Over the last few decades, archaeologists and cultural scientists have come to a better understanding of the extent of Neolithic civilisation on the Balkan peninsula. This Danube Civilisation, thriving between the 6th and 4th millennia BCE, was using a writing system long before the Mesopotamians and is remarkable for its accomplishments in craftsmanship, art and urban development. In this book, Harald Haarmann provides the first comprehensive insight into this enigmatic Old European culture, which is still largely unknown to the greater public. He describes the trade routes, settlements, mythology and writing system of this people, traces the changes resulting from the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, and shows how this first advanced civilisation in Europe influenced its successors.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Contents
The puzzle of a 7, 000 year-old civilisation
1. The transition to the Neolithic in Europe (ca. 7500–5500 BCE)
Early farmers in Southeast Europe
The emergence of regional cultures
Cultural timeline of Old Europe
2. In search of the Old Europeans
The genetic footprint
Linguistic traces
3. Commerce and living space
Trade routes and commodities
Settlements and architecture
Religious sites and graves
4. Arts and crafts
Weaving and textiles
Pottery and firing techniques
Metallurgy
Art forms and cultural symbols
5. Model of an egalitarian society
Matriarchal or matrilineal?
Families and clans
Oecumene and trade
6. Religion and mythology
The world view of hunter-gatherers and farmers
Female deities in Old Europe
The bull – Animal symbols as attributes of the goddess
Cults and rituals
Music and dance
7. Counting, measuring, recording
Numerical signs and numerology
Calendrical notation
Weights and measures
Potter’s or ownership marks
8. The invention of writing
Origin and development of the Danube script
The spread of writing in Old Europe
Writing materials, inscriptions and varieties of text
The repertory of Old European signs
Written legacy of the Danube Civilisation
A script in the service of religion
The demise of the use of writing
9. The decline and legacy of the Danube Civilisation (from around 4500 BCE)
Political and cultural upheavals
The Balkan-Ancient Aegean cultural drift
Minoan-Cypriot contacts: How Aegean script was exported
Epilogue
Bibliography
Key to inside cover map
Sobre o autor
Harald Haarmann (* 1946) is one of the world’s best-known linguists; Ph D in Bonn, Habilitation (post-doctoral qualification) in Trier. He has been Vice-President of the Institute of Archaeomythology (director of its European office in Finland) since 2003; author of more than 70 books in German and English, some of which have been translated into over a dozen languages. In addition to his study of the Danube Civilisation, he has produced remarkable insights into the roots of ancient Greek civilisation and the early history of Rome. His work has earned him the Prix logos (Paris, 1999), the Premio Jean Monnet (Genova, 1999) for essay writing, and the Plato Award (UK, 2006).
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