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Stara Zagora's chief attraction, the Neolithic dwellings ( Neolitni zhilishta ) were unearthed in 1969 during the construction of a hospital. Of the several dwellings excavated - the remains of a settlement destroyed by fire c. 5500 BC - two houses were preserved in the state in which the archeologists found them and covered by a custom-built pavilion, which is now a museum (Tues-Sat 9am-noon & 2-5pm; US$1.50). Inside, first impressions are of a moonscape of crumbling walls and pottery, but familiar domestic details become recognizable on closer inspection. English-language guided tours of the museum can be booked through the Regional Economic Development Agency for US$10 (24 hours' notice needed). Each family occupied a single-roomed dwelling, usually detached - although the two preserved here were built back-to-back, possibly the sign of an extended family. In one corner of the house stood a basic stove, in which bread was baked from flour ground on a nearby millstone. Amazingly, the floor is still scattered, in places, with burnt grains. Another corner of the room was a cult area, used to keep idols of the household gods. A gallery in the basement holds the artefacts unearthed by the excavation, covering several millennia - the earliest ones include household implements such as sickles and spoons made out of bone - although most objects belong roughly between the sixth and fourth millennia BC. Some of the day-to-day pottery used by the Neolithic inhabitants of the houses preserved upstairs shows a surprising degree of sophistication, decorated with geometric patterns and chequerboard designs, while pots adorned with human stick figures, classic maze patterns and primitive animals have been identified as cultic vessels. One of the more intriguing pot fragments shows a shaman performing a rain-dance. The collection of marble and clay female fertility goddesses also gives a fascinating insight into the religious beliefs of these ancient people; the strictly symbolic older figures, with their outsized hips and posteriors being replaced in later periods by more naturalistic forms. Pottery animals, including a headless hedgehog, may have had some ritual significance, while the poignant models of tiny houses, furniture and sheep appear to have been used as children's toys. A delicate child's bracelet from the fifth millennium BC is one of the oldest pieces of gold jewellery ever found. To get there , walk west along ul. General Stoletov for fifteen minutes until you reach the district hospital ( okrazhna bolnitsa ), then bear left to find the museum, in a drab, squat building behind the basketball court.
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