Archaeologists have discovered four Early Neolithic graves in the Slatina district of Sofia, Bulgaria. Two graves from the same period were found at the site last year. These are the earliest burials ever unearthed in Sofia.

The graves were discovered during an rescue excavation in advance of a new housing development, but excavations have taken place in the area off and on for three decades. Archaeologist have recovered artifacts — ceramic vessels, loom weights, a spindle — and remains that are evidence of a settlement that was continuously occupied for 500 years, from the late 7th to the mid-6th millennium B.C. The newly discovered graves date to the beginning of the 6th millennium.

During the excavations, archaeologists from the National Archaeological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences came across a double grave – most likely a man with a child.

The other remains are of a woman lying on her stomach and of a man who was laid out in a very special way – one of his hands remained under the skeleton

The skeletal remains will be studied further in a Bulgarian Academy of Sciences laboratory. They will be DNA tested in the hope of establishing if there was a familiar connecting between the individuals.