The Danube Script and Other Ancient Writing Systems: A Typology of Distinctive Features

Harald Haarmann (Finland)

Abstract

Among the innovative technologies which emerged in Southeastern Europe in the course of the sixth millennium BCE, writing occupies a prominent role. The experiment with writing technology in that part of Europe produced an original script which is firmly rooted in the local tradition of an earlier use of signs and symbols, drawing on the cultural heritage of the Mesolithic Age and partly going back as far as the Palaeolithic. This ancient script is called here the “Danube script” and the cultural horizon in which it originated, the “Danube civilization.” These terms are synonymous with those coined by Marija Gimbutas: the “Old European script” and the civilization of “Old Europe.”

Marija Gimbutas deserves credit for broadly documenting the richness of Old European cultural traditions, which included writing as one of its prominent assets. On the basis of Gimbutas´ documentation and more than a century of rich archaeological discoveries, it becomes clear that a high culture of an agrarian civilization flourished in Southeastern Europe from the sixth to the fourth millennia BCE. The societies of the Danube civilization developed advanced institutions and technologies and cultivated a sophisticated worldview expressed in a tremendous outpouring of ritual artifacts.

This article discusses the early experiment with writing in Southeastern Europe and provides an invaluable introduction to sign systems, notational systems and the status of writing in the realm of culture. It also discusses the principles of writing common to ancient scripts and outlines a typology of writing systems, principles and techniques of writing, and parameters for comparing ancient systems of writing. This basic introduction provides an essential foundation for ongoing research on the signs and symbols of Southeastern Europe.