In the north-western part of Bulgaria, between the town of Belogradchik and the village of Kara-Oreshets, is a cave Kozarnika. Its total length is 128 m.

The cave is known for the unique discoveries made by scientists during archaeological excavations. The first scientific expedition led by Nikolay Sirakov (Archaeological Institute, a structural unit of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia) and Jean-Luc Guadeli (Institute of Geology and prehistory, Bordeaux) was sent to Kozarniku in 1996. Since then, the Bulgarian-French research team of done a lot of interesting finds. The excavations have found evidence of human culture of the late Paleolithic period (37-34 centuries. BC. E.): The remains of cut animals, primitive tools, and so on. D. The cave was inhabited in the middle Palaeolithic, but some findings suggest a more ancient age .

Each year, archaeologists deeper penetrate into the historical layers with the aim to make a surprising discovery. Previously it was thought that the very first humans arrived in Europe from Africa via Gibraltar. The evidence (traces of human activity in which 800 th. S) supporting this hypothesis have been found in Spain. However Kozarnike found phalanx and a human tooth, which are more than 1, 6 thousand million. Years. These artifacts may be an indication that the first people to set foot on the continent not through Gibraltar and the Bosporus Strait in the Balkans.