The Institute of Archaeomythology
The Institute of Archaeomythology is an international organization of scholars dedicated to fostering an interdisciplinary approach to cultural research with particular emphasis on the beliefs, rituals, social structure and symbolism of ancient societies
Sebastopol: Institute of Archaeomythology (in collaboration with the Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania), 2008 (140 pp, 58 color plates; text in English).
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“Eftimie Murgu” University, Reşiţa, Romania, collaborated with the Institute of Archaeomythology, Euro Innovanet SRL, Italy, and the Romanian Academy, Iaşi, to sponsor an international symposium to celebrate fifty years since Nicolae Vlassa’s earliest excavations at the Neolithic site of Tărtăria in Transylvania.
In 1961, Nicolae Vlassa discovered the cult pit where the famous Tărtăria tablets were found. The symposium was organized around two main themes: The evolution of the Vinča culture, and the significance of the Tărtăria tablets for the “Danube Script.”
The symposium took place September 1-5, 2011 in the guesthouse of “Eftimie Murgu” University in the village of Coronini (Pescari) on the bank of the Danube at the entrance to the Iron Gates.
At this location, the Danube River defines the boundary between Romania and Serbia. This region is rich in Mesolithic and Neolithic sites. Not far from the place of the symposium, on the Serbian side of the Danube within the Iron Gates gorge, is the important archaeological site of Lepenski Vir.
Papers presented at the symposium:
Beatrice Ciuta, “Reconstruction attempts of vegetation during Vinča culture. Habitat of prehistoric settlements from Limba-Oarda de Jos (Albe County).”
Marius Ciută, “Two Vinča graves at the Limba site.”
Laura Coltofean, “Documents regarding Zsófia Torma’s activity.”
Miriam Robbins Dexter, “Further thoughts on the V and the M in the Danube Script.”
Harald Haarmann and Joan Marler, “Milady of Tartaria and the prominence of women in Old European ritual life.”
Gheorghe Lazarovici, Cult significations of the signs on the Tărtăria tablets.
Marco Merlini, “The Danube Script: Unique or widespread signs?”
Carsten Mischka, “Prospektion und der Grabung in Iclod im Vergleich zu dem, was ich aus der Literatur zusammenstellen kann.”
Johannes Müller, “Okoliste and the work of the Kieler Bosnien-Projects (Parallel to Vinča A-D).”
Adrian Poruciuc, “Signs of the Danube Script (DS) interpretable as ideograms.”
Adriana Radu and Flavius Bozu, “Signs and symbols at Zorlenţu Mare.”
Angeleski Sote, “Vinčian aspects concerning the spiritual life of Macedonia.”
Nicolae Ursulescu, “Information From the English Archeologist Francis John Haverfield Concerning the Turdaş Objects with Symbolic Signs.”
International Symposium on Tărtăria and the Sacred Tablets
“Eftimie Murgu” University, Reşiţa, Romania, collaborated with the Institute of Archaeomythology, Euro Innovanet SRL, Italy, and the Romanian Academy, Iaşi, to sponsor an international symposium to celebrate fifty years since Nicolae Vlassa’s earliest excavations at the Neolithic Transylvanian site of Tărtăria.
In 1961, Nicolae Vlassa discovered the cult pit where the famous Tărtăria tablets were found. The symposium was organized around two main themes: The evolution of the Vinča culture, and the significance of the Tărtăria tablets for the “Danube Script.”
The symposium took place September 1-5, 2011 in the guesthouse of “Eftimie Murgu” University in the village of Coronini (Pescari) on the bank of the Danube at the entrance to the Iron Gates.
At this location, the Danube River defines the boundary between Romania and Serbia. This region is rich in Mesolithic and Neolithic sites. Not far from the place of the symposium, on the Serbian side of the Danube within the Iron Gates gorge, is the important archaeological site of Lepenski Vir.
Papers presented at the symposium:
Beatrice Ciuta, “Reconstruction attempts of vegetation during Vinča culture. Habitat of prehistoric settlements from Limba-Oarda de Jos (Albe County).”
Marius Ciută, “Two Vinča graves at the Limba site.”
Laura Coltofean, “Documents regarding Zsófia Torma’s activity.”
Miriam Robbins Dexter, “Further thoughts on the V and the M in the Danube Script.”
Harald Haarmann and Joan Marler, “Milady of Tartaria and the prominence of women in Old European ritual life.”
Gheorghe Lazarovici, Cult significations of the signs on the Tărtăria tablets.
Marco Merlini, “The Danube Script: Unique or widespread signs?”
Carsten Mischka, “Prospektion und der Grabung in Iclod im Vergleich zu dem, was ich aus der Literatur zusammenstellen kann.”
Johannes Müller, “Okoliste and the work of the Kieler Bosnien-Projects (Parallel to Vinča A-D).”
Adrian Poruciuc, “Signs of the Danube Script (DS) interpretable as ideograms.”
Adriana Radu and Flavius Bozu, “Signs and symbols at Zorlenţu Mare.”
Angeleski Sote, “Vinčian aspects concerning the spiritual life of Macedonia.”
Nicolae Ursulescu, “Information From the English Archeologist Francis John Haverfield Concerning the Turdaş Objects with Symbolic Signs.”
Miriam Robbins Dexter (USA)
Abstract
Building upon the theory that the Danube (Old European) script was used for religious, and not economic purposes, this paper discusses the fact that the script—the earliest form of writing yet discovered—stands at the intersection between the earliest written language, archaeology, and religion/myth. Although many of the symbols of this script cannot be interpreted with certainty, this paper theorizes that one of the core symbols of the Script, the V—one of the most productive symbols in terms of the multiplicity of diacritics—can indeed be interpreted. This paper relates this to the female pubic triangle, to excavated Neolithic and Chalcolithic female figures from Southeast Europe and elsewhere, and to early historic iconography and text.
Mikhail Videiko (Ukraine)
During the Copper Age (5000-3500/3400 BC) some elements of the Danube script were used and developed by the Trypillia Culture. At the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (3400-3200 BC) we can observe a differentiation of the sign system in Trypillia culture local types with some linear inscriptions. After 3200 BC the Trypillian world fell into decay and the process of writing invention was interrupted. Old signs were used only in a few territories connected with the production of traditional painted pottery. At the same time the use of pictograms on spindle-whorls flourished, similar to what existed in Anatolia.
After 3200/3000 BC, Late Trypillia types coexisted with the “Kurgan culture” Yamna (pit-graves) and Catacombna (catacomb graves). Some categories of old signs on pottery and other artifacts in these cultures are closely connected with funeral practices. Old Europe and Eastern script traditions coexisted on materials originating from the steppe region. Sanctuaries in this region seemed to play an important part in the transmission of the tradition and knowledge of sign use. Sanctuaries, such as Verteba cave, Kamyana Mohyla, or Marl Ride, existed from the Copper Age to the Middle Ages.
Marco Merlini (Italy)
This paper provides documentary and statistical evidence concerning the inventory, fabric, pattern of features, and organizational principles of the Danube script established according to the results of the DatDas databank (Databank for the Danube script). DatDas documents 818 objects, 953 inscriptions (some artifacts have more than one inscription), and 4,408 actual signs. As main a feature, DatDas records not only general and archaeological data concerning objects bearing signs (the site, information on the discovery, museum documentation data, relative and absolute dating, formal and techno-morphological information on the object, and so on), but above all, distinct semiotic information on the inscribed artifacts, the inscriptions, and the signs.
The idea that the earliest agrarian societies of Europe developed a script as early as the late sixth millennium BC challenges the typically held canon that writing began in Mesopotamia two thousand years later. In order to engage in meaningful dialogue about the development of writing technology in Neolithic Europe, it is essential to examine prevailing concepts about what constitutes writing and to approach an investigation of the development of writing in Southeastern Europe from a variety of perspectives.
This issue of the Journal of Archaeomythology presents selected papers from the international symposium, “The Danube Script: Neo-Eneolithic Writing in Southeastern Europe,” held on May 18-20, 2008 at the Museum of History, Casa Altemberger, of the Brukenthal National Museum, Sibu, Romania. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Institute of Archaeomythology and is the second international symposium to be organized on the subject of the Old European/Danube script. An exhibition of large, high-definition photographs of inscribed Neolithic sculptures accompanied the symposium, creating a dynamic backdrop for the delivery of papers and roundtable discussions.
Marco Merlini (Rome)
This article presents the first results of the “Tărtăria Project” promoted by the Prehistory Knowledge Project, carried out by the author in collaboration with Romanian archaeologist Gheorghe Lazarovici.
The discovery in 1961 of three inscribed tablets near the settlement of Tărtăria kindled a wave of controversy regarding both the chronology and the origin of the signs. The recalibrated dating of this discovery opened the possibility that writing in the Danube basin predated the earliest Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Paradoxally, the Tărtăria discovery cracked the skepticism of some scholars over the spectacular claim that the Danube Civilization used an early form of writing, while reinforcing the doubts of others. Since their discovery, the Tărtăria tablets have occupied a unique and controversial position in European prehistory because of the dispute about their dating and the assertion that their symbols could express a form of literacy.
Harald Haarmann (Finland)
Among the innovative technologies which emerged in Southeastern Europe in the course of the sixth millennium BCE, writing occupies a prominent role. The experiment with writing technology in that part of Europe produced an original script which is firmly rooted in the local tradition of an earlier use of signs and symbols, drawing on the cultural heritage of the Mesolithic Age and partly going back as far as the Palaeolithic. This ancient script is called here the “Danube script” and the cultural horizon in which it originated, the “Danube civilization.” These terms are synonymous with those coined by Marija Gimbutas: the “Old European script” and the civilization of “Old Europe.”
Marija Gimbutas deserves credit for broadly documenting the richness of Old European cultural traditions, which included writing as one of its prominent assets. On the basis of Gimbutas´ documentation and more than a century of rich archaeological discoveries, it becomes clear that a high culture of an agrarian civilization flourished in Southeastern Europe from the sixth to the fourth millennia BCE. The societies of the Danube civilization developed advanced institutions and technologies and cultivated a sophisticated worldview expressed in a tremendous outpouring of ritual artifacts.
This article discusses the early experiment with writing in Southeastern Europe and provides an invaluable introduction to sign systems, notational systems and the status of writing in the realm of culture. It also discusses the principles of writing common to ancient scripts and outlines a typology of writing systems, principles and techniques of writing, and parameters for comparing ancient systems of writing. This basic introduction provides an essential foundation for ongoing research on the signs and symbols of Southeastern Europe.
Harald Haarmann (Finland) and Joan Marler (USA)
The early agrarian communities that developed in the Danube valley and its hinterland during the sixth and fifth millennia BCE produced innovative technologies and an exceptionally rich heritage of cultural symbolism. In a culturally interconnected zone extending throughout southeast Europe, a rich variety of signs and symbols with notational functions are found incised or painted on ceramics, sculptures, ritual items, and other artifacts. Core symbols that appear to reflect a large coinage of basic ideas—in the form of the spiral, the meander, the V sign and others—are wide-spread, while other symbols have a more limited range and are found only in certain regions. A closer inspection of ornamented and inscribed artifacts reveals that motifs in common use over an extended geographical area interacted with symbols of local range, forming specific regional networks. In the course of this process, sign use consolidated and assumed the character of an organized form of notation. Experiments with writing technology in Southeastern Europe produced an original writing system that is the first of its kind in world history.
The concept of writing in Neolithic societies poses a challenge to traditional concepts about the emergence of writing. This introduction examines some of the main assumptions comprising the parameters of the academic canon and offers a basic definitional approach to writing technology that may serve to stimulate and expand conventionally generalized viewpoints.
Progress in science arises, not from consensus, but from the exploration of new horizons which calls for discussions about controversies, instead of remaining silent about unresolved agenda. In this spirit, the Institute of Archaeomythology collaborated with the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Novi Sad in 2004 to sponsor “Signs of Civilization: An International Symposium on the Neolithic Symbol System of Southeast Europe.” Several papers presented at the Novi Sad symposium have been selected for this issue: by Romanian archaeologists Cornelia–Magda Lazarovici and Gheorghe Lazarovici, Italian researcher Marco Merlini, linguist Harald Haarmann from Finland, and Shan Winn from USA, a pioneer investigator of the Old European script.