A Stone Age fireplace and residues from copper smelting, both dating to about 6000 BCE, have been discovered in southern Bulgaria. Archaeologists say that the fireplace and copper slag are evidence of the earliest metalworking foundry so far discovered in Europe, pushing back conventional dating by at least 1,500 years.
     Evidence of earlier metallurgy has been found in Mesopotamia (Iraq) dating from about 8,000 BCE.

Source: VOANews.com (25 August 2003)