QUOTE
The Tărtăria tablets are three tablets, discovered in Tărtăria, Romania. They bear incised symbols that have been the subject of considerable controversy among archaeologists, some of whom claim that the symbols represent the earliest known form of writing in the world.
The Tartaria Tablets
QUOTE
The tablets are generally believed to have belonged to the Vinča culture, which at the time was believed by Serbian and Romanian archaeologists to have originated around 2700 BC. Vlassa interpreted the Tărtăria tablets as a hunting scene and the other two with signs as a kind of primitive writing similar to the early pictograms of the Sumerians. The discovery caused great interest in the archeological world as it predated the first Minoan writing, the oldest known writing in Europe. It was suggested by some that the symbols indicated some sort of connection between south-eastern Europe and Sumerian Mesopotamia.
However, subsequent radiocarbon dating on the Tartaria finds pushed the date of the tablets (and therefore of the whole Vinča culture) much further back, to as long ago as 5500 BC, well before the Sumerian era [2] (although this is disputed in the light of apparently contradictory stratigraphic evidence [3]).
If the symbols are indeed a form of writing, then writing in the Danubian culture would far predate the earliest Sumerian cuneiform script or Egyptian [1]. They would thus be the world's earliest known form of writing. This claim remains controversial.
However, subsequent radiocarbon dating on the Tartaria finds pushed the date of the tablets (and therefore of the whole Vinča culture) much further back, to as long ago as 5500 BC, well before the Sumerian era [2] (although this is disputed in the light of apparently contradictory stratigraphic evidence [3]).
If the symbols are indeed a form of writing, then writing in the Danubian culture would far predate the earliest Sumerian cuneiform script or Egyptian [1]. They would thus be the world's earliest known form of writing. This claim remains controversial.
All quotes, Pictures from wikipedia.org
I just came across this on the wikipedia. but there not much further given on this? any body know more on this stuff?
Thanks for posting this information.This is the first I have heard of them.
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" from dust to dust"