The first settlement on the site of today's Malko Tarnovo was Thracian. Under the Byzantine Emperor Constantine, the area developed culturally and economically due to its proximity to the capital of Byzantium – Constantinople. The nowadays town was established in the late 16th and early 17th century. The town is in the heart of the Strandzha Mountains – in one of the most protected forested areas in Bulgaria with a unique climate and flora and fauna. In Malko Tarnovo and its surroundings, there are numerous archaeological finds of particular importance related to the Thracians. According to a number of well-known researchers, there has been a settlement in this place since deep antiquity, which is suggested by the finds from different eras. The two domed Thracian tombs near the town are very interesting for visitors. Constructed from precisely worked marble blocks, they are a work of Thracian monumental construction from the 5th – 3rd century BC, representing the funerary customs of the aristocracy.