Did the Vinca culture write before the Sumerians?
Archaeologists long assumed that the cuneiform written language, Sumerian, was the oldest form of writing, existing from about 3100 BC. Tablets found in 1961 and previously assumed to be approximately 2,700 years old now prove that written language has been around much longer than previously assumed.
The tablets are known as the Tărtăria tablets and are named after the area in which they were found, Tărtăria Transylvania (Romania). There are three tablets in total, each of which is a combination of pictograms and symbols. They were found with the charred remains of a middle-aged human and other items suggesting a sacrificial ritual, such as alabaster figurines and ceramics. The cache was from the Vinca culture, previously thought to have existed around 2,700 years ago, but subsequent carbon dating of the artifacts shows that they are actually as
As early as 4,000 BC This era predates the Sumerian cuniform script, which is the oldest known script to have existed.
The debate as to whether these amulets actually contain the oldest writing found to have existed rests solely on whether or not the symbols contained within them can be considered true writing. The symbols are standardized, arranged in a linear fashion, and appear to come from an inventory of symbols that have been found on other artifacts from the Danube cultures. Each seems to have a meaning. Some experts believe that some of the symbols are random and argue against the written language hypothesis. At this time, it cannot be said what type of writing system the symbols represent, and the meanings of the symbols have not yet been deciphered.
Research continues to determine if these amulets and other artifacts containing similar symbols are a key to a previously unknown written language of unparalleled age. Whatever the finds, we have learned that the Vinca civilization is another to add to a growing list of cultures that are being discovered to reach much further back in time than previously known.
