The First High Culture in the World Originated in the Balkans, Europe
Old Europe: Danube Valley Civilization 5000 - 3500 BC.
Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade. Old Europe was among the most culturally rich regions in the world. Its inhabitants lived in prosperous agricultural towns. The ubiquitous goddess figurines found in their houses and shrines have triggered intense debates about women's roles.
The people of this region founded new settlements in the Danube Valley. Scientists call this society Danube Civilization. This people were the first in history who used copper tools, they lived in two-storied houses and sat on chairs, while the rest of the world was stuck in the middle of the Stone Age. And they invented writing. oldest copper mines of the world, bake bread using ovens that are 8000 years old.This culture lived 2000 years in peace as an equivalent society. But then, they discovered gold. This marks the end of the Danube Civilization. Warriors from the Russian steppe extinguished this society 6000 years ago. The era of money and power began.The heart of Old Europe was in the lower Danube valley, in contemporary Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Moldova. Old European copper smiths were the most advanced metal artisans in the world. Their intense interest in acquiring copper, Aegean shells, and other rare valuables gave rise to far-reaching trading networks. In their graves, the bodies of Old European chieftains were adorned with pounds of gold and copper ornaments. Their funerals were without parallel in the Near East or Egypt.
An unparalleled introduction to Old Europe's cultural, technological, and artistic legacy,For 1,500 years, starting earlier than 5000 B.C., they farmed and built sizable towns, a few with as many as 10,000 dwellings. They mastered large-scale copper smelting, the new technology of the age. Their graves held an impressive array of exquisite headdresses and necklaces and, in one cemetery, the earliest major assemblage of gold artifacts to be found anywhere in the world.
