macedon - GRADEŠNICA SCRIPT REVISITED

GRADEŠNICA SCRIPT REVISITED_02

Sunday, 18. May 2008, 23:55:20

The flourishing rhombus as vital symbol of the pregnant four-sided moon which is dancing and thriving

A final typology of dotted lozenge is particularly significant because it lets us to move from this symbol occurring on the focus of the Gradešnica anthropomorph to the outline of the whole figure and from the symbolism of land to that of earth. The motif that I have in mind is the diamond with a dot in the center and in all four corners. This symbol is evident for instance in early Trypillya culture (initial stages of Trypillya B1 according to N. B. Burdo 2004) at Novye Ruseshty I (Republic of Moldavia), 4800-4600 BC, which on its upper part bears also a dotted lozenge (Fig. 42). According to Gimbutas “many dots within a diamond may signify multiplication of the seed, a general resurgence of life in the sown field” and the diamond with five dots (one in the center and one in each of the four corners) may denote “planting in all four directions”, a feature still present in European folk belief (Gimbutas 1989: 145). Throughout Europe, sowing in four directions is a ceremony carried out at the winter and spring planting to ensure that dead vegetation will come to life again. The graphic result of the five-dotted lozenge is very similar to the fourfold pattern of Gradešnica similar-human being: a cruciform design made of a central rhombus and four triangular dotted arms (Fig. 43). This fourfold pattern is on shown on Bohemian Linear Pottery dishes of the end sixth-early fifth millennium BC (Gimbutas 1974: fig. 46) (Fig. 44) and it is quite similar to a quadripartite mark incised on a schematic figurine from Ţigăneşti (Monah 1997: 316, fig. 64/4) (Fig. 45).

The earliest occurrence of the typology of the fourfold pattern composed by a central lozenge-with-a-dot and four triangles-with-a-dot as arms is findable at Çatal Hüyük (Asia Minor) on a seal that may has been used to stamp this symbol on loaves of sacred bread. The dotted rhombic motif in the centre apparently links the symbol of a seed within cultivated land or within a womb and the notion of bread as gift of earth and its associated forces or divinity. The seal belongs to Çatal Hüyük II-IV, second half 7th millennium BC (Gimbutas 1989: 144) (Fig. 46). At Hacilar (Asia Minor) on the early Neolithic pottery, dating from the 6th millennium BC, is encountered the so-called ‘flourishing rhombus’ or ‘flourishing square’ consisting of these quadrilateral motifs with shoots at the corners. The design depicted in Fig. 47 (Mellaart 1970: 411) is interpreted by Golan in the following way: the rhombus containing zigzags represents irrigated land, the triangular appendages at its corner symbolize vegetation, clouds are pictured as arcs, and short dashes above stand for rain (Golan 2003: 221). The agricultural symbolism is obvious also in other flourishing lozenges with triangles (Mellaart 1970: 401; 350) (Fig. 48a and b) or with other lozenges (Mellaart 1970: 395, 409) (Fig. 49).

In fact analysis shows that they are not arbitrary patterns but that they convey the same set of ideas in a certain way: according to Golan each of the five elements of the cruciform design is an earth sign, thus the pattern would imply the idea of “five lands”; the element of the middle is the particular locality and around it are the “four quarters of the world” (Golan 2003: 263 – Golan observes that the concept "south, north, west, east, and the middle of the earth" appeared in ancient Egypt, China, and pre-Columbian America. The formula recurred in ancient Egyptian texts. A similar idea concerning the structure of the inhabited world existed in ancient China: the world was imagined as consisting of "four quarters" and a central part with the "sacred city" in it, in this case "the great city of Shang", the residence of the rulers of the Yin state. When the lands of the state were listed, its five parts were mentioned as four peripheral and the central. In Aztec cosmology, the universe is comprised of four quarters and the middle region; the same view was shared by the Indian tribes of North America (Golan 2003: 263)).
Other evidence from Hacilar (Mellaart 1970: 350; 383) can be explicated as follows: the quadrangle may signify earth, the dot may designate the seed and the spiral-shapes resembling ram horns may symbolize plant shoots (Golan 2003: 150) (Fig. 50). Apparently this design is very similar to the silhouettes of the anthropomorph from Gradešnica but in the later case the curved-spirals appendages are all bottom down. Concerning the Danube civilization, a hooked and dotted lozenge similar to this grapheme is positioned on the upper chest of a statuine from Drăguşeni (Fig. 51).

However is the dotted lozenge (plain, multiple or quadripartite) a female or a male symbol? If most of the scholars follows Ambroz who suggested that the diamond symbolized fertility designating earth, plant, and a woman at the same time, Golan speculates that “during the Neolithic the rhombus was depicted on feminine figurines, symbolizing impregnation of the goddess by the earth god” (Golan 2003: 221). According to him this symbol represents the male deity of earth and its application on a feminine image means the idea that the male deity, the earth god, impregnates the goddess, the mother of all life. In any case a common point is hold on by all the authors: the meaning of the dotted diamond, typical transformational geometry, is apparent from its position on the figurines and is the representation of the state “to be pregnant” or “to be growing”. Dotted lozenges on the round portion of globular vases seem to express the same significance because this typology of vessel has been conceived of as maternal womb.

A similar four-folded pattern is present in coeval and subsequent civilizations attesting to its symbolic importance. Pottery decorated with cruciform design composed with four triangles positioned on the vertexes of a rhombus has been found in Mesopotamia dated c. 3000 BC (Golan 2003: 264, fig. 278-2) (Fig. 52). The symbol occurs also on seals of ancient Indus civilization where it is interpreted as the cosmic power in the city or citadel (Farmer 2004) (Fig. 53). On Neolithic pottery of 3rd millennium BC from Iran the four triangles around the lozenge sometimes develop into goats (Herzfeld 1941: 241) (Fig. 54). Scholars are discussing if the picture depicts animals around a water basin (Parrot 1953) or animals around the earth and expressing the ideographic message “our locality and the four quarters of the world”, i.e. “the entire world, the whole earth” (Golan 2003: 264). Another Iranian fourfold painting (Herzfeld 1941: 241) is interesting comparing the pattern of the Gradešnica figure because it subdivides the outer space in four quadrants as the Bulgarian does (Fig. 55).
However the most significant comparison is between the layout of the Gradešnica figure and a more or less coeval Sălcuţa-Krivodol pintadera modeled as stylized schematic anthropomorphic figurine in adoration or dancing on an elongated six-angled base (Fig. 56) (it is hold in the National Museum of History of Sofia and has inventory number MIS A 5393. The object is displayed on line in 3D and accompanied by a identity card at the “Virtual Museum of the European roots” managed by the MU.S.EU.M. project: http://www.europeanvirtualmuseum.it/museum/schedabase.asp?reperto=123). The piece was discovered at Pekluk (near Galabovtsi in the area of Sofia) and is very massive. Light brown color, it is 8.5 cm. in length and 5.9 cm. in height with a massive cone-like handle.

At a close look it is evident that the incised design had been represented by angular, double, and specular lines converging, but not uniting, in the centre (is one in presence of two interlaced human-like figures?). V. Nikolov interpreted it as a lunar cycle which has to be read from left towards right (V. Nikolov 1990: 45). According to him the first angular symbol represents the first phase of the lunar cycle as a growing moon, the third symbol (i.e. the opposite angular symbol) indicates the fourth phase (the descending moon), and the intermediate symbol, where the two angular parts join, marks a sort of overturning where full moon becomes half moon. This period includes also the full moon nights in which the earth's satellite has a perfectly circular shape. The vision of the full moon was evidently interpreted as a beneficial period for human, animal, and vegetal fecundation. Probably stamping the magic pattern of the pintadera brought good luck.
From the above evidence one can conclude that the human-like figure incised over the outside face of the Gradešnica platter is not the earth as postulated before but the moon. I am also persuaded that is necessary to make a revision of the symbolism of the dotted lozenge on the above mentioned artifacts generally interpreted only as sown land to that of earth. Indeed in some cases one has to look up at the fecund fields of the moon. Anyway I will come back to Nikolov’s interpretation of a lunar cycle when analyzing the signs incised over the inner face of the Gradešnica platter.

In conclusion one can consider the anthropomorph from Gradešnica as a pregnant lunar figure with cruciform design composed of a strong rhomboid dotted centre, two dotted triangles for head and legs, and curved arms which create other two dotted triangles due to a spiral movement. The dotted diamond indicates the sown soil of the moon attesting the intimate link between moon, female fertility and vegetation fruitfulness. The like-human moon is dancing with movements directed to the four corners. The hook-hands or branching lines attached to the curved arms (actually the arms of the cross) reinforce its dynamic expression. The figure sub-divides the space in four quadrants. The vital symbol of the pregnant four-sided moon which is moving-dancing and flourishing while its is dividing the space in four regions was employed widespread by the communities of the Danube civilization and was recurrently incised or painted on vessels, figurines, spindle-whorls, loom-weights, and stamp seals to promote good-luck. It is worth to note that the Gradešnica figure, combining repeated dotted lozenges-triangles and fourfold pattern, is neither a decorative motif nor a “schematic drawing”, but an ideogram “necessary to promote the recurrent birth and growth of plant, animal and human life” (Gimbutas 1974: 89-91).

Is the oranting and dancing moon surrounded by constellations of an archaic sky?

Nine signs or grouping of signs are inscribed surrounding the humanoid (they are not six-eight marks as described in literature because of the bad photos. See for example Winn 198: 213; Masson 1984: 109). Underscoring the circular layout of the vessel and of the anthropomorph, they are disposed in a round row sub-divided in four quadrants therefore they follow a precise spatial organization. Moving clockwise from the upper right quadrant, one can see at first sight a large area without any sign because of an abrasion, then a triangle which is positioned under the suspension hole, starts from the back of the hand, breaks through the edge and apparently continues with a “tail” on the lip. In the lower right quadrant a double Λ and a V are very clear (many published drawings catch only its segment on the left. The sketch published by Todorova (1986) is correct). In this area there are several scratches made after firing, possibly ritual marks because in a number of cases they are little V motifs of liturgical origin.
On the lower left of the figurine there are a > empathized by a dot at one edge, a very closely juxtaposed rectilinear meander (incorrectly, they are linked in their upper part according to most of the published drawings which also do not register the dot), and another rectilinear meander in opposition with the previous one positioned as in a mirror. Above there is a meandroid open triangle much more adjacent to the arm of the figure than in already published drawings. On the upper left quadrant there are two signs: a compounded sign formed by V motifs, a triangular open shape (it is not perfectly clear if triangle and stroke are two elements of a compounded sign or two separate signs. A close inspection of the marks let me opt for the first alternative. Anyway the outline of the sign is not a very close < as in most of the published drawings).

If one has the inclination to proceed with the nativity-symbolism of the anthropomorphic figure and follows at the same time Gimbutas’ approach, one can notice all around the human-like figure a series of signs suggesting the aquatic element and expressing the water of life that emerges during the event of birth. In this case the risk is to succumb to one of the most common errors in attempts at decipherment: the “pictographic fallacy” (Robinson 2002). In fact if one believes that the Danube script is mainly pictographic and, having searched for stylized pictographic elements also in signs which actually are abstract, one naturally finds them and then – under the influence of the determinatives found in Egyptian hieroglyphs (such as the shepherd's crook meaning 'ruler' in the cartouche of Tutankhamen) – one proceeds to treat the presumed pictograms as referring only to the objects they are supposed to depict, resulting in interpreting iconic representations and failing to read abstract signs. The pictographic fallacy is generally coupled with another misconception which considers the first phase in the development of literacy as a pictographic or ideographic one (Merlini 2004c). V. I. Georgiev applied both these false opinions to the Gradešnica inscriptions (V. I. Georgiev 1970: 3).

When one applies the “matrix of semiotic markers and rules” to the nine signs surrounding the stylized figure one is more confident of signaling geometric, abstract, high schematic, linear and not very complex signs typical of a script framework. The schematization of some signs (V-shapes, meandering open triangles, meanders) could has been originated by a long process of stylization, simplification, geometricization and abstraction by which some naturalistic symbols have, step by step, lost the “formal” connection with the old prototype in the natural or artificial world. Anyway such a naturalistic basis is no longer recognizable on the back of the Gradešnica platter where the scribe used signs that she/he considered mainly abstract with a linear shape.

Although the signs sometimes seem to be imprecise and carelessly made, they have not been inscribed haphazardly but with standardized knowledge and most of them can be definitely included in Winn’s inventory of Vinča signs (Winn 1981) (in Winn’s inventory 1981 one can identify seven on the nine signs which occur around the humanoid on the back of the platter. Following my sequence, they are: (rotated) 106, (variant) 111, 95, (rotated) 95, (inverted) 206, 206, 106), in Haarmann’s inventory of the Old European script (on-line) (Haarmann’s inventory (on-line) was firstly published in Haarmann 1975 and rubricates the signs with the abbreviation OE: Old European. Eight on the nine signs which occur on the back of the platter are recognizable. Following my sequence, they are: (rotated) OE 159, OE 108, OE 76, (rotated) OE 76, (inverted) OE 63, OE 63, (inverted) OE 220, OE 159), in Winn’s repertory 2004 of the Danube script (on-line) (Winn’s inventory 2004 (on-line) indexes the signs with the abbreviation DS: Danube script. One can identify in it eight on the nine signs which surround the human-like figure on the back of the platter. Following my sequence, they are: (rotated) DS 51, (inverted) DS 15, DS 1, (rotated) DS 1, (inverted) DS 235, DS 235, (rotated) DS 168, DS 51) and in Lazarovici’s catalogue of sacred symbols and signs (2004) (In Lazarovici’s catalogue (2004) there are eight correspondences with the nine signs that I have identified on the back of the Gradešnica platter. They are (in sequence): (rotated) 152, 20=33, 1a=a, 1c=b, 191, (inverted) 191, (inverted) 128b, 152).

With regards to the techniques to modify the outlines of the signs, the back of the Gradešnica platter presents convergence and divergence with other Danube inscriptions. Like other Danube texts, some signs have been rotated in mirror-fashion (as the meanders were), other signs have been placed in opposition, and furthermore a probably compounded sign occur (it is the eighth in my sequence and may be formed by a ligature – a meander and the meandroid open triangle are not connected as in the already published drawings). However contrary to a general rule of the Danube script, the signs on the back of the Gradešnica platter do not seem to have been modified by the application of diacritical marks such as small strokes, crosses and arches (only in one case a > has been modified by a dot).
Concerning the space organizational principles of the inscription, the nine signs are all surrounding the figure along a circular row (none of the marks is located inside the anthropomorph), are positioned inside quadrants derived from the fourfold outline of the figure, and do not saturate the entire available space. They are obviously positioned in a functional way for the purpose to carrying a specific message and not as a decorative framework.

In conclusion, one can infer from the above observations that the focus of the outside of the Gradešnica platter is a pregnant four-sided moon depicted as a human-like figure who is dancing/praying and flourishing according to circular, rotating movements and sub-dividing the space in four quadrants filled by emblematic signs. As working hypothesis one can contemplate that a 360° inscription could surround the humanoid dealing with and specifying the same theme possibly depicting constellations and that it could be an arbitrary classification of the bright stars in the galaxy into prominent configurations positioned serially.
An ancient star atlas that could provide a definitive answer to this question has yet to be discovered. Although scientists have made much progress deciphering cuneiform astronomical tablets from 700 BC, we still have no complete and accurate map even of the Babylonian sky (Gurshtein 1997: 47). With regards to the Neo-Eneolithic Europe, images of the stars do adorn rock walls in many regions but it is a real challenge to understand how prehistoric peoples connected the points of light into patterns in the night sky. According to the astronomer Gurshtein the oldest constellations were created 16,000 years ago, with an uncertainty of not more than 2,000 years, and seem to fall into three groups: animals and objects associated with water, humans and other land-dwelling animals, and flying creatures. These strata reflect a kind of world view held by early humanity: a lower world existing as a water kingdom, a middle world for humans and animals, and an upper world populated by flying creatures. The symbolism on the sky, therefore, may be the manifestation of a sense of division developed by our ancient ancestors (Gurshtein 1997: 48 – the three-stratum conception of the sky seems to be identifiable also in cuneiform texts. Many mention three pathways -those of the gods Ea (Enki), Anu, and Enlil. The historian and linguist Samuel N. Kramer proposed that Ea was the deity of water, Enlil of atmospheric phenomena and storms, and Anu, the supreme god of gods, of the middle world). When the ecliptic – the path of the Sun among the stars – was discovered around the 6th millennium BC, it was located against the background of the land and water strata. It never reached the stratum for airborne beings. Therefore zodiacal constellations were represented only by land and water creatures, and those in a three-to-one ratio. Furthermore, three distinctive points on the ecliptic (marking the northern spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer solstice) lay on the land stratum; only one (the winter solstice) lies on the water one (Gurshtein 1997: 49, 50). Around 5600 BC, probably in ancient Babylon, four constellations were contrived to mark the equinox- and solstice-points at that time. These were the modern zodiacal constellations Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces (Gurshtein 1995: 33).

Concerning the single constellations recognized by the Neo-Eneolithic Europe, a pattern of signs over a pintadera from Gulubnik is believed to be a graphical representation of the Taurus constellation (Dzhanfezova 2004). Gh. Lazarovici has studied in deep the signs “M” and “W” considering them astronomical representations in connection with the Cassiopeia constellation which 6 months is on the sky as “M” and the next 6 months through rotation becomes “W” (Lazarovici 2002). Butterfly as a constellation was depicted in 5th millennium BC in the Northern Italy (Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro, Rock n. 27) (E. Anati 1982: Fig. 7). A double symbol characterized by a butterfly and the Cassiopeia constellation occurs over a statuette from the Southern Italy (Passo di Corvo, Foggia) modelled about 5500 BC (Gimbutas 1991: 23, fig. 36).

The possibility to be at Gradešnica in front of a representation of constellations is supported by seven observations: the revolving movement of the signs around a barycentre (the stylized figure) and along the circumference; their number in 12 if three of them would not have been cancelled by the upper-right abrasion; their organization in quadrants; their rectilinear outline with angles (there are no curves in their silhouettes); their unchanging shape due to the absence of diacritical marks; the fact that no sign is similar to another; the resemblance between some of them and the marks incised on Karanovo seal which are considered by some scholars to draw a map of sequential constellations (Flavin 1991; 1999). In addition the astral-interpretation of the signs incised on this face of the platter is in tune with V. Nikolov’s interpretation of the signs on the other face as a synodic lunar cycle (V. Nikolov 1990).
The proposed interpretation is consistent to ancient concepts where the four-folded pattern is a symbol of life as a continuum based on the belief that the moon, embracing the four cardinal points and passing in front of the twelve zodiacal regions, transmits forces to the earth which operate the maturation of the plants. The moon makes a revolution around the earth every 27 days, 12 hours, and 43 minutes and in the course of the revolving movement pauses approximately two days and half in the region of every zodiacal sign. Its enter and stay in a zodiacal region is traditionally believed to influence the vegetal cycle, therefore the careful choice by the farmers of the times for the different activities (sowing, hoeing, harvesting, and so on) is supposed to increase health and grows of the plants. Still nowadays some farmers act in the fields according to the following chains of traditional beliefs: Constellations of Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpion > Wet > Leaves; Constellations of Ram, Sagittarius, and Leo > Warm > Fruit; Constellations of Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo > Cool/Cold > Roots; Constellations of Balance, Aquarius and Gemini > Light > Flowers (this method of celestial guidance has been in part ost as modern techniques have been developed. Nowadays a research in this field has been done for four decades by a German biodynamic farmer, Maria Thun, who publishes an agricultural calendar: The Stella Natura).

The twelve ecliptical constellations commonly referred to as the solar zodiac, along with ten or so circumpolar constellations and a varied amount of ‘paranatellonta’ (peripheral star groups or asterisms, usually minor, which rise in conjunction with a major or well-known constellation) have been combined by ancient peoples to create calendric lunar zodiacs (Flavin 1998). Even the Antikythera device of the first century BC was capable of predicting the positions of the moon (as well as the sun) in the zodiac at a given date.
The signs incised over the outside of the Gradešnica platter are not dealing with the much more known and easy observable synodic lunar cycle of 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes (from new moon to full moon) but with the sidereal lunar cycle (ascending and descending moon; lunar winter and summer) according to which every 27 days the moon is at the farthest point, from the earth, that its orbit reaches. If the first lunar cycle takes in account the time employed by the moon to revolve around the Earth and return in conjunction with the Sun, the second considers the orbit of the moon around the Earth regarding its motion in relation to the firmament, which is presupposed to be motionless and in which the constellations are discernable, i.e. its complete cycle around the Earth returning in the same position in relationship with a fixed background of stars, or constellations.

The elliptical path of the moon around the Earth is different from that one of the sun (ecliptic) and it runs half over the ecliptic and half under it. Its orbit around the Earth is tilted, and therefore twice a month the moon intersects the ecliptic and these points are called “lunar nodes” (it is the moment when eclipses can occur). The moon, cutting the line of the Equator, raises towards the summer zodiacal constellations, then comes down towards the winter ones. The circular path of the sun employs a year and the moon a bit less than a month, but both seem to pass through regions in the sky occupied by twelve specific constellations. Observing the moon from the Earth, during the year it acts two rhythmic processes moving forward in the zodiac: one ascendant and one descendent. At first it traces step by step a greater arc in the sky (ascending) then a smaller (descendant) one. From the lower position in Sagittarius it begins to rise, its circle grows in the sky, the point from which the moon springs out moves in direction north-east, and the point of the sunset moves towards north-west. The higher point is in Taurus, then reaching Gemini the Twins, the moon begins to come down, its circle lowers in the sky, it rises toward south-east and sunsets towards south-west. The lower point is in Scorpio. During the ascending moon plants are believed to be luxuriant and strong in the upper branches, the lymph comes up with force; it is time to pick up fruits. During the descendent moon the lymph comes up with a weak force and it is better to seed or to transplant the plants because they root better.

In conclusion, the Gradešnica lunar zodiac regulated time by noting which stars, planets, and constellations appeared in the night sky simultaneously with a specific (usually new or full) phase of the moon. Connecting moon and zodiacal constellations, which mythological chronogram is explaining the outside of the Gradešnica platter? One can presume that it reports a myth which exploited in Danube basin as one of the foundation of all the regional spiritual beliefs and which was common also to other primitive agricultural societies. It could well concern the creation and re-creation of the world, which is closely connected to the dancing moon in the sky and the giving birth. The motion of the universe is a perpetual act around motherhood and its rotating life on the one hand is generated by it while on the other hand supports the creative action. Motherhood creates sky and constellations and is sustained by them in its generative process.

The initiating nature and the magic-religious function of the fourfold anthropomorphic figure and the surrounding signs of constellations are outlined by their location on the non-visible part of the ritual vessel. The magic-religious marks are visible only when the platter is moved, stored, or transported, but not when it is posed. During the rituals, the marks faced the ground possibly for the giving and the taking of lunar-forces then they were put in motion and became visible reversing the tray maybe for pouring sacred liquid contained in the little try. Was the non-visibility not only a supplementary symbolic meaning but also an integral part of the message and a necessary condition for setting cosmic symbols and inscription into motion?
The question of the non-visibility of some texts is very significant and is indicative of magical associations and sacral meaning of the Danube script connected with initiation processes. Also the cultic, discoidal medallion found by Sabin Luca at Turdaş and more or less coeval to the Gradešnica platter belonging to the early phase of the Turdaş culture, had been used with its inscription facing the ground. In this case the inscribed artifact laid in the middle stratum of a pit among the ashes of a deep steep dwelling, may be a granary or a shaman’s habitation, and accompanying six vessels containing cereals (Luca 1993; Merlini 2004a). In parallel it is noteworthy to consider the possibility of placing one of the rectangular Tărtăria tablet on top of the circular tablets with holes in perfect alignment. The hole of the rectangular tablet fits precisely that of the circular one and the former tablet covers the upper register of the latter perfectly (Fig. 57). This means that they have been worn one over the other and the resulting compound had overt and essoteric signs on the rectangular tablet and the lower register of the circular one, and hidden and esoteric signs on the upper register of the circular tablet. Was the sacred assemblage used during initiation ceremonies? (Merlini on-line, Lazarovici-Merlini 2004).

The above mentioned inscribed artifacts document that Neo-Eneolithic communities of the Danube basin were just at the beginning of the development of a script with a mainly cultic, initiation-ritual character; therefore many meanings were esoteric and revealed only at the occasion of specific initiations (Lazarovici-Merlini 2004). This does not facilitate any attempts to decipher the Danube script since one is dealing with texts which are aimed to convey the un-expressible, which not only reveal but also conceal and divert, and finally which indicate something to actually mean something else.

The artist and anthropologist Daniela Bulgarelli is the author of the painting appearing on this study. Marco Merlini is the author of the photos. Copyright© 2005 The Global Prehistory Consortium at EURO INNOVANET srl.
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