site.btaUPDATED The Treasure of Valchitran: Glory, Mysteries and Mastery

The Valchitran gold treasure was unearthed by chance on December 28, 1924, while cultivating land near the village of Valchitran, 22 km from Pleven, North Central Bulgaria. It was buried only 30 cm deep.

The treasure has a total weight of 12.4 kilogrammes and consists of thirteen items – seven lid-shaped objects of different diameters, four deep cups (one big and three smaller ones), a kantharos (large, deep bowl with two handles), and a strange vessel consisting of three interconnected almond-shaped pieces. It is the largest Thracian gold treasure found in Bulgaria.

Such a great amount of metal made the discoverers to doubt that the objects were made of gold. They decided to cut off some pieces of the lids with a pair of vineyard shears and take the pieces to Pleven for a check. There it was confirmed that the material was gold. A goldsmith in Pleven informed the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia and on 7 January 1925 the treasure was taken there, but the cut-off pieces have never been found.

The treasure is a striking example of ancient toreutics (the art of working metal). It is still considered one of the most enigmatic treasures discovered in Bulgaria.

To start with, the purpose of the objects remains unclear. The form and size of most of the artefacts go against the idea of everyday usage. Experts immediately suggested cult purpose, but the term seems to us just another way of saying “purpose unknown”. Contemporary men lack enough information about Thracian rituals. Besides, as the history of finding the treasure shows, we could not be sure that all the discovered artefacts have been delivered to the official authorities.

Surely, the cups could be simply part of a wine-drinking set: they are similar in form to objects found in continental Greece, Cyprus, and north of the Danube River. But the function of the big golden disks is still unknown. Many historians believe these are ancient musical instruments, cymbals, used during special rituals. Others see the disks as upper part of vessels unfound (to mention the less exotic theories). Inside the bulb-shaped center of the disks there is Baltic amber built in: a detail showing high value of the objects, but not instrumental to understanding their purpose.

Prospects and presentations mention the chemical composition of the metal used for creating the Valchitran treasure. However, recent research proved that different artefacts were made of at least three different types of gold – suggesting different workshops or different times of producing. Thus, it could well be that the objects our eye accepts as a single set have been collected piece by piece.

There is still a debate among researchers about the dating of the treasure. Some think it was made during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC), while others think it is from the Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC). A difference of 800 years might seem of secondary importance, but the issue is crucial for fitting the artefacts into the general historic context and into the intricate picture of metal-working craft in the region.

Of course, such an amount of precious metal calls for attributing the artefacts to some of the cultural-historical areas known to us. Here theories vary too: some researchers suggest it originates from territories of the middle Danube, others associate it with the civilizations of Anatolia of the pre-Hittite and Hittite periods. There is also a suggestion of a connection with the Mycenaean civilization.

Most of the historians agree that it was a Thracian treasure used in religious ceremonies. This assumption indicates at a conclusion that for many centuries a civilization existed on the Balkan peninsula that was uninterrupted in its development and considered by most of the Greek and Roman historians as somehow primitive and unorganized. Good fighters – yes, but not creative enough, if compared to the Greeks and Romans. Thracian civilization, without written texts of its own, with poorly attested language, is to be defined by artefacts, architecture and toreutic skills dated somewhere between 800 and 200 BC. (Only four Thracian inscriptions of any length have reached us. The wordiest is dated 5th century BC: a golden ring from Ezerovo has an eight-line inscription in Greek letters.)

To this rough picture, the Valchitran treasure adds substantial details. The known beginning of this civilization expands back to 1600 BC or even earlier. “We can see here the shining glory of a Thracian king from the time of the Trojan war – or before it”, to use the words of archaeology professor Ivan Venedikov. 

Modern observers evaluate through comparison. From this point of view the Valchitran Treasure – compared to similar sets (the treasures from Rogozen and from Panagyurishte, dated 5th-3rd centuries BC) - ought to be uncouth, more primitive or of lower artistic quality, simply because of its older age (many centuries older). All the more so that the outline of the Valchitran artefacts is simple and clear, their ornamentation humble and unobtrusive.

But such a comparison-based standpoint might well prove misleading. Even though some of the objects resemble a wine-drinking set, the three-section vessel is unique and hence any comparison is meaningless. The vessel in question consists of three small almond-shaped containers, decorated by cannelures and bound up together by tubules. Other bent tubes extend from the rounded ends of the containers: the two outer tubes merge into the larger middle tube. The construction seems to have been used for mixing different fluids through the mouths of the separate parts; tens of theories exist about its usage.

Besides, the Valchitran artefacts show that artisans of the time have mastered metal-working technology. They were capable of melting 5-6 kg of gold in a single effort and casting large objects with thin walls. They knew the techniques of soldering and damascening; they successfully combined different metals for purposes yet unknown (the containers of the three-shaped vessel are made of gold, but tubules are made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver). And some of the metal-working effects impress us even now. A small detail: all three smaller cups are unstable: because of the weight of the handle, they simply roll over if put in a position that would be “natural” for a cup. They become stable only if filled with liquid – hardly an effect achieved by accident.

In short, there are enough details to recognise artistic taste and spiritual life beyond the sheer kilograms of precious metal, beyond the superlative forms like “the heaviest”, “the oldest” and “unparalleled”. Four millenniums ago, there lived people here whose wonderful artistic creations still puzzle us and make the descendants hold breath in awe.