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The Vinča symbols are a set of undeciphered symbols found on artifacts from the Neolithic Vinča culture and other "Old European" cultures of Central and Southeast Europe.

The symbols went out of use around 3500 BC. Many scholars agree that the "writing" itself is not based on any language whatsoever and it is mostly symbolic.

In 1875, archaeological excavations directed by the Hungarian archaeologist Baroness Zsófia Torma (1840–1899) at Tordos (present Turdaș, Romania) unearthed marble and fragments of pottery inscribed with previously unknown symbols. In 1908, a similar cache was found during excavations directed by Serbian archaeologist Miloje Vasić (1869–1956) in Vinča, a suburb of Belgrade, some 245 km (152 mi) from Turdaș. Since 1875, over 150 Vinča sites have been identified in Serbia alone, but many, including Vinča itself, have not been fully excavated.

Although a large number of symbols are known, most artifacts contain so few symbols that they are very unlikely to represent a complete text. The symbols themselves consist of a variety of abstract and representative pictograms, including zoomorphic (animal-like) representations, combs or brush patterns and abstract symbols such as swastikas, crosses and chevrons. The usage of symbols varies significantly between objects; symbols that appear by themselves tend almost exclusively to appear on pots, while symbols that are grouped with other symbols tend to appear on whorls.

These findings are important because the bulk of the Vinča symbols were created between 4,500 and 4,000 BC, with the symbols on the Tărtăria clay tablets possibly dating back to around 5,300 BC (controversially dated by association). This means that the Vinča finds predate the proto-Sumerian pictographic script from Uruk (modern Iraq), which is usually considered to be the oldest known writing system, by more than a thousand years. Analyses of the symbols showed that they have little similarity with Near Eastern writing, resulting in the opinion that these symbols and the Sumerian script probably arose independently.

The Vinča symbols may have served a range of purposes, such as representing ownership, individual or communal identities, or themes of a sacred or religious nature.

However, some of the symbols have been repeatedly found throughout the territory of the Vinča culture, dated hundreds of years apart, and in locations kilometers away from each other.

Some of the "comb" or "brush" symbols, which collectively constitute as much as a sixth of all the symbols so far discovered, may represent a form of prehistoric counting. The Vinča culture appears to have traded its wares quite widely with other cultures, as demonstrated by the widespread distribution of inscribed pots, so it is possible that the "numerical" symbols conveyed information about the value of the pots or their contents. Other cultures, such as the Minoans and Sumerians, initially developed their scripts as accounting tools; the Vinča symbols may have served a similar purpose.

If this was so the fact that the same symbols were used for centuries with little change suggests that the ritual meaning and culture represented by the symbols likewise remained constant for a very long duration, undergoing little further development during that time.

It is unlikely that the Vinča symbols represent an early writing system. Some researchers, such as Marija Gimbutas and archaeo-semiologist Marco Merlini, have argued that the Vinča symbols belonged to a wider tradition of literacy in Old Europe, which they referred to the "Old European script" and the "Danube script" respectively. She incorporated the Vinča markings into her model of Old Europe, suggesting that they might either be the writing system for an Old European language, or more probably a system of proto-writing. The symbols themselves have not been discovered outside of an area comprising Serbia (i.e., Vinča itself), southeastern Hungary, western Romania, and western Bulgaria. Instead, the signs collected by Winn consist of ceramic markings (59%) and asymmetrical ornaments (11.5%), and only the remaining 29.5% of the Vinča signs could represent a symbolic script.

Quick Facts

• The usage of symbols varies significantly between objects; symbols that appear by themselves tend almost exclusively to appear on pots, while symbols that are grouped with other symbols tend to appear on whorls.
• In 1875, archaeological excavations directed by the Hungarian archaeologist Baroness Zsófia Torma (1840–1899) at Tordos (present Turdaș, Romania) unearthed marble and fragments of pottery inscribed with previously unknown symbols.
• It is unlikely that the Vinča symbols represent an early writing system.
• Some researchers, such as Marija Gimbutas and archaeo-semiologist Marco Merlini, have argued that the Vinča symbols belonged to a wider tradition of literacy in Old Europe, which they referred to the "Old European script" and the "Danube script" respectively.
• These findings are important because the bulk of the Vinča symbols were created between 4,500 and 4,000 BC, with the symbols on the Tărtăria clay tablets possibly dating back to around 5,300 BC (controversially dated by association).

Source material: Wikipedia - "Vinča symbols". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.