Over the last few years, archaeologists have been finding more and more evidence for the existence of a civilisation on the Balkan peninsula which, between the 6th and 4th millennia BCE, was using a writing system long before the Mesopotamians. In this book, Harald Haarmann provides the first comprehensive insight into this enigmatic Old European culture which, until recently, was unknown. He describes trade routes and settlements, arts and crafts, the mythology and writing system of the Danube Civilisation; he traces its origins to the Black Sea area and shows which cultural influences it had on Ancient Greece and the Near East.

ContentsThe puzzle of a 7,000 year-old civilisation91. The transition to the Neolithic in Europe(ca. 7500-5500 BCE)13Early farmers in Southeast Europe 14The emergence of regional cultures 40Cultural timeline of Old Europe 482. In search of the Old Europeans51The genetic footprint 51Linguistic traces 563. Commerce and living space79Trade routes and commodities 79Settlements and architecture 88Religious sites and graves 994. Arts and crafts109Weaving and textiles 110Pottery and firing techniques 114Metallurgy 118Art forms and cultural symbols 1225. Model of an egalitarian society141Matriarchal or matrilineal? 144Families and clans 146Oecumene and trade 1486. Religion and mythology153The world view of hunter-gatherers and farmers 155Female deities in Old Europe 156The bull - Animal symbols as attributes of the goddess 160Cults and rituals 161Music and dance 1697. Counting, measuring, recording173Numerical signs and numerology 173Calendrical notation 175Weights and measures 180Potter's or ownership marks 1818. The invention of writing183Origin and development of the Danube script 184The spread of writing in Old Europe 190Writing materials, inscriptions and varieties of text 193The repertory of Old European signs 196Written legacy of the Danube Civilisation 200A script in the service of religion 212The demise of the use of writing 2149. The decline and legacy of the Danube Civilisation(from around 4500 BCE)217Political and cultural upheavals 218The Balkan-Ancient Aegean cultural drift 227Minoan-Cypriot contacts: How Aegean script was exported 243 Epilogue249Bibliography259Key to inside cover map279