Revista Analele Banatului S.N. Arheologie-Istorie

Marco Merlini

Writing the night: Gheorghe Lazarovici and the neolithic proto-script of astral symbols

1 Ianuarie 2022

Abstract

Gheorghe Lazarovici’s pioneering database and inventory of astro-sacral signs of the Danube Civilization underpins a transformative reevaluation of several Neolithic and Early Copper Age artefacts. Building on his corpus of signs, this article reconceives portable shell charts, clay discs, spindle whorls, tablets and amphora fragments as interlocking modules within an integrated cosmological system. That system was shared across the vast Danube riverine network and grounded in systematic sky watching and communal rituals. Comparative analysis uncovers a pan-Danubian visual language based primarily on northern constellations, the Milky Way and the pole star. Recurring motifs—spirals, crosses, star-cluster ideograms and the M/W patterns of Cassiopeia—functioned as precise equinoctial and precession markers, portable horizon dials, and ritual calendars. Archaeo-astronomical research reveals that these astral symbols were used to map both daily solar motions and long period celestial cycles, enabling communities to calibrate sowing, harvesting and ceremonial observances to cosmic rhythms. Constellational silhouettes and their apparent motions became graphic signs for timekeeping and cultic enactment. Over generations, these astral archetypes coalesced into a sacred script—primarily logographic—that we now recognize as the Danube Script. Its notation intertwined celestial observation with symbolic motifs and ritual practice. One of Lazarovici's legacies lies in having established the Danube script as one of the earliest notation systems partly based on astronomy. Progression to literacy predated Sumerian writing technology by up to two millennia, challenging conventional narratives about the geographic origins and functions of early writing. This integrated cosmology reveals how Neolithic sky watchers read the heavens as a living text to guide agricultural practice, structure communal memory, perform seasonal rites and mediate human–divine relationships. It offers a compelling model for the astronomical origins of ritual notation and proto-literacy.