The excavation
The dig that changed when humans are known to have reached Europe.
CC BY 2.5 ยท Ivanka Yordanova โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Ivanka Yordanova โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Ivanka Yordanova โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Because it changed a timeline that had been treated as settled. Modern humans were assumed to have entered Europe about forty thousand years ago, with Neanderthals dying out after a short overlap. The bones and tools dated in this cave to around forty-five thousand years push that back and lengthen the overlap to thousands of years โ which fits with Neanderthals having left a genetic trace in people outside Africa today. The findings were published in Nature and Nature Ecology and Evolution in 2020, and made this small cave in central Bulgaria a reference in every discussion of the question.
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Bacho Kiro Cave lies beside the Dryanovo monastery, and is fully equipped for visits โ lighting, walkways and guided tours โ but its real importance is scientific rather than touristic. In **2020 results were published** from excavation in this cave that changed the understanding of when modern humans reached Europe: bone remains and tools of Homo sapiens were found dating to about **forty-five thousand years ago** โ the oldest confirmed evidence of modern humans in Europe, thousands of years earlier than had been thought. More importantly it means modern humans and Neanderthals overlapped on the continent for far longer than was assumed. The cave itself runs on two levels for about three kilometres, of which some seven hundred metres are open, with calcite formations, chambers and narrow passages. It combines with the neighbouring **Dryanovo monastery** and the Andaka gorge. Cold and damp inside โ take a jacket.
The dig that changed when humans are known to have reached Europe.
Metres away, in a narrow rock gorge.
Near Dryanovo Monastery, Gabrovo province