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Subject Archaeologists begin digging Bosnian "pyramid"today

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Old European Script
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A clay vessel unearthed in Vin&#269;a, found at depth of 8.5 meters.The Old European Script (also known as the Vin&#269;a alphabet, Vin&#269;a script or Vin&#269;a-Tordos script) is a name sometimes given to the markings on prehistoric artifacts found in south-eastern Europe. Some believe the markings to be a writing system of the Vin&#269;a culture, which inhabited the region around 6000-4000 BC. Others doubt that the markings represent writing at all, citing the brevity of the purported inscriptions and the dearth of repeated symbols in the purported script.

Contents [hide]
1 The discovery of the script 
2 Meaning of the symbols 
3 Controversial issues 
4 See also 
5 References 
6 External links

[edit]
The discovery of the script
In 1875, archaeological excavations led by the archeologist Zsófia Torma (1840–1899) at Turda&#351; (Tordos), near Or&#259;&#351;tie in Transylvania (now Romania) unearthed a cache of objects inscribed with previously unknown symbols. A similar cache was found during excavations conducted in 1908 in Vin&#269;a, 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. The discovery of the Tartaria tablets in Romania by Nicolae Vassa in 1961 reignited the debate. Vassa believed the inscriptions to be pictograms and the finds were subsequently carbon-dated to before 4000BC, thirteen hundred years earlier than the date he expected, and earlier even than the writing systems of the Sumerians and Minoans. 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.

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. 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.

The importance of these findings lies in the fact that the oldest of them are dated around 4000 BC, around a thousand years before the proto-Sumerian pictographic script from Uruk (modern Iraq), which is usually considered as the oldest known script. 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 artifacts 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.

Clay amulet, one of the Tartaria tablets unearthed near Tartaria, Romania, and dated to ca. 4500 BC[edit]
Meaning of the symbols
The nature and purpose of the symbols is still something of a mystery. It is not even clear whether 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 Vin&#269;a 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 appears 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 Vin&#269;a 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 Vin&#269;a 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 — goddess–goddess" which he interprets as "bear goddess and bird goddess: bear goddess 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.

[edit]
Controversial issues
The Vin&#269;a 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 Vin&#269;a 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 predominantly female — a trend also visible in the inscribed figurines of the Vin&#269;a 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 Vin&#269;a 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 Vin&#269;a 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 Peši&#263; from Belgrade. In his book The Vin&#269;a Alphabet, he proposes that all of the symbols exist in the Etruscan alphabet, and conversely, that all Etruscan letters are found among Vin&#269;a 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 Peši&#263;'s views as he claims that the Phoenician writing system descended from Vin&#269;an. Peši&#263;'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 (Peši&#263;, 1989).

[edit]
See also
Vin&#269;a culture 
Old European cultures 
List of undeciphered writing systems 
Pseudoarchaeology 
[edit]
References
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. 
Peši&#263;, Radivoje, The Vincha Script (ISBN 86-7540-006-3) 
Peši&#263;, 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 Vin&#269;a 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 Vin&#269;a culture, ca. 4000 BC 
[edit]
External links
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 
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_European_Script"
Categories: Pre-Indo-Europeans | Stone Age | Undeciphered writing systems
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Original Message Bosnia may have hidden ancient pyramid

Archaeologists began digging today for what they hope is an ancient pyramid hidden beneath a mysterious Bosnian hill that has long been the subject of legend.

The Bosnian archaeologist leading the work says the 2,120ft mound rising above the small town of Visoko resembles pyramid sites in Latin America that he has studied.

It would be the first pyramid ever discovered in Europe.

Initial research on the hill, known as Visocica, found that it has perfectly shaped, 45-degree slopes pointing toward the cardinal points and a flat top.

Under layers of dirt, workers discovered a paved entrance plateau, entrances to tunnels and large stone blocks that might be part of a pyramid’s outer surface.

Satellite photographs and thermal imaging revealed two other, smaller pyramid-shaped hills in the Visoko Valley.

“This is definitely not a natural formation,” said geologist Nadja Nukic.

Teams descended about 260 metres (284 yards) into the tunnel but found the rest of the way blocked by a cave-in. The tunnel is thought to be 2.4 miles long, and the team found two intersections with other tunnels leading off to the left and right.

Other teams began digging 10 shafts at several spots to see if they will run into stone blocks below the slopes of the hill.

The work will continue for about six months at the site just outside Visoko, about 20 miles northwest of the capital, Sarajevo.

Two experts from Egypt are due to join the team in mid-May.

“We expect the first raw results in about three weeks,” said Semir Osmanagic, the Bosnian archaeologist leading the project.

Anthropologists say the Visoko Valley already offers ample evidence of organised human settlements dating back 7,000 years.

The town was Bosnia’s capital during the Middle Ages, and German archaeologists working the valley recently found 24,000 Neolithic artifacts just three feet below ground.

Osmanagic claims Visocica is a classic example of cultures building on the top of other cultures.

A medieval fortress used by Bosnian kings for two centuries sits on top of the Visocica hill.

The fortress was built over a Roman Empire observation post, which was built on the ruins of an Illyrian settlement.

The Illyrians inhabited the Balkan peninsula long before Slavic tribes conquered it around AD 600.

The first tourists are already arriving.

Dirk Wientges, 39, from Rosenheim, Germany, discovered the story about the possible pyramid on the internet and brought his family over Easter to Visoko.

“We were curious. This is a beautiful country and I would be happy for it if it would prove this is true. For once one can see Bosnia being mentioned in media in a positive light,” he said.

No pyramids are known in Europe, and there is no evidence any ancient civilisation there ever attempted to build one.

Osmanagic believes Visocica is hiding one, though he has no solid theories on how old it is or who might have built it. Osmanagic quickly named the three hills the pyramids of the Sun, Moon and Dragon.

The locals were quick to catch on to the excitement, offering a tacky assortment of pyramid souvenirs for sale to curious visitors.
[link to www.irishexaminer.com]

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