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One of the many priceless treasures held in the collection of the National Historical Museum in Bulgaria, this 4th-century gold wreath and ring came from the burial site of an Odrysian aristocrat at the Golyamata Mogila tumulus, situated between the villages of Zlatinitsa and Malomirovo in the Yambol region. Photo by Ann Wuyts, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Bulgarian police return smuggled antiquities to museum

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson

One of the many priceless treasures held in the collection of the National Historical Museum in Bulgaria, this 4th-century gold wreath and ring came from the burial site of an Odrysian aristocrat at the Golyamata Mogila tumulus, situated between the villages of Zlatinitsa and Malomirovo in the Yambol region. Photo by Ann Wuyts, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
One of the many priceless treasures held in the collection of the National Historical Museum in Bulgaria, this 4th-century gold wreath and ring came from the burial site of an Odrysian aristocrat at the Golyamata Mogila tumulus, situated between the villages of Zlatinitsa and Malomirovo in the Yambol region. Photo by Ann Wuyts, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) – Bulgarian police have handed the remnants of three ancient necklaces to the country’s most important museum after seizing the artifacts from smugglers who looted them from archaeological sites.

Police gave the artifacts to the National Museum of History in Sofia, whose collection is among the largest in the Balkans. The museum’s collection includes items dating back to prehistoric times.

The museum’s director, Bozhidar Dimitrov, says the broken jewelry pieces are among the oldest such items ever discovered in Bulgaria. The pieces date to the third millennium B.C.

Dimitrov says the remnants will be restored and shown to the public.

Police offered no details on how they found and seized the items, nor any suggestion on how the smugglers had intended to sell them abroad.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

One of the many priceless treasures held in the collection of the National Historical Museum in Bulgaria, this 4th-century gold wreath and ring came from the burial site of an Odrysian aristocrat at the Golyamata Mogila tumulus, situated between the villages of Zlatinitsa and Malomirovo in the Yambol region. Photo by Ann Wuyts, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
One of the many priceless treasures held in the collection of the National Historical Museum in Bulgaria, this 4th-century gold wreath and ring came from the burial site of an Odrysian aristocrat at the Golyamata Mogila tumulus, situated between the villages of Zlatinitsa and Malomirovo in the Yambol region. Photo by Ann Wuyts, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.