DANUBE SCRIPT MYSTERY
Posted: 10 Mar 2016 16:10
During the height of the Danube Valley Civilisation it played an important role in
a south-eastern Europe through the development of copper tools,a writing system,
advanced architecture including two story houses and the construction of furniture
such as chairs & tables,all of which occurred while most of Europe was in the middle
of the Stone Age.
They developed skills such as spinning,weaving,leather processing & clothes
manufacturing also manipulated wood,clay and stone and they invented the wheel.
They had an economic,religious and social structure.
One of the most intriguing and hotly debated aspects of the Danube Valley civilisation
is their supposed written language.
While some archaeologists have maintained that the '''writing'' is actually just a
A series of geometric figures and symbols others have maintained that it has the
features of a true writing system.
If this theory is correct, it would make the script the oldest written language ever
found, predating the Sumerian writings in Mesopotamia and possibly even the
Dispillo Tablet which has been dated 5260 BC.
Harare Haarmann , a German linguistic & cultural scientist, currently vice-president
of the Institute of Archaeomythology, and leading specialist in Ancient scripts and
languages, firmly supports the view that the Danube script is the oldest writing in the
world.
The tablets that were found are dated 5,500 BC, the glyphs on the tablets ,according
to Haarmann ,are a form of language yet to be deciphered.
The symbols,which are also called Vinca symbols, have been found in multiple
archaeological sites throughout the Danube Valley areas, inscribed on pottery,
figurines,spindles and other clay artifacts.
The implications are huge, it could mean that the Danube Valley Civilisation predates
all other known civilisations today,
Evidence also comes from thousands of artifacts that have been found , including as odd figures.
However the majority of Mesopotamian scholars reject Haarmann's proposal, suggesting
that the symbols on the tablets are just decoration, this is despite the fact that there are
approximately 700 different characters, around the same number of symbols used in
Egytian hieroglyphs.
Other scholars even suggested that the Danube Civilisation must have copied signs &
symbols from the Mesopotamian civilisations ,despite the fact that some of Danube
tablets have been found to be older than the Mesopotamian ones.
It appears that this is another case of a theory ,based on solid research ,being
rejected without appropriate comsideration.
Could this be because it conflicts with the accepted view of which nation holds claim
to the ''first civilisation '' ?
At the very least, Haarmann's proposal deserves further research and serious analysis
in order to confirm whether this is indeed the oldest known written language in the
world.