The territory of Bulgaria has been inhabited since the earliest historical times, the   Stone Age and the Chalcolithic Age.  The Bulgarian land reveals signs of human presence as far back as the end of the early Paleolith /700 000 to 100000 BC/. Archaeological excavations have extracted from the entrails of Bulgarian land indisputable proof of human life continuity - flint kernel items, blades, points and scrapers, fire and hunting traces have been discovered in many Bulgarian caves.

Archaeological discoveries from that period have been made near Karlovo, in the region of the towns of   Nova Zagora,    Veliko Turnovo, Vidin , Sofia,   Teteven, Troyan and in the  Rhodope Mountains .

During the Bronze Age the Thracians inhabited the present-day Bulgarian lands. The first mentioning of the Thracians is found in old Greek sources, Homer mentioned Thracians for the first time. They are the first ethnically verified population of the Bulgarian lands. Iron was the underlying foundation of the Thracian civilisation. The material power of the Thracians sprang from the arable farming and animal husbandry, which kept developing under the impact of the improved irons tools and other instruments. They were engaged in agriculture and stockbreeding, and left evidence of a rich culture /the Vulchitrun gold treasure/. Wheat and wine remain as major agrarian products. Sheep and most of all, horses brought fame to the stockbreeders.

Pottery, metal production and metalworking were very well developed. The first Thracian State unions emerged in the 11th-6th centuries BC, which flourished in the 7th-6th centuries BC. The Thracian statehood was well developed, but not strong enough to oppose the invasion of the Roman Empire.

In the 1st century BC Rome conquered their lands, and after the 5th century AD they were incorporated in the Byzantine Empire. The Thracian lands became the remote frontier, suffering from invasions of Huns, Goths, Avars and other barbarian tribes. The development of the Thracian art and culture has been proved by many archaeological discoveries. The Slavs who settled in the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th century AD later gradually assimilated the Thracians.