For thousands of years,
the legend of a great flood has endured in the biblical story of Noah and such
Middle Eastern myths as the epic of Gilgamesh. Few scientists believed that
such a catastrophic deluge had actually occurred. But these Bible “stories” for
some scientific people appeared to have a real sense . Considering that
religion and science have to work together, two distinguished geophysicists
have discovered an event that changed history; a sensational flood 8,600 years
ago in what is today the Black Sea.
Not only in the Bible
have we found stories about the flood, but also in ancient clay tablets
excavated from the ruins of biblical Nineveh more than a hundred years ago. These tablets revealed a much older
version of the same flood legend. Archeologists searched the length and breath
of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in
Mesopotamia for evidence of such a flood, to no avail. Then, as earth scientists
made new discoveries about the history
of rapid climate change, they learned that the Mediterranean Sea had
once been a desert and 5,000,000 years ago the Atlantic Ocean burst through the
Strait of Gibraltar and refilled the Mediterranean basin. William Ryan and
Walter Pitman posed the scientific question “
Could some more recent , similar
catastrophe have been the source of Noah’s Flood ?”
The end of the Cold
War enabled Ryan and Pitman to team up with oceanographers from Bulgaria and
Russia, as well as Turkey , to explore
the Black Sea . Using sound waves and coring devices to probe the sea floor,
they discover clear evidence that this inland body of water had once been a
vast freshwater lake lying hundreds of feet below the level of the world’s
rising oceans.
In 12,500 B.C., the earth’s
temperature increased and the Eurasian ice sheet started to melt. The level of
sea and oceans increased by 150 meters.
The England peninsula become an island.
The Atlantic Ocean
water burst again through the Strait of Gibraltar and refilled the Mediterranean
basin. Increases of the Mediterranean Sea level to 150 m. had a disastrous
consequence. Huge pieces of land being flooded, sank. One example being
the piece of land that was linking the Balkan peninsula with Turkey which disappeared giving birth to a new sea, the Thracian
Sea, later known as the Aegean sea and a lot of new islands . Strange cultures
and very advanced civilizations were left in these islands. Some of these
islands were actually the mountain tips of all that remained unsubmerged which proved
that this piece of land was an important corridor of civilization that linked
Europe and Asia. Suddenly the legend of lost Atlantica started to become more
realistic.
Sophisticated dating
techniques, sometimes using both the carbon 14 and a new method of Thermal
Ionization Mass Spectrometry ( TIMS) confirmed that 8,600 years ago the
mounting seas had burst through the narrow Bosporus valley , and the salt water
of Mediterranean had poured into the lake with unimaginable force, racing over
beaches and up rivers , destroying or
chasing all life before it. The margins of the lake , which has been a unique
oasis, a Garden of Eden for an advanced culture in a vast region of semi-desert
, became a sea of death.
Biblical Noah’s Flood
is solidly grounded in contemporary science. It is an astonishing religious
story that sheds new light on our roots
and gives fresh meaning to ancient myths.
If there was ever a time
when our kind did not think, then it was also a time when we did not speak.
Thus, it was also a time when we did not write, either. How long ago that must
have been, we can only guess: but it was so long ago that, by definition, we
would no longer be referring to what we consider ourselves to be. It is
possible to think without words, and on the same token it is not possible to
speak without language. But what makes us what we are today is witting.
Neither speaking nor
thinking or writing arose fully formed. The development of both was an ongoing,
incremental task which has yet to find a final point of development. New
thoughts, and new words, continue to be produced; and as far as we can tell,
the productive expression of human thought will not achieve an end state for as
long as people exist. From what we can see, the future of thought and of speech
stretches far further ahead of us than it does behind.
At a first glance, this
seems to be particularly true of the specific form of linguistic expression
that we call writing. The earliest examples of a written form date back about
7,500 years, to around 5,500 B.C. relating to what today is known as Tartaria
tablets.
We can reasonably assume that thinking and speaking go back much farther than
that; but such activities leave no permanent trace and so, we conclude that
most of what we humans might have thought and said for most of our collective
history has been lost to us in the irretrievable depths of time beyond memory
until the witting appeared.
Our oldest written texts are
among our most treasured artifacts and unlike other remnants of our past; they
are still being use today much as they were when they were first created.
Indeed, such ancient texts are more widely read now than they were when first
penned.
Of course, the technological
advances that we might expect of 2,500 A.D. are far and away beyond anything we
can imagine; but then, the technological advances of 2001 A.D. are far beyond
what could have been conceived of in 5,500 B.C.
Would the written records of life in 2004 A.D. be of interest to people in …5,500
A.D.? Quite probably, they would be considered to be utterly fascinating.
Does it make any sense then
for us in 2004 A.D. to ignore written records that date from 7,500 years ago,
if we could still find and read such recorded experience?
Whatever form of written
communication in the year 5,500, it will in all probably be very different than
the phonetic forms of writing we use today.
It is not surprising then,
that the form of writing used 7,500 years ago was very different than phonetic
script. When writing began, it started as a form of communication which was
essentially different than speech. Today, we write down the words which we
speak, but 7,500 years ago, people wrote down their ideas as expressed in terms
of their perceptions. This approach to writing has numerous advantages over
phonetically-based writing systems: for one, since our senses are innate, such
a form of writing can be understood by anyone without them having to learn any
specific form of spoken language or phonetically-based writing.
Writing provides a
way of extending human memory by imprinting into media-less fickle than the
human brain. However, many early philosophers, such as Plato, have branded
writing as a detriment to the human intellect. They argued that it makes the
brain lazy and decreases the capacity of memory. It is true that many
non-writing cultures often pass long poems and prose from generation to
generation without any change, and writing cultures can't seem to do that. But
writing was a very useful invention for complex and high-population cultures.
Writing was used for record keeping to correctly count agricultural products,
for keeping the calendar to plant crops at the correct time. Writing was also
used for religious purpose (divination and communicating with the supernatural
world) and socio-political functions (reinforcing the kingship).
However, writing
isn't an absolute requirement of urban culture. In the past centuries,
scientists had used writing as one of the "signs" of civilization,
which is an incorrect assumption. The Incas and earlier Andean civilizations
never developed a writing system. They, in turn, came up with interesting
solutions: they used the quipu (a series of ropes with knots indicating
amounts) for record keeping, and complex tapestries as calendars. The Mississippians
who built
In ancient
In
Among the Maya, the supreme deity Itzamna was a shaman and sorcerer as
well as the creator of the world. (In fact, the root of his name,
"itz", can be roughly translated as "magical substance, usually
secreted by some object that sustains the gods"). Itzamna was also
responsible for the creation of writing and time-keeping. Strangely enough,
though, Itzamna isn't a scribal god. This duty falls on usually a pair of
monkey gods as depicted on many Maya pots and is also preserved in the highland
Maya epic "Popol Vuh". Still, in one rare case, the scribe is a rabbit.
In
Whether as a
medium to communicate with the gods, or as a magical or supernatural power,
writing clearly possessed a divine nature in these ancient cultures. Hence,
writing became not only a way to extend memory but also a tool for the elite to
justify their rule upon the common, illiterate people.
The Vinca civilization
in Europe was one of the earliest urban societies to emerge in the world, in
It is actually
possible to trace the long road of invention of the Vinca writing system
starting with the mysterious Tartaria tablets from
What explanation can be
given to the fact that three clay tablets
containing Sumerian pictographic writing, made with local clay , but at least 2,500
years older than the oldest tablets found in Mesopotamia , are found in a
region where the surrounding cities have Sumerian names , URASTIE , SIMERIA ,
KUGIR ? Is it impossible that Sumerian groups have migrated as far north as the
western present-day
Today the Tartaria tablets are included in the "Vinca" culture. Being
familiar not only with Maria Gimbutas’s remarkable work and Milton McChesney
Winn 1973
It is impossible other wise to explain the similarities especially the fact
that they contain pictograms absolutely identical with those found in
Djemet-Nasr ,and to be dated 2,500 years before the Summer to exist ! Today the
problem that the inclusion of just these three tablets in the "Vinca"
culture seems unrealistic. Others tablets and a lot of artifacts have been
found as part of it, belonging indeed to
a proto-European culture, Danubian culture, that is more widespread than it is
ascertained today .
The inscribed artifacts
were used both by the common people in domestic rites and by a powerful
priestly elite during magical and Religious ceremonies. According to some
authors, when celebrating burial rites; e.g. the inscribed Tartaria tablets
accompanied the charred bones of an individual in a grave.
“The
reorganization of religion and the invention of a script, see Tartaria tablets
were basic elements of the long period of transition
Experienced by the
populations of south-east
These include not only the
Tartaria but also Turdas tablets from Transylvania (studied by N. Vlassa and
others), the artifacts of the Vinca cultural area in Serbia (studied, notably,
by Shan Winn), and isolated objects from Bulgaria such as the Gradesnica plaque
and the much-discussed (and variously interpreted) Karanovo Seal.
Had south-west neolithic Europe developed its
own script 2,500 years before the Sumerians and Egyptians?
A mother on a throne holding a child in her
arms was found in a small village called, Rast, in western Romania which belonged
to the Vinca culture. Both figures are covered with strange geometrical and
abstract motifs that suggest , accordenly to marija Gimbutas, writing. This is
astonishing, because this "Madonna" is over 7000 years old
In Romania on Ocna Sibiului territory, at
"Triguri" - a high terrace of Visa brook, situated near the old salt
mines (the present lakes) - has identified one of the largest Neolithic (since
1977). Within the settlement, there were findings of six successive habitation
levels, marked by pit houses and surface dwellings. In this context, was
discovered a new "cult assemblage", unique until the present day in
this part of the ancient world. It contained a
statuette and a pedestal bear with certain incised-engraved signs, which,
according to their shape and elaborated disposal, seem to represent symbols and
ideograms made in a linear manner. The only known analogy is represented by a
statuette chiseled in lune spar which was discovered a while ago in the
sanctuary no. 21 from the VIIth layer of the Çatal Hüyük settlement, Anatolia
(J. Mellaart 1963, fig. 18). According to the C14 method, the layer , in
Romania , has been dated between 6200-6500 B.C. (Antonova 1977, p. 21).
Also in
These symbols have
been found on many of the artifacts excavated from sites in south-east Europe, in
particular from thevVinča culture, in Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, eastern
Hungary, Moldova, southern Ukraine and the former Yugoslavia. The artefacts
date from between the 7th and 4th millennia BC and those decorated with these
symbols are between 8,000 and 6,500 years old.
Many scholars today
consider that the Vinča symbols represent the earliest form of writing
ever found, predating ancient Egyptian and Sumerian writing by thousands of
years. Since the inscriptions are all short and appear on objects found in
burial sites, the language represented is not known and it is highly unlikely
they will ever be deciphered.
Signs
are incised on pottery, spindle whorls, figurines and other clay artifacts. The
signs are not components of ornamental motifs, although a few examples are
abstractions from decorative prototypes.
A sign may occur as a single, isolated sign on an otherwise unmarked area, or
as a component of a sign group.
This study includes correlations of sign usage according to context - pottery,
figurines, spindle whorls, miniature vessels, "tablets" and artifacts
of undefined use.
Signs
found in isolation frequently appear on pottery and occasionally on figurines,
but rarely on spindle whorls.
Signs on pottery were analyzed according to their location on the vessel: (a)
rim/upper body; (b) side near base; and (c) base.
Certain signs, including
are inscribed anywhere on the vessel; they are also found in sign groups and,
indeed, later appear as script signs in the
At Turdos, pictographs, or abstractions from them, are common; they are
occasionally placed on the base, perhaps as information or to facilitate sign
recognition on vessels that were inverted when stored.
A few signs seem to be restricted to the lower side of vessels, where they are
not readily visible unless one intentionally observes the basal angle of the
vessel. At certain sites, such as Medvednjak and Banjica, many of these are
unique signs and may identify the owner or producer:
Signs suggesting the utilization of a numbering system appear on the base or on
the lower side adjacent to the base:
Many of the Turdos signs restricted to the base are distinctive; such signs
frequently are thought to denote identification of contents,
provenience/destination or manufacturer/owner.
However, basal signs are frequently zoomorphic representations,
Comb or brush patterns
And symbols.
A specialized category confined to the base is a type of filled cross
which is generally divided into
symmetrically arranged quadrants. A similar arrangement is often found on stamp
seals or artifacts considered to have cultic usages.
Certain signs are randomly placed on pottery but are excluded from the base.
Most of these
appear commonly on figurines and may refer to a different sign subset dependent
on other contexts.
Particularly common representations on figurines are triple chevrons, 6 chevrons
or 6 parallel lines; such arrangements probably reflect an ideological feature
of the Vinča cultural template. Distinctive figurine signs
found at several sites perhaps may signify specific concepts, personal
identifications, or even an attempt to acquire magic-religious powers during
rituals associated with specific figurine usage.
Similar signs are also found on spindle whorls and are sometimes randomly placed
on pottery.
In short, the distribution of single signs contradicts the notion that the
Vinča signs are merely owner's or maker's marks
But why should the
proto-European farmers have started writing things down? Around 10,000-9000
years ago, some tribes of hunters and gatherers from the west coast of the what
is so call today Black Sea , that time a vast freshwater lake, began to use new
techniques, and started to produce animal and human figures, pottery, copper
and other metal artefacts. They also built palaces, temples and ships and
creating weaving techniques. A sensational
flood 7,600 years ago in what is today the Black Sea a catastrofic event,
changed their history and the history of humanity. The so call black sea peolpe
fled , dispersing their language, genes, memory and their writting, not only
West and North-West of Europe, but also to Asia and South-East into the Levant,
Egypt and Mesopotamia ( see W.Ryan & W.Pitman, Noah’s flood, p.189-194,
Touchstone, New York,1998).
1.One group of
farmers called “Linear-band-Keramic”,(LBK), a name derived from their
distinctive style of pottery, appeared in Europe within a century an a half
after the flood, in mid sixth millennium B.C., rapidly occupying an arc from
the Dniester River across northern Europe as far as the Paris basin, displacing
the indigenous hunter-gatherers. To a number of experts the spread of the LBK
culture along this arc reflects colonization by farming population in such a
brief period of time that its beginning and end are at present irresolvable by
the radiocarbon dating methods. They brought with them their longhouse building
style, never before seen in Europe; these huge timber-frame houses, up to 150
feet in length, were organized into villages founded exclusively on the fertile
soil blown across
2. Simultaneously
with the appearance of the LBK, the Vinca emerged abruptly on the plains of
what is knowing today as
3. The Danilo-Havar
(DH) people settled along the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia in several of the
fertile valleys that cut through the mountains to the sea, strategically
located at the seaward end of the
4. People called
Hamangians also seemed to emerge out of nowhere to settle in the region of south-east
costal
5. The proto Indo-
Europeans
6. The Ubaids
people/civilization
7. Pre-semitic vs. Semitic
people
8. Pre dynastic
Egyptians
All of the above could be
groups of fresh water
The people fled, never
to return.
Today scientific
people explore the exiting archeological , genetic, and linguistic evidence
suggesting that the flood rapidly created a human diaspora that spread as far as Western Europe , Center Asia,
China, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf. They suggested that the Black Sea People
could well have been the mysterious proto-Sumerians who developed the first
great civilization in Mesopotamia.
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