The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe — 6500–3500 B.C.: Myths and Cult Images [2 ed.] 9780520253988

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THE GODDESSES AND GODS OF OLD EUROPE MARIJA

GIMBUTAS

Digitized by the Internet Archive In 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/goddessesgodsofo0000gimb_m9l4

The Goddesses and Gods

of Old Europe 6500 — 3500 BC

1 Bird-Goddess Thessaly, Greece.

found at Achilleion, ¢. 6000

BC.

Left: front view clearly showing the bird-like beak and the parting of the human

hair-do

Marija Gimbutas

The Goddesses and Gods

of Old Europe 6500 — 3500 Bc Myths and Cult Images

New and updated edition with 252 illustrations

171 text figures and 8 maps

MisiyeisidyYeOr CALIFORNIA

PRESS

Berkeley, Los Angeles

To the inspiration of Franklin D. Murphy Chancellor of UCLA 1959-1968 THE PREPARATION

OF THIS VOLUME

WAS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE SAMUEL H. KRESS FOUNDATION

The line drawings for this volume were done by Linda Mount-Williams; the photographs were taken by Kalman Konya and Miodrag Djordjevic.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley and Los Angeles, California ISBN: 978-0-520-25398-8

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-82323 © 1974, 1982 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

Originally published in the United States of America in 1974 by University of California Press under the title

The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe: 7000-3500 BC New and updated edition in paperback 1982 Reprinted 2007

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Printed and bound in India by Imago 78910

Contents Preface to new

edition

Introduction NOTE

ON

RADIOCARBON

CALIBRATED

DATES

AND

AND THE

DENDRO-CHRONOLOGICALLY CHRONOLOGICAL

13

TABLES

1 Cultural Background THE DESIGNATION ITS SIGNIFICANCE

17

‘CIVILIZATION

OF OLD

EUROPE’

AND

17

REGIONAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL EUROPE

SUBDIVISIONS OF OLD 18

The Aegean and Central Balkan area The The The The

19 25 27 29 33

Adriatic area Middle Danube Basin East Balkan area Moldavian-West Ukrainian area

Schematicism

37

SHORTHAND

a7

THE

NEOLITHIC

ARTIST'S

REALITY

—

NOT

A PHYSICAL

38

REALITY THE

TREND

TOWARDS

THE CHALCOLITHIC

MORE

ERA

NATURALISTIC

SCULPTURE

IN

43

44

3 Ritual Costume DECORATIVE

MOTIFS

ON

CLAY

FIGURINES

AS A REFLECTION

OF COSTUME AND ORNAMENTS

Hip-belts Dresses Men’s costume Footwear

44 45 45 ST. $1

Coiffure and caps

54

SUMMING-UP

55

The Mask

$7

NON-HUMAN

VISAGE

$7

THE VINCA MASK

ST

EVOLUTION

61

OF THE VINCA MASK

DECORATION PARALLELS

AND

IN

THEATRICAL

PERFORATIONS

CRETE

AND

FOR

ANCIENT

64

ATTACHMENT GREECE,

AND

THE

66

EMPHASIS

Shrines and the Role of Figurines CLAY MODELS

REMAINS

67

OF SANCTUARIES

PARALLELS SHRINE

OF SHRINES

AND

SACRIFICIAL PLACES

WITH MINOAN-MYCENAEAN

EQUIPMENT

AND

OBJECTS

oi

SHRINES

RELATED

TO

CULT

PRACTICES

VOTIVE

OFFERINGS.

WHORLS,

AND

INSCRIBED

OTHER

FIGURINES,

VESSELS,

SPINDLE-

OBJECTS

SUMMING-UP

Cosmogonical and Cosmological THE

FOUR

AND

IE

CORNERS BULL

‘THE SNAKE

OF

THE

WORLD,

89

Images THE

MOON

89 93

THE PRIMORDIAL

EGG

Io!

THE FISH

107

Mistresses of Waters: the Bird and Snake Goddess

T1i2

THE INVOCATION OF RAIN, THE BEAR AND THE IDEOGRAMS OF THE BrrD GODDESS

113

THE

124

THE

THE

MEANDER,

SYMBOL

ORIGIN

THE

OF

OF

BIRD

COSMIC

WATERS

GODDESS

AND

HER

IMAGE

DURING

eg

NEOLITHIC

THe ‘Lapy BirD’ AND THE ‘LADY SNAKE’ OF THE CHALCOLITHIC ERA THE

SNAKE

AND

BIRD

GODDESS

AS NURSE

RECAPITULATION THE BrrD GODDESS AND SNAKE GODDESS CRETE AND IN ANCIENT GREECE

IN MINOAN

145

The Great Goddess of Life, Death and Regeneration THE

ANDROGYNOUS

FOLDED

ARMS

OF

THE

AND

CORPULENT

NEOLITHIC

THE CHRYSALID GODDESS CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD

WITH

THE

LIFE

MAGICAL

MOUTH,

HANDS

SOURCE AND

OF

GODDESS

WITH

152

PERIOD

FOLDED

ARMS

OF THE

LSi/ WITHIN

THE

GODDESS:

HER

EGGS

THE EPIPHANIES The dog, a double of the Moon Goddess The doe, a double of the Goddess of Regeneration The toad and the turtle: the goddess in the shape ofahuman foetus The hedgehog: the goddess in the shape of an animal uterus or foetus The bee and the butterfly: the bull-born Goddess of

Transformation and Regeneration The bear: the goddess as mother and nurse

163 169 169 71

174 179 I8I

190

RECAPITULATION GREAT GODDESS

OF VARIOUS

ASPECTS

OF THE PREHISTORIC

195

HeEKATE AND ARTEMIS: SURVIVAL OF THE OLD EUROPEAN GREAT GODDESS IN ANCIENT GREECE AND WESTERN ANATOLIA

196

The Pregnant Vegetation Goddess THE DOT (SEED) AND THE LOZENGE THE ENTHRONED

PREGNANT

THE PIG, THE SACRED VEGETATION

GODDESS

ANIMAL

ALLUSIONS TO DEMETER, MYTHOLOGY

(SOWN FIELD)

OF THE

KORE AND

GODDESS

OF

PERSEPHONE IN GREEK

10 The Year-God THE PHALLUS

THE ITHYPHALLIC

MASKED

THE BULL WITH A HUMAN ALLUSIONS

GOD MASK

TO DIONYSUS

THE “SORROWFUL

GOD’

THE DIVINE CHILD Conclusions Abbreviations

239

Details of sites including radiocarbon dates

241

Bibliography

256

Catalogue

270

Index

300

Preface to new edition Much new material on the mythical imagery of Old Europe has emerged during the ten-year interval between the writing of The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe and the present edition, but the basic concepts have remained unchanged. The new discoveries have served only to strengthen and support the view that the culture called Old Europe was characterized by a dominance of woman in society and worship of a Goddess incarnating the creative principle as Source and Giver of All. In this culture the male element, man and animal,

represented spontaneous and life-stimulating — but not lifegenerating — powers. This priority is represented in the present title by a change in word order, from The Gods and Goddesses to The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. The term Old Europe is applied to a pre-Indo-European culture of Europe, a culture matrifocal and probably matrilinear, agricultural and sedentary, egalitarian and peaceful. It contrasted sharply with the ensuing proto-Indo-European culture which was patriarchal, stratified, pastoral, mobile, and war-oriented, superimposed on all

Europe, except the southern and western fringes, in the course of three waves of infiltration from the Russian steppe, between 4500 and 2500 Bc. During and after this period the female deities, or more accurately, the Goddess Creatrix in her many aspects, were largely replaced by the predominantly male divinities of the IndoEuropeans. What developed after c. 2500 BC was a mélange of the two mythic systems, Old European and [ndo-European. The analysis of Old European mythical imagery has reconstituted a link between the religion of the Upper Palaeolithic and that of the pre-Indo-European substratum of European cultures; without consideration ofthe very rich evidence from Old Europe, neither the Palaeolithic ideological structures nor those of early historic Greeks and other Europeans can be well understood. The persistence of the Goddess worship for more than 20,000 years, from the Palaeolithic

to the Neolithic and beyond, is shown by the continuity of a variety

ofa series of conventionalized images. Her specific aspects of power such as life-giving, fertility-giving, and birth-giving are extremely — long lasting. Their indentification was made through study of symbolic signs incised on figurines and associated cultic objects, as well as postures, attributes, and associations. More of this detailed evidence

willappear ina forthcoming study by the author on signs and symbols of Old Europe. The object of the present volume is to transmit some notion of the variety and complexity of the philosophical ideas of our European forebears. Los Angeles, California 1981

Marija Gimbutas

Introduction The tradition of sculpture and painting encountered in Old Europe (for a definition of this term, see p. 17) was transmitted from the

Palaeolithic era. In art and mythical imagery it is not possible to draw a line between the two eras, Palaeolithic and Neolithic, just as it is

not possible to draw a line between wild and domestic plants and animals. Much of the symbolism of the early agriculturists was taken over from the hunters and fishers. Such images as the fish, snake,

bird, or horns are not Neolithic creations; they have roots in Palaeolithic times. And yet, the art and myths of the first farmers differed in inspiration and hence in form and content from those of the hunters and fishers. Clay and stone figurines were being fashioned long before pottery was first made around 6500 Bc. The vast increase in sculptures in Neolithic times and the extent to which they departed from Palaeolithic types was not caused by technological innovations, but by the permanent settlement and growth of communities. A farming economy bound the villages to the soil, to the biological rhythms of the plants and animals upon which their existence wholly depended. Cyclical change, death and resurrection, were ascribed to the supernatural powers and in consequence special provision was made to protect the capricious life forces and assure their perpetuation. As early as the seventh millennium B € traits associated with the psychology and religion ofthe farmer are a characteristic feature of sculptural art. This art was not consciously imitative of natural forms but sought rather to express abstract conceptions. About 30,000 miniature sculptures of clay, marble, bone, copper or gold are presently known from a total of some 3000 sites of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic era in southeastern Europe. Enormous quantitites of ritual vessels, altars, sacrificial equipment,

inscribed

objects, clay models of temples, actual temples and pictorial paintings on vases or on the walls of shrines, already attest a genuine civilization.

The three millennia saw a progressive increase in stylistic diversity, producing ever greater variety of individual forms. Simultaneously, a more naturalistic expression of anatomical generalities gradually emancipated itself from an initial subordination to the symbolic purpose. The study of these more articulated sculptures, their ideograms and symbols and the highly developed vase painting enabled the author to distinguish the different types of goddesses and gods, their epiphanies, their devotees, and the cult scenes with which they

were associated. Thus, it is possible to speak of apantheon of gods, and to reconstruct

the various costumes

and masks, which throw

much light on ritual drama and life as it was then lived. Through the deciphering of stereotype images and signs with the help of quantitative and qualitative analyses it becomes clear that these early Europeans expressed their communal worship through the medium of the idol. In the miniature sculptures of Old Europe the emotions are made manifest in ritual drama involving many actors, both gods and worshippers. Much the same practice seems to have been current in Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia in

the corresponding periods, but only in southeastern Europe is such a quantity of figurines available for a comparative study. The shrines, cult objects, magnificent painted and black pottery, costumes, elaborate religious ceremonialism, and a rich mythical imagery far more complex than was hitherto assumed, speak of a refined European culture and society. No longer can European Neolithic-Chalcolithic developments be summed up in the old axiom, Ex oriente lux.

When the magnificent treasures of the Minoan civilization were unravelled in the beginning of the twentieth century, Sir Arthur Evans wrote: ‘I venture to believe that the scientific study of Greek civilization is becoming less and less possible without taking into constant account that of the Minoan and Mycenaean world that went

before

it’ (JHS

1912:

277). While

his remark

was

amply

justified, the question of what went before the Minoan civilization remained to be posed. Now it is becoming less and less possible to understand the Minoan civilization without the study of the culture which preceded it. The study of this culture, to which I have applied the name “Old Europe’, reveals new chronological dimensions and a new concept of the beginning of European civilization. It was not a single small legendary island claimed by the sea some 9000 years ago that gave rise to the fabulous civilization of Crete and the Cyclades, but a considerable part of Europe surrounded by the eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Adriatic Seas. The many islands were an aid to navigation and facilitated communication with Anatolia, Levant and Mesopotamia. Fertile river valleys lured the first farmers deeper inland into the Balkan Peninsula and Danubian 12

Europe. Old Europe is a product of hybridization of Mediterranean and Temperate southeast-European peoples and cultures. European

civilization between

6500 and 3500 BC was not a

provincial reflection of Near Easter civilization, absorbing. its achievements through diffusion and periodic invasions, but a distinct culture developing a unique identity. Many aspects of this culture remain to be explored. One of the main purposes of this book is to Present, as it were, the spiritual manifestations of Old Europe. Mythical imagery of the prehistoric era tells us much about humanity — its concepts of the structure of the cosmos, of the beginning of the world and of human, plant and animal life, and also its struggle and relations with nature. It cannot be forgotten that through myth, images and symbols man comprehended and manifested his being. Though profusely illustrated, this volume does not claim to present every aspect of the mythical imagery of Old Europe; the illustrations were selected from many thousands, with a view to showing the most representative examples and not just the most beautiful sculptures or vases. Basic information is derived from the systematically excavated sites, which are listed with full chronological details at the end of the book. The documentation of the illustrated objects is contained in the Catalogue. ' NOTE

ON

CALIBRATED

RADIOCARBON DATES

AND

AND THE

DENDROCHRONOLOGICALLY CHRONOLOGICAL

TABLE

The discovery and development of the radiocarbon dating technique by Willard F. Libby (Radiocarbon Dating, 1952) gave archaeology its most powerful means of discovering the age of prehistoric cultures. Within two decades of its development and implementation radiocarbon analysis had revolutionized earlier conceptions of European Neolithic-Chalcolithic chronology, extending its span by almost two millennia. Prior to this, stratigraphic and typological interpretations had been used to support a theory of the spread of agriculture from the Near East to Europe in the fourth millennium Bc. The backbone of this universally accepted chronological outline was the postulated Near Eastern derivation of the Vinéa culture with its typical fine ceramics, result of a migration from the Near East via Anatolia subsequent to the Troy I period, datable, it was believed,

by analogies to historic Egypto-Mesopotamian civilization to just after 3000 BC. Vinéa was firmly located within the relative chronology of the European Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures and so through its supposed historic connection became the datum around which the absolute chronology of European prehistory was estimated. This chronological system is still maintained by a small minority of 13

European prehistorians who were encouraged by the recent discovery in an Early Vinéa context of the Tartaria tablets, which they consider to be an import from Mesopotamia at about 3000 BC. This chronology was completely discredited by radiocarbon analysis, which by 1970 had supplied 300 dates for Old European Neolithic and Chalcolithic samples, placing the beginnings of the Neolithic in the seventh millennium Bc. This called for not only a readjustment in the absolute dating of Neolithic-Chalcolithic culture but also an important rearrangement of the relative chronologies of Europe and the Near East. However, by the early 1960’s it became evident that radiocarbon dates were inaccurate. The accuracy of the process was dependent upon the validity of the assumption (among others) that the radiocarbon content of atmospheric carbon-dioxide had remained constant during geologically recent time. Discrepancies between radiocarbon and calendrical chronologies were soon remarked, following the radiocarbon analysis of wood samples of known age from historic Egyptian and Near Eastern sources; and it has since been demonstrated through the marriage of dendrochronological research and radiocarbon analysis that there have been variations in the level of atmospheric radiocarbon through time, and that these are of two sorts: localized fluctuations, and a long-term trend in which the divergence between the radiocarbon and true ages increases with increasing sample age during the millennia Bc. Dendrochronology is the study of the chronological sequence of the annual growth rings in trees. Within the confines of a particular environment the ring patterns of different tree specimens can be matched and related one to another, a technique made possible by the fact that annual rings vary in thickness due to varying local environmental conditions from year to year. So a master-chronology can be compiled incorporating both living trees of great age and dead, preserved trunks which can be fitted into the ring-pattern sequence. The bristle-cone pine of the White Mountains of California has provided an unbroken sequence extending back into the sixth millennium Bc. Radiocarbon analysis of ring samples of known age identified the inaccuracy of the radiocarbon dates; and, with the accumulation of sufficient analyses, was able to supply curves and tables of conversion which permit correction of radiocarbon dates to approximate true age. Dates falling between the third and fifth millennia BC in ‘radiocarbon years’ require a corrective addition, increasingly large with increasing age, of a few hundred to as much as a thousand years to align them with approximate true age. Direct comparison of the radiocarbon content of historically dated samples from ancient Egyptian contexts with that of bristle-cone pine samples of equivalent true age has independently confirmed the validity of

14

the method. Currently archaeologists including the author of this volume

use the “Suess curve’

(named after Dr Hans E. Suess, of

UCSD) for correction of radiocarbon dates to approximate true age. Consequently, European Neolithic and Chalcolithic chronology is undergoing a second revolution which extends the span of prehistoric development by a further millennium. The most important effect of radiocarbon chronology and of this marked extension of it to approximate true age has been to demonstrate the antiquity of European prehistoric culture, and its autonomous growth as the equal rather than the dependent of Near Eastern cultural evolution. Socio-economic developments that 20 years ago were compressed into little over one millennium are now seen to have required at least three millennia to evolve, emphasizing the stability, longevity and cultural continuity of the Old European Neolithic-Chalcolithic civilization. A chronological table of the cultural complexes of Old Europe appears below. The given years represent true age, i.e. radiocarbon dates converted into true age on Suess’ calibration curve. ADRIATIC 350

AEGEAN

CENTRAL BALKAN

EAST BALKAN

‘| MOLDAVIAN | MIDDLE | TISZA WEST DANUBE UKRAINE

rs

a

SCOOPS

Welcchaeene | ae

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a =

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= an =

A ENO 4

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lad

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2

4

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v

on

—

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