Old Europe (archaeology)

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Old Europe
Geographical range Southeast Europe and adjoining areas of Central Europe and Eastern Europe
Period Neolithic, Copper Age, Prehistoric Europe
Datesc. 6000—3500 BC
Preceded by Mesolithic Europe
Followed by Bronze Age Europe

Old Europe is a term coined by the Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas to describe what she perceived as a relatively homogeneous pre-Indo-European Neolithic and Copper Age culture or civilisation in Southeast Europe, centred in the Lower Danube Valley. [1] [2] [3] Old Europe is also referred to in some literature as the Danube civilisation. [4]

Contents

The term 'Danubian culture' was earlier coined by the archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe to describe early farming cultures (e.g. the Linear Pottery culture) which spread westwards and northwards from the Danube Valley into Central and Eastern Europe.

Old Europe

Miniature cult scene, Karanovo culture, 5th millennium BC Ovcharovo tell, miniature culture scene, Bulgaria, 6th millennium BC.jpg
Miniature cult scene, Karanovo culture, 5th millennium BC

In 4500 bc, before the first cities were built in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Old Europe was among the most sophisticated and technologically advanced places in the world ... At its peak, about 5000–3500 bc, Old Europe was developing many of the political, technological, and ideological signs of "civilization". Some Old European villages grew to citylike sizes, larger than the earliest cities of Mesopotamia ... Old European metalsmiths were, in their day, among the most advanced metal artisans in the world, and certainly the most active. The metal artifacts recovered by archaeologists from Old Europe total about 4,700 kilograms (more than five tons) of copper, and over 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds) of gold, more metal by far than has been found in any other part of the ancient world dated before 3500 bc. The demand for copper, gold, Aegean shells, and other valuables created networks of negotiation that reached hundreds of kilometers. Pottery, figurines, and even houses were decorated with striking designs. Female "goddess" figurines, found in almost every settlement, have triggered intense debates about the ritual and political power of women. Signs inscribed on clay suggest a system of primitive notation, if not writing.

— Anthony (2010) [5]

Neolithic Europe refers to the time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe, roughly from 7000 BCE (the approximate time of the first farming societies in Greece) to c. 2000 BCE (the beginning of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia).

Hamangia culture pottery Durankulak-Golemija ostrov-Hamangia IV vessels.jpg
Hamangia culture pottery

Regardless of specific chronology, many European Neolithic groups share basic characteristics, such as living in small-scale communities, being more egalitarian[ disputed – discuss ] than the city-states and chiefdoms of the Bronze Age, subsisting on domestic plants and animals supplemented with the collection of wild plant foods and hunting, and producing hand-made pottery, without the aid of the potter's wheel. There are also many differences, with some Neolithic communities in southeastern Europe living in heavily fortified settlements of 3,000–4,000 people (e.g. Sesklo in Greece) whereas Neolithic groups in Britain were usually small (possibly 50–100 people). [6]

Cucuteni-Trypillia figurine, Romania, 4050-3900 BC Goddess figurine with Tattoos.jpg
Cucuteni-Trypillia figurine, Romania, 4050–3900 BC

Marija Gimbutas studied the Neolithic period in order to understand cultural developments in settled village culture in the southern Balkans, which she characterized as peaceful, matristic, and possessing a goddess-centered religion. [7] In contrast, she characterizes the later Indo-European influences as warlike, nomadic, and patrilineal. [7] Using evidence from pottery and sculpture, and combining the tools of archaeology, comparative mythology, linguistics, and, most controversially, folkloristics, Gimbutas invented a new interdisciplinary field, archaeomythology.

Gold, copper, ceramic and stone artefacts, Varna culture, Bulgaria, c. 4500 BC Grave offerings.jpg
Gold, copper, ceramic and stone artefacts, Varna culture, Bulgaria, c. 4500 BC

In historical times, some ethnonyms are believed to correspond to Pre-Indo-European peoples, assumed to be the descendants of the earlier Old European cultures: the Pelasgians, Minoans, Leleges, Iberians, Nuragic people, Etruscans, Rhaetians, Camunni and Basques. Two of the three pre-Greek peoples of Sicily, the Sicans and the Elymians, may also have been pre-Indo-European.

How many Pre-Indo-European languages existed is not known. Nor is it known whether the ancient names of peoples descended from the pre-ancient population actually referred to speakers of distinct languages. Gimbutas (1989), observing a unity of symbols marked especially on pots, but also on other objects, concluded that there may have been a single language spoken in Old Europe. She thought that decipherment would have to wait for the discovery of bilingual texts.

Reconstruction of an elite grave, Varna culture, c. 4500 BC 20140611 Varna 08.jpg
Reconstruction of an elite grave, Varna culture, c. 4500 BC

The idea of a Pre-Indo-European language in the region precedes Gimbutas. It went by other names, such as "Pelasgian", "Mediterranean", or "Aegean". Apart from marks on artifacts, the main evidence concerning Pre-Indo-European language is in names: toponyms, ethnonyms, etc., and in roots in other languages believed to be derived from one or more prior languages, possibly unrelated. Reconstruction from the evidence is an accepted, though somewhat speculative, field of study. Suggestions of possible Old European languages include Urbian by Sorin Paliga, [8] and the Vasconic substratum hypothesis of Theo Vennemann (also see Sigmund Feist's Germanic substrate hypothesis).

Indo-European origins

Maidanetske, Ukraine, c. 3700 BC. Cucuteni-Trypillia culture. Maidanetske 3D model.jpg
Maidanetske, Ukraine, c. 3700 BC. Cucuteni-Trypillia culture.

According to Gimbutas' version of the Kurgan hypothesis, Old Europe was invaded and destroyed by horse-riding pastoral nomads from the Pontic–Caspian steppe (the "Kurgan culture") who brought with them violence, patriarchy, and Indo-European languages. [10] More recent proponents of the Kurgan hypothesis agree that the cultures of Old Europe spoke pre-Indo-European languages but include a less dramatic transition, with a prolonged migration of Proto-Indo-European speakers after Old Europe's collapse due to other factors. [11] [12]

Colin Renfrew's competing Anatolian hypothesis suggests that the Indo-European languages were spread across Europe by the first farmers from Anatolia. In the hypothesis' original formulation, the languages of Old Europe belonged to the Indo-European family but played no special role in its transmission. [13] According to Renfrew's most recent revision of the theory, however, Old Europe was a "secondary urheimat" (linguistic homeland) where the Greek, Armenian, and Balto-Slavic language families diverged around 5000 BCE. [14] Three genetic studies in 2015 gave partial support to the Steppe theory regarding the Indo-European Urheimat. According to those studies, haplogroups R1b and R1a, now the most common in Europe (R1a is also common in South Asia) would have expanded from the steppes north of the Pontic and Caspian seas, along with at least some of the Indo-European languages; they also detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which was not present in Neolithic Europeans, which would have been introduced with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as Indo-European languages. [15] [16] [17]

Artifacts

Settlements

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marija Gimbutas</span> Lithuanian-American archaeologist (1921–1994)

Marija Gimbutas was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, which located the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Pontic Steppe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinča culture</span> Southeastern European Neolithic archaeological culture

The Vinča culture (ʋîːntʃa), also known as Turdaș culture, Turdaș–Vinča culture or Vinča-Turdaș culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe, dated to the period 5400–4500 BC. Named for its type site, Vinča-Belo Brdo, a large tell settlement discovered by Serbian archaeologist Miloje Vasić in 1908, it represents the material remains of a prehistoric society mainly distinguished by its settlement pattern and ritual behaviour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neolithic Europe</span> Era of pre-history

The European Neolithic is the period from the arrival of Neolithic technology and the associated population of Early European Farmers in Europe, c. 7000 BC until c. 2000–1700 BC. The Neolithic overlaps the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe as cultural changes moved from the southeast to northwest at about 1 km/year – this is called the Neolithic Expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurgan hypothesis</span> Theory of Indo-European origin

The Kurgan hypothesis is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out throughout Europe and parts of Asia. It postulates that the people of a Kurgan culture in the Pontic steppe north of the Black Sea were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). The term is derived from the Turkic word kurgan (курга́н), meaning tumulus or burial mound.

Sesklo is a village in Greece that is located near Volos, a city located within the municipality of Aisonia. The municipality is located within the regional unit of Magnesia that is located within the administrative region of Thessaly. During the prehistory of Southeastern Europe, Sesklo was a significant settlement of Neolithic Greece, before the advent of the Bronze Age and millennia before the Mycenaean period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cucuteni–Trypillia culture</span> Neolithic–Eneolithic archaeological culture

The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, also known as the Cucuteni culture or the Trypillia culture, is a Neolithic–Chalcolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe. It extended from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper regions, centered on modern-day Moldova and covering substantial parts of western Ukraine and northeastern Romania, encompassing an area of 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), with a diameter of 500 km.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lengyel culture</span> Central European archeological culture (c. 5000–4000 BC)

The Lengyel culture is an archaeological culture of the European Neolithic, centered on the Middle Danube in Central Europe. It flourished from 5000 to 4000 BC, ending with phase IV, e.g., in Bohemia represented by the 'Jordanow/Jordansmühler culture'. It is followed by the Funnelbeaker culture/TrB culture and the Baden culture. The eponymous type site is at Lengyel in Tolna county, Hungary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric Europe</span> History of Europe before written records

Prehistoric Europe refers to Europe before the start of written records, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional unevenness in cultural development emerges and grows. The region of the eastern Mediterranean is, due to its geographic proximity, greatly influenced and inspired by the classical Middle Eastern civilizations, and adopts and develops the earliest systems of communal organization and writing. The Histories of Herodotus is the oldest known European text that seeks to systematically record traditions, public affairs and notable events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usatove culture</span> Archaeological culture

The Usatove culture is an Eneolithic group of the North Pontic region with influences from the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture as well as the Eneolithic steppe cultures of the North Pontic. Usatove flourished northwest of the Black Sea during the 4th millennium BCE. The culture got its name from the name of the village of Usatove in the Odesa Oblast of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatolian hypothesis</span> Theory of origin of Proto-Indo-Europeans

The Anatolian hypothesis, also known as the Anatolian theory or the sedentary farmer theory, first developed by British archaeologist Colin Renfrew in 1987, proposes that the dispersal of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic Anatolia. It is the main competitor to the Kurgan hypothesis, or steppe theory, which enjoys more academic favor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Late Neolithic</span> Later part of the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia

In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is sometimes further divided into Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) and Pottery Neolithic B (PNB) phases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varna culture</span> Prehistoric culture in Bulgaria (ca. 4500 BCE)

The Varna culture was a Chalcolithic culture of northeastern Bulgaria, dated c. 4500 BC, contemporary and closely related with the Gumelnița culture. The oldest golden artifacts in the world were found in the Necropolis of Varna. These artefacts are on display in the Varna Archaeological Museum

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karanovo culture</span>

The Karanovo culture is a Neolithic culture named after the Bulgarian village of Karanovo. The culture, which is part of the Danube civilization, is considered the largest and most important of the Azmak River Valley agrarian settlements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gumelnița–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI complex</span> Neolithic culture

The Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI complex was a Chalcolithic cultural complex of the fifth millennium BC located in the eastern Balkans, comprising the Gumelnița, Kodžadermen and Karanovo cultures. It is also aggregated with the Varna culture. It formed part of the broader cultural complex known as Old Europe. Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI evolved out of the earlier Boian culture and phase V of the Karanovo culture. From c. 4000 BC Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI was replaced by the Cernavodă culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion and ritual of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture</span>

The study of the religion and ritual of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture has provided important insights into the early history of Europe. The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture inhabited the present-day southeastern European nations of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine during the Neolithic and Copper Ages. It left behind many settlement ruins that contain archaeological artifacts attesting to their cultural and technological characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture</span>

Throughout most of its existence, the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture was fairly stable. Near the end it began to change from a gift economy to an early form of trade called reciprocity, and introduced the apparent use of barter tokens, an early form of money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decline and end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture</span>

Due partly to the fact that this took place before the written record of this region began, there have been a number of theories presented over the years to fill the gap of knowledge about how and why the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture happened. These theories include invasions from various groups of people, a gradual cultural shift as more advanced societies settled in their region, and environmental collapse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gumelnița culture</span> Neolithic culture

The Gumelniţa culture was a Chalcolithic culture of the 5th millennium BC, named after the Gumelniţa site on the left (Romanian) bank of the Danube.

<i>The Horse, the Wheel, and Language</i> 2007 book by David W. Anthony

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World is a 2007 book by the anthropologist David W. Anthony, in which the author describes his "revised Kurgan theory." He explores the origins and spread of the Indo-European languages from the Pontic–Caspian steppe throughout Western Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. He shows how the domesticated horse and the invention of the wheel mobilized the steppe herding societies in the Eurasian Steppe, and combined with the introduction of bronze technology and new social structures of patron-client relationships gave an advantage to the Indo-European societies. The book won the Society for American Archaeology's 2010 Book Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanian art</span> Overview of art in Romania

Romanian art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from the geographical area of Romania. The production of art in Romania is as old as the Paleolithic, an example being a cave painting from the Cuciulat Cave. During the Neolithic, multiple cultures lived on the modern territory of Romania. Their material culture included pottery and abstract clay statuettes decorated with geometric patterns. These may give hints on the way these civilizations used to dress and maybe tattoo. A good examples of this is the Thinker of Hamangia, a clay figurine produced by the Hamangia culture. Important cultures of the Neolithic era include Starčevo–Körös–Criș, Boian, Gumelnița–Karanovo, and other ones, the most famous and at the same time the most evolved among them in art being the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. During Antiquity, the Geto-Dacians produced art and built multiple cities of the dava type. Greek colonies appear in Dobruja, including Tomis, and Mangalia. After the Dacian Wars, Emperor Trajan transformed a big part of Dacia into a province of the Roman Empire. The province underwent an intense process of Romanization.

References

  1. ↑ Jacques Leslie, The Goddess Theory: Controversial UCLA Archeologist Marija Gimbutas Argues That the World Was at Peace When God Was a Woman, Los Angeles Times, June 11, 1989.
  2. ↑ Sharpe, Katherine (May 2013). "Europe's First Farmers". Archaeology Magazine. 66 (3): 13. ISSN   0003-8113. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  3. ↑ Theresa Thompson, The Lost World of Old Europe: the Danube Valley, 5000-3500BC, The Ashmolean Museum, The Oxford Times, June 8, 2010.
  4. ↑ Haarmann, Harald (2020). The Mystery of the Danube Civilisation. Marix Verlag. ISBN   9783843806466.
  5. ↑ Anthony, David (2010). Anthony, David; Chi, Jennifer (eds.). The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC. New York University, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. p. 29. ISBN   9780691143880.
  6. ↑ Reissued as Gimbutas, Marija (September 1, 2007). The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images (2 New Upd ed.). Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-52025398-8 . Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 Hayden, Brian (1987). "Old Europe: Sacred Matriarchy or Complementary Opposition?". In Bonanno, Anthony (ed.). Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean: Papers Presented at the First International Conference on Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean, the University of Malta, 2-5 September 1985. Amsterdam: B. R. Grüner. pp. 17–30. ISBN   9789060322888.
  8. ↑ Paliga 1989
  9. ↑ Rassmann, Knut (2014). "High precision Tripolye settlement plans, demographic estimations and settlement organization". Journal of Neolithic Archaeology. 16: 96–134. doi:10.12766/jna.2014.3.
  10. ↑ Anthony 1995
  11. ↑ Mallory 1991
  12. ↑ Anthony 2007
  13. ↑ Renfrew 1987
  14. ↑ Renfrew 2003
  15. ↑ Haak, W; et al. (11 June 2015). "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". Nature. 522 (7555): 207–11. arXiv: 1502.02783 . Bibcode:2015Natur.522..207H. doi:10.1038/nature14317. PMC   5048219 . PMID   25731166. We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000–3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms.... This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least 3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe.
  16. ↑ Allentoft; et al. (2015). "Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia". Nature. 522 (7555): 167–172. Bibcode:2015Natur.522..167A. doi:10.1038/nature14507. PMID   26062507. S2CID   4399103.
  17. ↑ Mathieson, Iain; et al. (14 March 2015). "Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe". bioRxiv: 016477. doi:10.1101/016477. S2CID   7866359. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  18. ↑ "Ritual and Memory: Neolithic Era and Copper Age". Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. 2022.
  19. ↑ Gaydarska, Bisserka (February 2020). "Trypillia Megasites in Context: Independent Urban Development in Chalcolithic Eastern Europe". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 30 (1): 97–121. doi:10.1017/S0959774319000301. S2CID   208245898.
  20. ↑ Penske, Sandra; Rohrlach, Adam B.; Childebayeva, Ainash; Gnecchi-Ruscone, Guido; Schmid, Clemens; Spyrou, Maria A.; Neumann, Gunnar U.; Atanassova, Nadezhda; Beutler, Katrin; Boyadzhiev, Kamen; Boyadzhiev, Yavor; Bruyako, Igor; Chohadzhiev, Alexander; Govedarica, Blagoje; Karaucak, Mehmet; Krauss, Raiko; Leppek, Maleen; Manzura, Igor; Privat, Karen; Ross, Shawn; Slavchev, Vladimir; Sobotkova, Adéla; Toderaş, Meda; Valchev, Todor; Ringbauer, Harald; Stockhammer, Philipp W.; Hansen, Svend; Krause, Johannes; Haak, Wolfgang (2023). "Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe". Nature. 620 (7973): 358–365. Bibcode:2023Natur.620..358P. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8. PMID   37468624. S2CID   259996090. Tell Yunatsite in Bulgaria, associated with the Karanovo culture

Further reading

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