Archaeology: 8000 year-old Sun temple found in Bulgaria

Sofia Echo ^ | Wednesday, December 15, 2010 | staff

[SunkenCiv]

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.

[SunkenCiv]

Stonehenge, England [Reuters]

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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[Daffynition]

[allmendream]

Every agricultural society needs a reliable calendar.

That is what this is: when the sun crosses this point, it is time to plant, when it crosses this point, time to harvest, when it crosses this point, time to have a big party!

[TigersEye]

You can tell a culture by the time it keeps. ;^)

[decimon]

...remnants of the oldest people who lived in this part of Europe...

And they disappeared without a Thrace.

[Sawdring]

There are a couple of pictures of various archaeological digs in Google Earth just to the Northeast of Ohoden.

[colorado tanker]

There are still lots of sun worshipers in Bulgaria today.

[gleeaikin]

I seem to recall that there were underground temples that were pretty old on the island of Malta.

[SunkenCiv]

When the weather’s right. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!