IV - DEVELOPMENT OF PALEOGRAPHY IN THE BALKANS

IV - DEVELOPMENT OF PALEOGRAPHY IN THE BALKANS

Besides archeology and language, a source of information, writing is a central puzzle for researchers of prehistory. We established the existence of a Paleo Balkan Glossology through the examination of geographical names in Pannonia and the Central Balkans. We will now focus our search for a written script. To do that we will examine research materials accumulated by other researchers and present our own findings.

In our search for a script we came across some Lipinski Vir (Срејовиќ, Д., Бабовиќ, Љ.: Уметност Лепенског Вира, стр. 30, Младинска књига, 1983) research which suggests that “between the artistic achievements of the Gierdap and Sredno Poduvanie from the XI century BC, the graphisms, as original writing, represent an important part in the development of symbolism associated with the Danube water system. The engravings on horns and bones are an indication that an artistic language existed and was used in the development of the then cultural centres in Central and Western Europe, around 25,000 BC. The graphisms are geometric decorations composed of full lines, separated in the form of monograms, triograms and polygrams.”

Researchers and authors of these cultures have also suggested that the lines are laid out vertically, horizontally, or sideways. In addition, there are zigzag motifs, stripes, steps, rhombuses, triangles and other winding or non-geometric forms. Twelve basic signs in total have been identified with around forty variants.

So the question is, “were these Gierdap Culture graphisms created by the Gierdap inhabitants themselves and what are they telling us?”

Professor Miloie Vasich (Милоје Васиќ, Археологија и лингвистика, Белград, 1983), founder of Serbian archeological research, in 1908, when he came in contact with certain Vincha Culture objects that had inscriptions carved on them, said they were letters.

In her studies of Neolithic Old Europe, on several occasions, archaeologist Maria Gimbutas has mentioned the existence of an established linear alphabet in places of worship and other buildings in the Central and Eastern Balkans similar to those of the Vincha Culture.

According to radio-carbon testing, done on the Vincha layer located in Azanbegovo, Macedonia, it was calculated that the layer dated to around

5300-5200 BC. This explicitly proves that the linear marks, commonly found in figurines and other items, confirm that the linear alphabet first appeared at the end of the sixth and during the fifth millennium BC.

(Gimbutas, Maria, Proto-Indo-European Culture: The Kurgan culture during the fifth, fourth and third millennia B.C., Indo-European and Indo-Europeans, 157-97, Philadelphia, 1970; The Neolithic cultures of the Balkan Peninsula, Aspects of the Balkans, 9-49, 1972; Old Europe c. 7000-3500 B.C.: The earliest European civilization before the infiltration of the Indo-European peoples, Journal of Indo-European Studies, 1, No. 1-21; The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe 6500-3500 B.C. Myth and Cult Images, University of California Press, 1982.)

In his many fruitful linguistic studies, Professor Radivoie Peshich from Belgrade (Радивоје Пешиќ, Sillabario etruscum, Arezzo, 1980, L Origine della scritura Erusca, Milano, 1985, Винчанско писмо, Београд, 1995, итд...) first turned his attention to the Balkans as the central source of Paleo-Graphisms discovered in Paleolithic archaeological finds at the Iovanitsa Locality on Mount Rudnik located near Gorni Milanovats, dating between 16000-7000 BC. He later turned his attention to the graphisms found in Vincha and determined them to be linear writing written with letters.

By using these letters, Peshich was able to decipher the puzzle and change the attitude of previous researchers who believed that the signs found on cups in archaeological excavations in the Danube area, especially in Vincha, were simple graphics used as decorations. He was able to show that in fact these graphics belonged to a phonetic alphabet. He was also able to establish that the forms and number of letters in the Etruscan alphabet entirely coincided with the letters in the Vincha script and that the Vincha script existed even before the Proto-Sumerian script, and that it originated sometime before the second half of the fourth millennium BC.

In 1985 Peshich conducted a comparative analysis between the Vincha script and the Etruscan and Latin alphabets and all other known archaic scripts. At the end he concluded that the Vincha script consisted of 26 basic characters, plus seven variants. In fact, Paleo-scripts also existed in other archaeological sites across the Balkans, confirmed by the findings of many researchers. For example, Professor Hourmouziades (Hourmouziades, H.G.: Dispilio (Kastoria), Codex, Thessaloniki, 1996) of Solun in Greek occupied Macedonia, as a result of his archaeological investigations at the Dupiak (Dispislion) site at Lake Kostur (Kastoria) in Greek occupied Macedonia has determined that the Dupiak site was a Neolithic settlement, the only one in Greece. A board with linear letters written on it, that had not been deciphered until recently, was found beside this Neolithic settlement. With help from C14 carbon dating, it was discovered that the board dated back to 5260 BC. These findings are kept in the Archaeological Museum in Kostur.

The script on the Dupiak board was recently deciphered by Professor Vasil Iliov (Иљов, Најстари пишани споменици, Македонија 2. Рев, 2000, Скопје) which, according to modern Macedonian, says: “Dupiak kolishte” Professor Iliov has also mentioned the discovery of an epitaph found at the Dolno Dupeni site in Greek occupied Macedonia, which contains a phonetic syllabic alphabet that dates back to between 5000-4500 BC.

Proto-scripts have also been found in other localities in Macedonia, such as Tseria near Skopje, Zelenikovo, Madzhari, Govrlebo, Porodin, Golema Tumba in Bitola, Azenbegovo and Vrshinik in Shtip… (Билбија, М., Церје, неолитско насеље, АП, 26/1985, Љубљана, 1986, 35-36, Радивоје Пешиќ, Оптужујем ћутање, Пешиħ и синови, Београд, 1996.)

Information presented so far in this study fully confirms Peshich’s thesis of the prehistoric Vincha Culture and the Vincha writing being spatially spread from Vincha outwards. The prehistoric Balkans were the centre of a civilization and culture that spread outwards. Also it was found that Linear A appeared in Crete around 1700-1450 BC, while Linear B appeared in Crete, Mycenae and Pilos between 1450-1200 BC. The Phoenician alphabet appeared in the Aegean around 1200 BC, in Attica and Corinth around 700-600 BC and in Rome about 500 BC.

More testimony regarding the Central Balkan origin of the alphabet is given by Graves (Graves, R., The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1972) who said it came from Eritrea (Ada Kale) in Danube and that Norak, nephew of king Gerion, took it from the “Alphabet Tree” and gave it to the Greeks, Spaniards and Egyptians.

In the chapter entitled “Писмото од Церје” (Writing from Tserie) in Peshich’s book “Оптужујем ћутање” (Радивоје Пешиќ, Оптужујем ћутање, Пешиќ и синови, Београд, 1996), published after his death, there was a reference about the Tserie archaeological site located near Skopje (Macedonia), in which traces of an early Neolithic settlement were found and were determined to be from around 6000 BC. Life in this site existed in six phases up to the Iron Age, with traces of temples and spirituality. Found here were also signs of linear writing as well as certain ideogram fonts with elements of development leading up to the Bronze Age. This leads us to believe that the writing here was developed locally and rejects the idea that it was imported from somewhere else. The writing style on one of the figurines, says the author, is a stylized dove with embossed spirals whose origin belongs to the family of the ten pictographs symbolizing fertility. The bird, as its idol, symbolizes the universal spirit “Magna Mater”. Graphic and phonetic analysis of the text has resulted in its decipherment which is interpreted as saying: “respectable mother” or “mother-goddess worthy of respect”.

Another significant archaeological find with writing on it is a bronze seal, dating back to about 1500 BC. The writing is located on the underside and when pressed against paper or soft wood the writing appears in its correct context and can be interpreted as: “Faith-is- the-core-of –light”.

In his conclusion, Peshich said that the “Magna Mater” from Tserie in Macedonia is original in its rich artistic expression and in its written content. It is the best expression of a philosophical conception of life and the world and manifests the laws upon which life is based. Its cosmogony and cosmo-theistic aspects are a manifestation of a higher degree of understanding the world.

There are many archaeological sites with rich prehistoric findings in the central Balkans, stretching from north of the Danube River system down to Mount Olympus. These prehistoric sites contain early paleo-graphisms with phonetic-synthetic letters that date back to about 7000 BC, with continuous periods of development lasting for thousands of years before other writing took their place. This space is therefore a centre of origin for much of the development of writing and is an important field of scientific research.

In the next stage of our research we will outline the prehistoric reconstruction of individual Balkan and Aegean regions from north to south.