Archaeologists have unearthed a 7,000-year-old prehistoric sanctuary during excavations along the new stretch of Hemus Highway, Northern Bulgaria.

The site was probably a ritual centre from the late 6th and early 5th millennium BC, said Acad. Vasil Nikolov from the National Archaeological Institute with a museum of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. It is located in the area of ​​the villages of Doyrentsi and Drenov near the town of Lovech. Archaeologists for the first time come across such a sanctuary from the transition between the Neolithic and Chalcolithic in Central and Northwestern Bulgaria.

During the excavations, richly decorated ceramic vessels have been unearthed, as well as animal bones, which are to be analyzed. Researchers have yet to assess the importance of the sanctuary, which once again shows the role of today's Bulgarian lands, which are third in Europe in number and quality of archaeological monuments. According to Acad. Nikolov, in the last 20 years archeological excavations have saved hundreds of archeological sites, and Bulgarian museums abound with finds from different eras./BGNES