t

SBnereN AcepsN,Iy oF SctnucBs eNo Anrs, NovI S,q,o BRANCH

INIsrtrurE oF AncuRBoMYTHoLocY
 Signs of Civilization
Neolithic Symbol System of Southeast Europe

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Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Novi Sad Branch
Institute of Archaeomythology
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 CONTENTS

Preface vii About the Origin and Evolution of I29

Neo-Eneolithic Signs and Symbols
History and Acknowledgments viii t luliu Paul

Signs of Civilization: An Introduction xi On the Semantics of Neolithic Altars I4l

Contributors to this Volume xx
I Vassil Nikolov

Signs of Civilization Symposium Poster xxi Towards'An Iirterpretation of Pintaderas: 145

Questions and Possibilities for their Use
I Tanya Y. Dzhanfezova
Non-Verbal Messages on Anthropomorphic
Figurines of the Vinda Culture The Trypillia-Cucuteni Sign System 16I
I Bogdan Brukner on Painted Pottery
a Taras Tkachuk
The Vinda Signs in Archaeological Contexts:
Ritual or Domestic Symbols? Signs and Sign Systems of the Trypillia Culture I79
(s400-2750 BC)
t Andrej Starovi1
t MikhailVideiko
The Danube Script and Other Ancient Writing t7
Systems: A Typology of Distinctive Features
Incised Symbols in Neolithic and Bronze Age 187
Greece and their Relation to the Old European Script
I Harald Haarmann
I Adamantios Sampson
The Danube (Old European) Script: 49
Ritual Use of Signs in the Balkan-Danube Was There a Script in Final Neolithic Greece? I93
Region c. 5200-3500 BC
I Gareth Owens
I Shan M. M.Winn
Signs 201
The Connections Between Old European
Life and Lithuanian Sash Ornamentation
Database for Signs and Symbols of Spiritual 63
I Gheorghe Lazarovici
I Vytautas Tumdnas

Symbols and Signs of the Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture 87 One Chalcolithic Game 209

I C ornelia-Magda Lazarovici t Stefan Chohadzkiev

tr3 The Old Fairy Waiting, Pen in Hand,

Challenging Some Myths About the
1n the Netherworld 213
T[rt6ria Tablets: Icons of the Danube Script
I Marco Merlini I Adrian Poruciuc

*r
):l t:
trl
\
 CoxTRrBuToRs To THrs VoruME
+
Bogdan Brukner (Serbia), Serbian
Academy of Iuliu Paul (Romania), pre_ and proto_Historical
Sciences and Arts, Novi Sad Branch.
Research Centre,,,1 Decembrie
l91gi, Uniu.rrity,
Alba Iulia.
Stefan Chohadzhiev (Bulgaria), Department
of
Archaeology, Veliko Tarnwo University,
Veliko Adrian poruciuc (Romania), Center
Tarnovo. for
Indoeuropean and Balkan Studies,
nuJty of
Literature, ,Al. I. Cuza,, University, Iagi.
Tanya Y. Dzhanfezova (Bulgaria),
Department of
Archaeology, Vetiko Tarnovo University,
Veliko Adamantios Sampson (Greece),
Tarnovo. Department of
Mediterranean Studies, Universiiy
ri" Aegean,
Rhodes. "f
Harald Haarmann (Finland), Institute
of
Archaeomythology, European Branch.
Starovid (Serbia), Earty Neolithic
1ig*:
Collection, National Museum,
'
C^ornelia-M agda Lazarovici (Romania), fi"fg.uA;.
Institute
of Archaeology, Iagi.
Tkachuk (Ukraine), Deparrment
Tu"-ur of
Archaeology, National preserve
Gheorghe Lazar ovici (Romania), prehistory of Monuments,
Ancient Galich', Ivano _Frankivsk.
Department,,,Eftime Murgu,, University,
Regifa.
Vytautas Tirmdnas (Lithuania),
Marco Merlini (Italy), prehistory Knowledge Lithuanian Institute
of History, Department of Ethnology,
Project; Virtual Museum of European Vlfniur.
Roors;
F-M.U. S.E.U.M project, Rome.
Mikhail Videiko (Ukraine), Institute of
Archaeology, National Academy
Joan Marler, (USA), Institute of of Sciences, Kiev.
Archaeomythology, S ebastopol.
tvt. M. Winn (USA), Department
fna.n of
Anthropology, University of S
outhern fvfirrirrlppi
Nikolov (Bulgaria), National Institute (emeritus).
JasSit
Arcnaeology with Museum, Sofia. - . r
of

Gareth Owens (Greece), ERASMUS

Instirute,
European Union Lifelong Learning
f.gru_..,
Technological Educational Institut!,
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 .'"':.:7

Was There a Script in Final Neolithic G reece?

GARETH OWENS
This study concerns the question of whether there was a "script" in use in Greece in the Final Neolithic Period,
c. 45oo-j200 BC, and ihether this may have influenced the scripts of the Bronze Age Aegean. Did the Indo-
European speakers of Bronze Age Crete inherit, adopt and adapt a script from their linguistically related neighbors
in tnL xeoftthic Balicanr, *uri as the Mycenaean Greeks would subsequ.eptly inherit, adopt and adapt a script
from their linguistically related neighbors on Minoan Crete?

-r
INTRODUCTION

I his study concerns the question of whether there

was a "script" in use in Greece during the Final Neolithic
period, c. 4500-3200 BC, and whether this may have
influenced the scripts of the Bronze Age Aegean' For
many years the earliest writing was assumed to have
originated in Uruk, in Sumeria, Mesopotamia c' 3100
BC. Evidence from Egypt has now dated writing to
c. 3400-3200 BC, while evidence from the Indus Valley
suggests a date of 3500 BC forthe developmentof writing
there.l According to E. Grumach and J. Sakellarakis
(1966), the earliest evidence for writing in Europe
comes from Minoan Crete on "Cretan Hieroglyphic"
sealstones from Archanes Fourni, c. 2000 BC'2
In the 1980s, a system of writing was noticed in
the Balkans of the Final Neolithic period. This was Figure 1z The Tdrtdria Tablets, Transylvania (after
identified as "pre-writing" by Shan Winn (1981) and Renfrew 1973: 177, fi7. 38).

1 For the latest developments in Early and Proto-Writing' see communication throughout the Bronze Age Aegean and
the Internet, the Modern Library of Alexandria, and especially beyond. It may help to see the Danube/Old European Script
the work of Dr. Dreyer of the German Archaeological in a similar framework-'scripts' and 'marks' constituting a
Institute in Egypt and the work of Dr. Meadow of Harvard system/code of communication in the European Neolithic'
University in the Indus Valley, both predating the creation See also Merlini (2008: 53-60)' His database for the Danube
of writing in Sumeria. Curioser and curioser. It is perhaps Script, DatDas, will undoubtedly start to bring light where
with an open mind that one should consider the Danube/Old there was chaos, much as the "GORILA" f,ve volume
European Script of the European Neolithic. collection (Godart and Olivier 1976-1985) did for Minoan
the Minoan Linear A and "Cretan Linear A. The Danube/Old European Script of Neolithic
2 It is of interest to note that
Southeast Europe has become "studiable."
Hieroglyphic" Script, along with the masons' marks and
potters' marks all constitute the Minoan system/code of

Gareth Owens: Was There a Script in Final Neolithic Greece? 193

 '7uIJAgE\t Emilia Masson (1984) who considered whether this
constituted a Vinda "script." They each concluded that
a the Vinda signs represented a "precursor" to writing.
In 1961, at Tdrtdria in Romania, three baked clay
tablets were found which were initially considered
F 1 by some to have similarities with inscribed artefacts
t t*fJ from Mesopotamia, but are now generally seen as

v ?
local documents.3 The Tdrtdria Tablets (Figure 1)
are now dated to the Vinda culture, c. 5300 B.C., i.e.,
A 3 within the European Neolithic period (see Lazarovici
and Merlini 2008: 39 -52).4
\ -
It therefore appears that the Tdrtdria Tablets and
I rrl * associated signs of proto-writing from the Balkans,
*--
L + dated to the Neolithic period, are up to two thousand
years before the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia,
-.i + Egypt and the Indus Valley.s Proto-writing in the
g *
t Balkans comes from places in Romania (Turdag,
Tilrtdria, Gulmenila) and Bulgaria (Grade5nica,
ti\-
ll Karanovo), along with Vinda in Yugoslavia, which
A BH\ have connections with the Neolithic farming
of Sitagroi and Nea Nikomedeia
+ l.
communities in

w
(D lr
rt r
northern Greece, as well as with Troy and Poliochni
on Lemnos.6 There are more than one thousand
widespread signs from more than one hundred sites
in the Balkans during the Transitional Copper Age.7

v
,^
$ As copper working spread south from the Balkans
to Greece, why not the idea qf a "script," too? The

v :t writing in question, however; is perhaps symbolic and

g religious, not a true "script," as such.
4 v
v
+ i+
INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE FINAL
NEOLITIIIC IN GREECE
+rf ln 1994, the "inscription" from the University of
\ H Thessaloniki's excavations at Dispilio on the shore of
Q H Kastoria Lake in Macedonia. northern Greece. was
first published.8 This was dated by the Dimokritos
Figure 2a-b: (a) Drawing of the Dispilio 'inscrip-tion' from Laboratory in Athens to c. 5260 BC according to C-14
Kastoria c. 5260 BC (from TA NEA Newspaper 1994: 3); readings. The "inscription" from Dispilio (Figure 2) was
(b) Hourmouziades (1996) draws dubious
"parallels' with subsequently republished a number of times (see, e.9.,
the Dispilio 'inscription' (A) by designating (B) as Minoan
Linear A and (f ) as Old European Inscriptions. Hourmouziades 1996, 2002), along with what seems

3 These tablets are extensively discussed by Hood (1967 : 99- 5 See Dimakopoulou (1996: l9I-7) for the Final Neolithic/
111) and Renfrew (1973a: 73-4, 106, 793-4,204, fig. 38). Chalcolithic/Transition Period and Kourtessi-Philippakis
See also Renfrew (1973a, Pl. 8) for "proto-writing" from (1996: 178-182) for developments to the North.
Bulgaria (Gradesnica and Karanovo) c. 4000 BC. It may be 6 See Renfrew et al. (1986) for a discussion of this important
of note that two of the three Tdrtlria Tablets have suspension site in Macedonia. See also Srejovii (1988) for Vinda and
holes as do many "Cretan Hieroglyphic" clay documents. related sites.
4 See also Winn (2008:126-142), who now accepts the Danube 7 See Starovie Q004) who states that the number of sites
Script as writing. with script finds has now risen to more than one hundred.

194 Signs of Civilization: Neolithic Symbol System of Southeast Europe

to be another 'inscribed' object (Figure 3). Thus, the
question was raised as to whether there may have been a
script in Final Neolithic Greece, as there appears to have
been in the neighboring contemporary Balkans and as
there later was in Bronze Age Greece and Crete.
In 1997, the Hellenic police confiscated a
"Neolithic Treasure" which was put on display at the
Athens Archaeological Museum. This "Neolithic
Treasure" consisted of 53 gold objects (it is not
known if they were found together) which could be
dated to the Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic/Transitional
Period c. 4500-3200 BC. One of these, #72,has marks
which some would consider possibly to be signs of a Figure 3z Another "inscribed" obiect from Dispilio (after
script.e The most likely provenance of these objects is Hourmouziades 2002).
considered to be Macedonia or Thessaly in northern
Greece. The same Neolithic gallery of the Athens (1995,
of the Old European/Danube script. Haarmann
Archaeological Museum, re-opened in the summer
1998) continued his discussion about the nature ofthe
of 2004, contains clay stamps from Sesklo. Their
Old Euroiean civilization and its script, and believed
existence presupposes a developed network of social
that in Minoan Crete, writing was "revived" in the late
and communal institutions. The owner of a stamp may
third millennium BC (see Haarmaan 2008: 6l:76).11
have held a position in society,and might have used the
He claimed that the Old European heritage was best
the stamp to safeguard a private or communal product'
preserved in the system of Linear A, with half of its sign
The designs of the stamp are geometric, chiefly zig-
inventory reflecting an Old European origin' In 1999, the
zag lines. Particularly interesting is a stamp on the top
present author, while discussing the earlier scholarship
of a large spool, of which the cylindrical body is also
on Balkan Neolithic Scripts, did not accept the direct
full of incisions, perhaps early signs or symbols.l0
descent theory from Balkan to Minoan Script, while
keeping open the possibility that the idea of writing
BALKAN "SCRIPTS'' AND MINOAI\
LINEAR A might have travelled from the Balkans to Greece and
Crete during the Final Neolithic period along with other
In 1992, J. T. Hooker, in discussing the Early Balkan
technology such as metalworking (see Owens 1999b).
"scripts" and the ancestry of Linear A, disagreed with
the theory put forward by Harald Haarmann (1989), who
BALKANS, GREECE AND CRETE WITHIN
had looked in detail at "Old European3'inscriptions, and
THE FRAMEWORI( OF INDO.EUROPEAN
who advocated cultural memory and diffusion as the
It may be of interest to chart scholarship over the last
explanation as to why about half of the signs of Minoan
quarter of a centuy on the subject of a Neolithic "script"
Linear A seem (according to him) to be similar to signs

8 For the Dispilio-Kastoria "inscription," see TA NEA 10 The Sesklo seals (6012,6013,6016 and 12521) arc Middle
Newspaper (1994):3. See also Hourmouziades (1996:5) Neolithic while the possible inscribed stamped spool (16600)
for the "inscription" and rather dubious "parallels" with is from Thessaly of the Late or Final Neolithic period' One
what are claimed to be Minoan Linear A and Old European sign does seem to resemble the trident sign from Linear A'
Inscriptions; as well as Mikelakis (2000:16-19) and l1 Although the present author disagrees with Haarmaan on
Hourmouziades (2002: 259-61) with references to other many points concerning the Aegean scripts, in a spirit of
"inscriptions" and inscribed ostraka. constructive criticism and international collaboration' his
9 See Dimakopoulou (1998), especially nos. 12, 16 and 53, conceptual framework however is to be welcomed in trying
for the possible "inscriPtion." to bring order to the overall Picture in Neolithic and Bronze
Age Southeast EuroPe.

195
Gareth Owens: Was There a Script in Final Neolithic Greece?
and civilization in the Balkans.r2 In 1973 there were Neolithic Culture in Greece (Papathanassopoulos
different views as to whether the users of a script in the 1996) covered subjects such as habitation,
Final Neolithic would have been Indo-European speakers. agriculture, tools, pottery, stone vessels, weaving-
Marija Gimbutas and James Mallory both saw the Balkan basketry, metallurgy, figurines and models, jewellery,
Neolithic civilization as pre- and non-Indo-European. exchanges and relations, burial customs and perhaps
Gimbutas dated the expansion of the Indo-European most importantly, in regard to writing, seals-as
Kurgan people in three waves spanning from the 4s to well as an extensive catalogue of 333 objects. This
the 3rd millennium BC, later revising this to also include work offered a panorama of Neolithic civilization in
the 5th millennia B.C. Mallory placed it at the earlier end Greece, based upon more than one thousand sites,
of this timescale while Renfrew, on the other hand, was by a new generation of scholars, and was the first
beginning to question the whole dating of prehistory. attempt at such an overview in almost a quarter of a
In 1987, Renfrew published the results of hii century since the works of D. R. Theocharis.
own reconstruction by concluding, in Archaeology Reference should also be made to the important '
and Language (1987: 288), "It seems likely that work of D. Schmandt-Besserat (1978) who
the first Indo-European languages came to Europe systematically studied thousands of clay tokens from
from Anatolia around 6000 B.C., together with the the Neolithic period and claimed to have identified an
first domesticated plants and animals, and that they administrative system that could be described as pre-
were in fact spoken by the first farmers of Europe." writing.l5 The largest collection of fourth millennium
Mallory (1989) has offered a revised version of the tokens is from Uruk which has also produced the
traditional position advocated by Gimbutas, and he first evidence of writing in Mesopotamia c. 3100
would date the Indo-European expansion in the late BC., thus supporting the link from tokens to writing
fifth millennium BC.13 The last decade and a half has and indeed justifying the term "pre-writing." For the
also seen a number of works which have contributed. "inscriptions" from Final Neolithic Greece, along
to varying degrees, to an increased understanding of with the Tdrtdria Tablets and Vinda Signs from the
Neolithic civilization. Balkans_, however, the term "proto-writing" is perhaps
ln 1996, the best introductory and comprehensive more appropriate as they may well be the first stages
work on Neolithic Greece was published by the of a script as opposed to the administratively related
Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens.la This work, but distinct token svstem.16 '

12See Gimbutas (I973:l-20), Mallory Q973:21-65), and 15 See the work of Schmandt-Besserat over a decade and a
Renfrew (L973a) for the state of play some thirty years half from "The Earliest Precursors of Writing" (1978: 50-
ago. In addition, see Renfrew (1973b: 263-76). The 59), culminating in How Writing Carne About (1992), with
ideas in Renfrew's 1973 paper were further developed in her important conclusions based upon a large data base
Archaeology and Language some 15 years later. See also of tokens. In addition, see Robinson (1995), for a well
Gimbutas 7977 for her revised position. illustrated account of writing over the last 5000 years, and
13 See Renfrew (1987), for the more controversial position, (1995:52-67) on Proto-Writing; and F. Coulmas (1989) for
and Mallory (1989) for the revised traditiondl poritiorpon the a discussion of the relation between writing and language
Indo-European problern held a decade ago. Mallory asked and (1989: 1-54) for "Theoretical Perspectives on Pre- and
(1989:180) "ifthe Indo-Europeans were in Cret6'Sinbe 6000 Proto-Writing." See R. Rudgley (1998), in which he uses
B.C., why can't we read LinearA?" See Owens (1996a:163- archaeology and anthropology to argue that the Stone Age
206, Pls. XVI-XXD for the present author's opinion civilization was much more advanced than is commonly
that it is possible to both "read" and more importantly to credited. This work is interesting but takes the argument
"understand" Linear A. further than the evidence allows.
14 Thetitle of the exhibition and book was translated from 16 Whether these scripts will ever be deciphered is quite
Greek as "Neolithic Culture," whereas POLITISMOS another matter. See Pope (1999); Robinson (1995; 68-
could have been better translated as "civilization." The 155) for sections on Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphs,
exhibition was in Athens, February 1996 to May 1997, and Linear B, Mayan Glyphs and Undeciphered Scripts; and
the catalogue was published in 1996. This work offers a Coulmas (1989:. 205-24) for discussions on achieving a
framework in which Greece can be placed and understood decipherment.
by pre-historians. historians (see Theocharis 197 3 I l98l).

t96 Signs of Civilization: Neolithic Symbol System of Southeast Europe

 In the latter half of the 1990's at the end of the Was there a "script" in Final Neolithic Greece and, if
twentieth century AD, the question of whether the so, did this t'script" influence Minoan Crete? Did the
Neolithic ancestors of the Minoans were likely to Indo-European speakers of Bronze Age Crete inherit,
have been speaking an Indo-European language has adopt and adapt a script from their linguistically
recently been discussed by Owens (1996a, 1997, related neighbors in the Neolithic Balkans, much as
1999 a & b, 2000) and Renfrew (1998).1? The latter the Mycenaean Greeks would subsequently adopt and
in discussing the present author's position, wrote: adapt a script from their linguistically related Minoan
The suggestion that Minoan should be regarded neighbours on Crete?
as an Indo-European language has indeed been put
forward by a number of scholars, more recently Owens ACKNOIYLEDGEMENT
(1996a: 194). He accepts.the likelihood that the Minoan The aulhor expresses gratitude to Kalliope Nikolidaki
language of the Late Bronze Age was the descendent (Crete), Gillian Trench (Oxford) and Simon Bennett
of the Proto-Minoan spoken by the first, Neolithic (London) for many stimulating discussions over the
inhabitants of Crete, brought by them from western years and for information on world developments in
Anatolia. His position is thus to be distinguished from the history of writing. I also thank colleagues in the
that of scholars such as Palmer (1958, 1965) who relate Archaeology Department of Belgrade University,
the Minoan language to the Luwian of the later Bronze Serbia, for their hospitality in May 2003, and I
Age of western Anatolia, the presence of which in thank.the organizers of the "Signs of Civilization
Crete would be the product of more recent population Symposium' May 2004 in Novi Sad which,
movements (Renfrew 1998: 259). unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to my
The present author ended his paper on "Evidence having to do military service in the Hellenic Army as
forthe MinoanLanguagd' (Owens 1996a)$fsuggesting a Hoplite upon being awarded Hellenic Citizenship.
that a Proto-Indo-European-Pelasgian-Anatolian I also most warmly thank Joan Marler and Miriam
language was spoken in the Neolithic Aegean, i.e., Robbins Dexter of the Institute of Archaeomythology
Neolithic Anatolia, Crete, Hellas and Thrace.r8 for their kind understanding, exceptional patience
and international spirit of collaboration, between
CONCLUSION the New and Old Worlds, of which Marija Gimbutas
One may perhaps conclude, in a cyclical rather than in would have been most oroud.
a linear manner, by re-stating the question in the title.

17 See C. Renfrew, "Word of Minos: The Minoan Contribution criticism of Yves Duhoux's paper on the Minoan language(s)
to Mycenaean Greek and the Linguistic Geography of (1998, 1-40).
the Aegean Bronze Age," Mycenaean Seminar given in 18 Of course there are still many unresolved issues in [ndo-
London (5-ll-97). A summary was published in 1998 in European studies and many of them are discussed in two texts
the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 42: 225. See edited by J. P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams: Encyclopedia of Indo-
Renfrew (1998:.239-64) for a revised version of this paper. European Culture (7997) andthe Oxford Introduction to Proto-
See Owens (1997: LO3-40) and (1999a:15-55) as well as rlndo-European and the Proto-Indo-European WorM (2006).
(2000:237-54) for productive comments on and constructive

Gareth Owens: Was There a Script in Final Neolithic Greece? r97

 StcNs oF CrvrLrzArIoN
Neolithic Symbol System of Southeast EuroPe
+

On May 25-29,2004, researchers in various disciplines from

Eastern and Western Europe and North America met in Novi
Sad-in the heanland of the Neolithic Vinda culture-to
take part in the international symposium, "Signs
=, of Civilization," sponsored by the Institute of
Archaeomythology and the Serbian Academy
of Sciences and Arts, Novi Sad Branch.
The symposium was motivated bY two
questions: What is the general state of
interest and accumulated knowledge '
among archaeologists and other *e
investigators concerning the
signs and symbols of Neolithic :

Europe? And what is the prevailing

attitude among specialists concerning
the conffoversial idea that an early form
of writing developed in Southeast Europe
during the 66 and 5ft millennia BC?

This volume contains the collected papers

from the Novi Sad symposium which represent a wide
spectrum of approaches to the study of Neolithic systems of visual
communication. The symposium was a testament to the necessity
of international collaboration which encourages respecfful
discourse between colleagues who hold a variety of different
perspectives. The subject of the signs and symbols of Neolithic
Europe-and specifically the emergence of early writing-is
a potent subject for future elaborations which will continue to
benefit from international, interdisciplinary cooperation
between researchers in a broad range offields'

Serbian Academl of Sciences and Arts, Novi Sad Branch

Institute of ArchaeomYthologY

rsBN 0-9815249-1-5