is a land of many ancient civilizations - Pre-historian, Thracian, Macedonian, Greek, Proto-Bulgarian, Slav, Roman, Byzantine, Turk and Bulgarian. Bulgaria ranks third, only after Greece and Italy, for the number of its archaeological monuments. Homeland of powerful kingdoms The birthdate of the country is the year 681. There were only two empires in Europe at that time - the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). The mighty Bulgarian Empire with khan Asparuh at its head united the ancient Thracian nation and the Slavic tribes. This is how the third Empire in Europe - the so-called Danubean Bulgaria appeared on the crossroad with Asia and Africa. Its capital was called Pliska. Sofia - town from the dawn of history The Bulgarian capital - Sofia was born 7,000 years ago in the green embrace of the Vitosha mountain close to warm mineral springs. Today, more than 250 unique monuments from different ages blend harmoniously with the city’s modern appearance

There certainly is a lot of history in this area I was unaware about.

Earlier post made here about 2 weeks ago:

8000 year-old Sun temple found in Bulgaria