The Danube Script

The Danube Script

Author: Joan Marler

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 9780981524900

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A collection of articles and photographs surrounding an exhibition and symposium focused on developing a shared understanding of what terms such as "script" and "writing" truly mean.


The Mystery of the Danube Civilisation

The Mystery of the Danube Civilisation

Author: Harald Haarmann

Publisher: marixverlag

Published: 2020-05-29

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 3843806462

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Over the last few decades, archaeologists and cultural scientists have come to a better understanding of the extent of Neolithic civilisation on the Balkan peninsula. This Danube Civilisation, thriving between the 6th and 4th millennia BCE, was using a writing system long before the Mesopotamians and is remarkable for its accomplishments in craftsmanship, art and urban development. In this book, Harald Haarmann provides the first comprehensive insight into this enigmatic Old European culture, which is still largely unknown to the greater public. He describes the trade routes, settlements, mythology and writing system of this people, traces the changes resulting from the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, and shows how this first advanced civilisation in Europe influenced its successors.


Advancement in Ancient Civilizations

Advancement in Ancient Civilizations

Author: Harald Haarmann

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2020-09-21

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1476640750

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Traditional scholarship on how ancient civilizations emerged is outmoded and new insights call for revision. According to the well-established paradigm, Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization. Following the cliche of ex oriente lux ("light from the East") all major achievements of humankind spread from the Middle East. Modern archaeology, cultural science and historical linguistics indicate civilizations did not originate from a single prototype. Several models produced divergent patterns of advanced culture, developing both hierarchical and egalitarian societies. This study outlines a panorama of ancient civilizations, including the still little-known Danube civilization, now identified as the oldest advanced culture in Europe. In a comparative view, a new paradigm of research and a new cultural chronology of civilizations in the Old and New Worlds emerges, with climate change shown to be a continual influence on human lifeways.


The European Commission of the Danube, 1856-1948

The European Commission of the Danube, 1856-1948

Author: Constantin Ardeleanu

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 9004425969

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The history of the world’s second international organisation, an innovative techno-political institution established by Europe’s Concert of Powers to remove insecurity from the Lower Danube.


The Power of the Line

The Power of the Line

Author: Aleksander Dzbyński

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-07-18

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 144386448X

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Extensive research in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and cognitive science clearly suggests that the development of a material culture in prehistory was a serious contribution to the mathematization of the human mind. An underestimated interface in this process, as cognitive and philosophical studies suggest, was the capability to perceive the external world in a metaphorical way. This book uses several examples to tell this story. It does not claim the right to present a universal story, applicable for the whole human species, although it also questions that universality. The cornerstone of the story is structured by the relationship between body, language, and material culture. The examples presented in this book, however, also allow us to contemplate a less universal phenomenon; the similarities and differences between Near Eastern and European culture in the period of the development of farming. As such, this book also investigates whether clay tokens – an invention originated from Near Eastern societies – were also responsible for the development of mathematical abilities in prehistoric societies in Europe. In Europe, however, the lack of material representations of numbers in the form of small objects was replaced by linear concepts. Linearity, from its simple manifestations in the monumental form to its complex use in later megalithic structures, requires more thought because it served not only as an ephemeral symbol and a metaphor, but also as a practical tool in building anthropogenic spaces. Only when we see a metaphor in the omnipresent linearity can we understand it properly in combination with the cosmologic aspects of architecture, the role of the human body, and the concept of numbers. As such, the book distinguishes between two dichotomous development paths of mathematization and numerosity in Europe and the Near East – the birthplace of farming: the measuring stick metaphor and the object collection metaphor. The book also discusses further transformations of the measuring stick metaphor into more rational concepts throughout the course of technological developments in Europe.


Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization

Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization

Author: Harald Haarmann

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-09-04

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1476615896

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Contrary to a prevalent belief of the Western world, that democracy, agriculture, theater and the arts were the attainments of Classical Greek civilization, these were actually a Bronze Age fusion of earlier European concepts and Hellenic ingenuity. This work considers both the multicultural wellspring from which these ideas flowed and their ready assimilation by the Greeks, who embraced these hallmarks of civilization, and refined them to the level of sophistication that defines classical antiquity.


Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization

Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization

Author: Harald Haarmann

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-09-17

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0786478276

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Contrary to a prevalent belief of the Western world, that democracy, agriculture, theater and the arts were the attainments of Classical Greek civilization, these were actually a Bronze Age fusion of earlier European concepts and Hellenic ingenuity. This work considers both the multicultural wellspring from which these ideas flowed and their ready assimilation by the Greeks, who embraced these hallmarks of civilization, and refined them to the level of sophistication that defines classical antiquity.