Bacho Kiro Cave

The Bacho Kiro Cave is situated 5 km west of the town Dryanovo, Bulgaria, only 300 m away from the Dryanovo Monastery [1]. It is embedded in the canyons of the Andaka and Dryanovo River [1]. The cave is a four-storey labyrinth of galleries and corridors with a total length of 3,600 m [1]. The site has yielded the oldest human remains ever to be found in Bulgaria [1]. At one of the earliest known Aurignacian burials (layer 11), two pierced animal teeth were found and ordered into the distinct Bachokiran artifact assemblage [1]. Radiocarbon dated to over 43,000 years ago, they currently represent the oldest known ornaments in Europe [1]. With an approximate age of 46,000 years, human fossils consist of a pair of fragmented mandibles including at least one molar [1]. Whether these early humans were in fact Homo sapiens or Neanderthals was disputed until morphological analysis of a tooth and mitochondrial DNA of bone fragments established that remains were those of Homo sapiens [1].