Old Europe in the light of new research
Did cultural history really unfold the way we have learnt at school? According to new research on Old Europe, historical reality seems to be something else. It is time to broaden our horizons and peer into the depths of a history which still remains obscure to the general public.
Questioning traditional concepts
When European school teaching began in the 1800's, Europe's oldest civilization was yet unknown. The end of the previous century saw plenty of archeological excavations, as well as an increase in interdisciplinary research by cultural historians. Thus we began to fathom just how extensive that old civilization and its achievements really were.
Old European civilization flourished already in 6000 BCE, nearly two thousand years before the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Its cultural sphere included the regions which are today the Balkans, Greece and Western Ukraine.
Economic life in Old Europe was founded on two cornerstones: agriculture and trade. New findings have solidified the assumption that a more refined standard of living existed in Old Europe in comparison to other parts of the world at that time. This prosperity was based on extensive trading in the Danube river valley and the areas around its tributary rivers. This is were the reference to the Danube Valley civilization comes from. There was also maritime trade, from the Aegean to the Black Sea. The trade routes extended far into Western Europe and Asia Minor. Vinča, Turdaş, and Varna, located in present-day Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria, respectively, were all important centers of commerce.
The Old European model of society was very different than what we are accustomed to. It included neither social hierarchies nor a patriarchal, male-oriented system. The spirit of cooperation prevailed in communal life, and equality between men and women was the cornerstone of society. Life was peaceful, which is indicated by Old European loanwords in Greek. They are eirene, meaning "peace", and amilla, meaning "peaceful competition” (in trading and sports).
Visionary inventions from Old Europe
During the course of human history, many inventions were first concieved in Old Europe.
Here is an overview of them.
In 5400 BCE, blacksmiths developed smelting techniques originally intended for copper. Beginning in 4600 BCE, they also succeeded in smelting gold from large amounts of copper, thus creating the world's oldest gold objects.
Old Europeans knew how to build two-story houses and monumental shrines.
The writing system used by the Europeans is the oldest in the world. It predates those of Egypt or Sumer by at least 1500 years. Old Europe also had a numeral system.
The first cities appeared in Old Europe as early as 4000 BCE, more precisely in what is now present-day Ukraine. Some of these cities were very densely populated, with up to 10,000 residents living in an area of 400 hectares.
There are indicators of pre-democratic governmental infrastructure in singular areas. This included "people's councils" and popularly elected, trusted leaders.
There were no political boundaries in Old Europe, since a peaceful and cooperation-oriented culture had no need of them. The populations of different areas maintained contact in a relatively conflict-free environment. Besides sharing the same cultural traditions and social structures, they shared the same economic interests.
Is Ancient Greece really the cradle of Western civilization?
In principle, yes, but in a different way than has generally been percieved until recently. Many achievements of Western civilization are considered Greek in origin, but they actually predate Ancient Greece. The Greeks adapted useful teachings from the earlier residents of the area ("the Pelasgians") and refined them. Therefore Ancient Greece does not represent the earliest origins of European civilization. Instead, Greek civilization acted as a "turntable" for spreading Old European cultural traditions.
How did this process begin, and where do the origins of the Greeks themselves lie? It is known that their foremothers and fathers came from elsewhere, but we were not previously aware of how greatly these strangers were influenced upon their arrival by the culture of Old Europe's native population.
New DNA research has confirmed that the Greeks have an Indo-European genetic profile. Their predecessors were steppe nomads who wandered into Southern Europe from the regions of Russia and Ukraine in about 3200 BCE. There they met a local population who had a different genetic makeup, and who had perpetuated the Old European tradition. That tradition did not disappear with the arrival of the new inhabitants, but rather a broad-scale fusion took place on Greek soil, where Old European and Indo-European traditions melted together. A cultural model of antiquity (800 BCE – 500 AD) was born, known as the "classical period". Research on Old Europe aims to shed light on the different stages of this fusion and demonstrate how a better understanding of them could help us face the challenges of our time.
Houses in Old Europe, reconstruction.
Harald Haarmann and Virpi Lehtinen
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