Publisher's Synopsis
What is a language? What is the definition of writing? Is it possible that writing is much older than the proto-cuneiform system known from Mesopotamia? In the past four decades, much debate has been focused on a set of markings known as the "Old European Writing" or Donauschrift, associated with the archaeological Vinca culture, present in the Balkan region between 5200 and 3400 BC. These signs, found mainly on pottery fragments and figurines, have been interpreted as a proper writing system, as mnemonic writing, and as a predecessor of the Aegean script, just to name a few theories. Through a systematic study of the marks themselves, the repetition of sequences, their archaeological context, their resemblance to other known types of writing, as well as the related literature, this German-language volume investigates if these marks can be considered a real writing system.
