Old European Script
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
La antigus escritura europea( The Old European Script (también conocida como Vinča alphabet, Vinča script o Vinča-Tordos script) es el nombre que se da aveces a las marcas halladas en artefactos prehistóricos hallados en el sudeste de Europa.
Estos símbolos (fechados entre
el VI-V milenios a.C.) se han descubierto en numerosos
lugares del sudeste de Europa y sobre todo en Vinça, cerca
de Belgrado. Pero también en Grecia, Bulgaria, Rumania,
Hungría, Moldavia y Ucrania.
www.prehistory.it/ ftp/winn2.htm: Signos de Tordos
Algunos historiadores y lingüistas suponen que se trata de un sistema de escritura de la Cultura de Vinča , cuyos individuos habitaban la región alrededor del 6000-4000 a.C.
Otros dudan que las marcas sean signos de escritura y se refieren solo a símbolos , debido a lo escaso de los signos que aparecen agrupados inscriptions
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5. Doble M en un fragmento de cerámica de Corinto, Grecia, cca 4200 BC.
El descubrimiento de la escritura
En 1875, excavaciones arqueológicas llevadas a cabo por la arqueóloga Zsofia Torma (1840 - 1899) en Turdaş (Tordos), cerca de Orăştie en Transylvania (now Romania) sacaron a la luz una serie de objetos escritos con signos desconocidos.
A similar cache was found during excavations conducted in 1908 in Vinča, a suburb of the Serbian city of Belgrade, some 120km from Tordos. Later, more such fragments were found in Banjica, another part of Belgrade. Thus the culture represented is called the Vinca-Tordos culture, and the script often called the Vinca-Tordos script. To date, more than a thousand fragments with similar inscriptions have been found on various archaeological sites throughout south-eastern Europe, notably in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, eastern Hungary, Moldova, southern Ukraine and other locations in the former Yugoslavia.
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| Figure 1. Partial distribution of sites having evidence of sign usage |
Most of the inscriptions are on pottery, with the remainder appearing on whorls (flat cylindrical annuli), figurines, and a small collection of other objects. Over 85% of the inscriptions consist of a single symbol.
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The symbols themselves consist of a variety of abstract and representative pictograms, including zoomorphic (animal-like) representations, combs or brush patterns and abstract symbols such as swastikas, crosses and chevrons. Other objects include groups of symbols, of which some are arranged in no particularly obvious pattern, with the result that neither the order nor the direction of the signs in these groups is readily determinable. The usage of symbols varies significantly between objects: symbols that appear by themselves tend almost exclusively to appear on pots, while symbols that are grouped with other symbols tend to appear on whorls.
La importancia de estos hallazgos es que se datan por el contexto alrededor del 4000 BC, alrededor de MIL ańos antes de que apareciesen los pictogramas protosumerios de Uruk (moderno Iraq), considerados como la primera y más antigua escritura conocida .
Analyses of the symbols showed that they had little similarity with Near Eastern writing, leading to the view that they probably arose independently of the Sumerian civilization. There are some similarities between the symbols and other Neolithic symbologies found elsewhere, as far afield as Egypt, Crete and even China. However, Chinese scholars have suggested that such signs were produced by a convergent development of what might be called a precursor to writing which evolved independently in a number of societies.
Although a large number of symbols are known, most artefacts contain so few symbols that they are very unlikely to represent a complete text. Possibly the only exception is a stone found near Sitovo in Bulgaria, the dating of which is disputed; regardless, the stone has only around 50 symbols. It is unknown which language used the symbols, or indeed whether they stand for a language in the first place.
Meaning of the symbols
The nature and purpose of the symbols is still something of a mystery. It is not even clear whether or not they constitute a writing system. If they do, it is not known whether they represent an alphabet, syllabary, ideograms or some other form of writing. Although attempts have been made to decipher the symbols, there is no generally accepted translation or agreement as to what they mean.
At first it was thought that the symbols were simply used as property marks, with no more meaning than "this belongs to X"; a prominent holder of this view is archaeologist P. Biehl. This theory is now mostly abandoned as same symbols have been repeatedly found on the whole territory of Vinča culture, on locations hundreds of kilometers and years away of each other.
The prevailing theory is that the symbols were used for religious purposes in a traditional agricultural society. If so, the fact that the same symbols were used for centuries with little change suggests that the ritual meaning and culture represented by the symbols likewise remained constant for a very long time, with no need for further development. The use of the symbols appear to have been abandoned (along with the objects on which they appear) at the start of the Bronze Age, suggesting that the new technology brought with it significant changes in social organization and beliefs.
One argument in favour of the ritual explanation is that the objects on which the symbols appear do not appear to have had much long-term significance to their owners - they are commonly found in pits and other refuse areas. Certain objects, principally figurines, are most usually found buried under houses. This is consistent with the supposition that they were prepared for household religious ceremonies in which the signs incised on the objects represent expressions: a desire, request, vow or whatever. After the ceremony was completed, the object would either have no further significance (hence would be disposed of) or would be buried ritually (which some have interpreted as votive offerings).
Some of the "comb" or "brush" symbols, which collectively comprise as much as a sixth of all the symbols so far discovered, may represent numbers. Some scholars have pointed out that over a quarter of the inscriptions are located on the bottom of a pot, an ostensibly unlikely place for a religious inscription. The Vinča culture appears to have traded its wares quite widely with other cultures (as demonstrated by the widespread distribution of inscribed pots), so it is possible that the "numerical" symbols conveyed information about the value of the pots or their contents. Other cultures, such as the Minoans and Sumerians, used their scripts primarily as accounting tools; the Vinča symbols may have served a similar purpose.
Other symbols (principally those restricted to the base of pots) are wholly unique. Such signs may denote the contents, provenance/destination or manufacturer/owner of the pot.
Griffen (2005) claims to have partially deciphered the script, identifying signs for "bear", "bird" and "goddess". He compares two spinning whorls, Jela 1 and 2, with almost identical marks, and identifies similar marks on bear and bird figurines. The whorl inscriptions would read "bear goddess bird goddess bear goddessgoddess" which he interprets as "bear goddess and bird goddess: bear godess indeed", or "the bear goddess and the bird goddess are really a single bear goddess". Griffen compares the amalgamation of a goddess with bearlike and birdlike attributes in Greek Artemis. Griffen's "goddess" sign is two vertical strokes, apparently symbolizing a vulva; this is reminiscent of the Linear B "female" sign, two upright slanting strokes.
Controversial issues
The Vinča markings have not attracted as much linguistic attention as recognized but undeciphered scripts such as Crete's Linear A and Easter Island's Rongorongo. However, the Vinča material has still managed to stir some controversies of its own.
The primary advocate of the idea that the markings represent writing, and the person who coined the name "Old European Script", was Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), an important 20th century archaeologist and premier advocate of the notion that the Kurgan culture of Central Asia was an early Indo-European culture.
Later in life she turned her attention to the reconstruction of a hypothetical pre-Indo-European Old European culture, which she thought spanned most of Europe. She observed that neolithic European iconography was predominately female a trend also visible in the inscribed figurines of the Vinča culture and concluded the existence of a matristic (not matriarchal) culture that worshipped range of goddesses and gods. (Gimbutas did not posit a single universal Mother Goddess.) She also incorporated the Vinča markings into her model of Old Europe, suggesting that they might either be the writing system for an Old European language, or, more probably, a kind of "pre-writing" symbolic system. Most archaeologists and linguists disagree with Gimbutas' interpretation of the Vinča signs as a script: it is all but universally accepted among scholars that the Sumerian cuneiform script is in fact the earliest form of writing.
A rather odder controversy concerns the theories of Dr. Radivoje Peić from Belgrade. In his book The Vinča Alphabet, he proposes that all of the symbols exist in the Etruscan alphabet, and conversely, that all Etruscan letters are found among Vinča signs. However, these claims are not taken seriously by scholars, who demonstrate that the Etruscan alphabet is derived from the West Greek Alphabet, which in turn is derived from the Phoenician writing system. This is however not completely incompatible with Peić's views as he claims that the Phoenician writing system descended from Vinčan. Peić's critics have claimed that his support for the continuity theory, which claims a Slavic presence in the Balkans far earlier than the usually accepted date, is motivated by a nationalistic agenda; hence, for instance, his claim that the poet Homer must have spoken a Slavonic dialect (Peić, 1989).
Ver también :
Bibliography
- Gimbutas, Marija. 1974. The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe 7000 - 3500 BC, Mythos, Legends and Cult Images
- Griffen, Toby D., Deciphering the Vinca Script [1], 2005.
- Peić, Radivoje, The Vincha Script (ISBN 86-7540-006-3)
- Peić, Radivoje, "On the Scent of Slavic Autochthony in the Balkans," Macedonian Review 19, nos. 2-3 (1989), 115-116
- Winn, Milton McChesney. 1973. The signs of the Vinča Culture : an internal analysis : their role, chronology and independence from Mesopotamia
- Winn, Shan M.M. 1981. Pre-writing in Southeastern Europe: the sign system of the Vinča culture, ca. 4000 BC
Links externos
- Vinca symbols at omniglot.com, including a font
- The Number System of the Old European Script - Eric Lewin Altschuler
- The Old European Script: Further evidence - Shan M. M. Winn
Starting with the oldest one, I could tell you around here you can still find
the archeological vestiges of the Ancient European Civilization (concept of
Lithuanian historic Marija Gimbutas) cultures, among whom Karanovo , Costesti or
Petresti (located on the actual territory of Romania) still impress with their
cultural creations. The Gods of the Old European Civilization were more likely
Goddesses (The Great Mother Goddess), with many cultural images symbolically
representing such a figure (bids, vaginas, earth.). After the invasion of the
Kurganic migratory times (around the cultural horizon over 6500 years ago),
marking the Indo-Europeanisation of all Europe, all changed. Now there is the
time of the warrior's gods (The Danube's Horse rider's are only a direct remains
of these figures in the tracic period), boldly sacrifices... These are the most
difficult times to speak about, as we know directly very little about them.
Around the same periods are liked "The Tables from Tartaria" (a small location
on South of Romania), the oldest vestiges of pictured writings (2000 years
before the Asiro-Babylonian ones, which used to be considered the oldest - huge
histories dispute over them.) 
Passing to the more
'recent' times (only about 2500 years ago), we can find around these lands the
Dachs, Romanian nation's oldest direct ancestors. 
he
had an unworthy spiritual structure. So, it wasn't enough to voluntarily offer
your life, you also had to have a spiritual appropriate personality.