Neolithic Culture of the Danubian Region

[Vojvoda]

A mother on a throne holding a child in her arms. Both are headless and covered with strange geometrical signs and abstract motifs that suggest writing. They come from the small village of Rast (western Romania). The archaeological site of Rast is near Danube and belong to the Vincha culture. This "Madonna", as the locals call her, is 12 cm. high and over 7,000 years old.

The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas was the first to observe that the marks are neither placed at random nor according to an individual spatial logic. Nor do they follow a particular aesthetic and ornamental criterion. They are both linear and with a more tortuous and compact pattern. They cover the back, flanks and stomach. A set of sequential geometrical designs is especially evident on the back.

It has been hypothesised that mother and child are inscribed with an ancient and lost form of proto-European script , two thousand years older than the Mesopotamian one.


References:

Gimbutas M., The Civilization of the Goddess, HarperCollins Publishers, 1991
Gimbutas M., The Living Goddesses, University of California Press, 1999
Merlini M., Was Writing Born in Europe? Searching for a Sacred Script, Rome ( in preparation )

http://groups.msn.com/AncientWisdomC...aculture1.msnw

[Vojvoda]

Pontids are associated with the Vinca culture.Pontids represent early population levels of countries such as Serbia, thus they predate Dinarids there.

[Frans_Jozef]

The Rise of Neolithic Agriculture

Ola Olsson

The article analyzes the economic reasons behind the rise of Neolithic agriculture some 10,000 years ago in consideration of evidence that agriculture was not associated with increasing standards of living. On the basis of archeological and anthropological literature, the article presents a modelling framework that allows for four broad explanations to the agricultural transition; (i) environmental conditions, (ii) population pressure, (iii) cultural influence, and (iv) external factors. It is shown that the introduction of agriculture first increases welfare but then leads to a steady decline. The reason for this deterioration is the switch from a pure Malthusian population growth regime to a partly exogenous regime where population grows without constraints and drive hunter-gatherers into agriculture in a Boserupian manner. When the model is confronted with archeological evidence from the Jordan Valley, it appears that environmental change, population growth, and a uniquely favourable biogeography for domestication led to the introduction of agriculture.

Source: http://www.handels.gu.se/epc/data/ht...gunwpe0057.pdf