Gumelniţa-Karanovo culture
Encyclopedia
The Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI culture was a Chalcolithic (5th millennium BC) culture named after the Gumelniţa site on the left—Romania
n—bank of the Danube
.
, Marita and Karanovo V cultures. It is supplanted by Cernavodă I
in the early 4th millennium.
—Gumelniţa Culture by Silvia Marinescu-Bîlcu
The first Periodization of Gumelnita culture was suggested by VI. Dumitrescu who split the civilization of Gumelniţa into two phases: A and B. Later on, Dinu V. Rosetti divided the civilization into Al, A2 and B1, B2.
background at the origins, mixed with Maritza elements, the Gumelnita culture has been lasted short of a millennium from the beginning of Charcolitic to the start of the fifth millennium.
Gumelnita-Karanovo VI-Kodjadermen is also aggregated with Varna culture
, still are debates along historians considering the distinctive character of Varna culture.
The evolution of the Gumelniţa-Kodjadermen-Karanovo VI is ended on the north bank of the Danube after the arrival of Cernavoda cultures population.
The layers at Karanovo are employed as a chronological system for Balkans prehistory.
The representation from Gumelnița art differ by other cultures by the following:
As evidence from archaeology, thousands of artifacts from Neolithic Europe have been discovered, mostly in the form of female figurines. As a result a goddess theory has occurred. The leading historian was Marija Gimbutas
, still this interpretation is a subject of great controversy in archaeology due to her many inferences about the symbols on artifacts.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n—bank of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
.
Geography
At his full extent the culture was extending along the Black Sea coast to central Bulgaria and into Thrace. The aggregate "Kodjadermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI" evolves out of the earlier BoianBoian culture
The Boian culture , also known as the Giuleşti-Marica culture or Marita culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe...
, Marita and Karanovo V cultures. It is supplanted by Cernavodă I
Cernavoda culture
Cernavodă culture, ca. 4000—3200 BC, a late copper age archaeological culture of the lower Eastern Bug River and Danube located along the coast of the Black Sea and somewhat inland...
in the early 4th millennium.
Periodization
One of the most flourishing civilizations from the last half of the 5th millenium BC is (next to the Ariuşd Cucuteni – Tripolie complex) Gumelniţa Culture...
...absolute chronology, still under discussion, according to the latest calibrated data, assigns this culture (as mentioned above) to the limits of the last half of the 5th millenium BC and maybe to early 4th millenium BC.
—Gumelniţa Culture by Silvia Marinescu-Bîlcu
The first Periodization of Gumelnita culture was suggested by VI. Dumitrescu who split the civilization of Gumelniţa into two phases: A and B. Later on, Dinu V. Rosetti divided the civilization into Al, A2 and B1, B2.
Gumelniţa A
With a centric evolution from geographic point of view, the intensity of the cultural trends decreased from the center towards peripheral area. Having a strong BoianBoian culture
The Boian culture , also known as the Giuleşti-Marica culture or Marita culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe...
background at the origins, mixed with Maritza elements, the Gumelnita culture has been lasted short of a millennium from the beginning of Charcolitic to the start of the fifth millennium.
Gumelniţa A1
4700-4350Gumelnita-Karanovo VI-Kodjadermen is also aggregated with Varna culture
Varna culture
The Varna culture belongs to the late Eneolithic of northern Bulgaria. It is conventionally dated between 4400-4100 BC cal, that is, contemporary with Karanovo in the South...
, still are debates along historians considering the distinctive character of Varna culture.
Gumelniţa A2
4500-3950 The regional characteristics of A1 phase are diminished, and a more uniform characteristics is identified in discovered artifacts.Synchronisms
| Gumelnita Culture | Adiacent Culture 1 | Adiacent Culture 2 | Adiacent Culture 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gumelniţa A1 | Precucuteni 3 | Cucuteni A1 – A2 | Varna 1 Varna culture The Varna culture belongs to the late Eneolithic of northern Bulgaria. It is conventionally dated between 4400-4100 BC cal, that is, contemporary with Karanovo in the South... |
| Gumelniţa A2 | Cucuteni A3 | the beginning of the Cernavoda 1 culture |
The evolution of the Gumelniţa-Kodjadermen-Karanovo VI is ended on the north bank of the Danube after the arrival of Cernavoda cultures population.
The layers at Karanovo are employed as a chronological system for Balkans prehistory.
Culture
The Gumelniţa is remarcable by the rich of antropomiomorphic an zoomorphic representations. Some consider the achievements of preistoric craftsmen a true masterpieces.The representation from Gumelnița art differ by other cultures by the following:
- statuettes morphology characterised by expressivity, gesture and attitude.
- modelling technique
- arms pozitions on the belly, stretched laterally, in the position of the “thinker”
- sex representation
- decoration pattern
As evidence from archaeology, thousands of artifacts from Neolithic Europe have been discovered, mostly in the form of female figurines. As a result a goddess theory has occurred. The leading historian was Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe", a term she introduced. Her works published between 1946 and 1971 introduced new views by combining traditional spadework with linguistics and mythological...
, still this interpretation is a subject of great controversy in archaeology due to her many inferences about the symbols on artifacts.
The analysis of the finds uncovered by archaeological excavations revealed a few characteristics of the Gumelniţa objects of art, likely to lead to a few main trends of the spiritual life investigation.
Thus, the prevalence of a female character is clear, as it represents 34% of all the anthropomorphic representations. That might represent a deity, the term having a general significance, of worship, without being able to specify under the current stage of the researches which is the nature and status of this deity. The male representations are very few, about 1%, while about 10% are the asexual representations, therefore with no sign (breasts, sexual triangle) which might point to the sex of the statuette.' —Gumelniţa Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Objects of Art by Radian Romus Andreescu
Technological developments
Gumelniţa culture has some sign of work specialisation:...we do not have enough data on the internal organization of the community, but next to the dwellings themselves, arranged or not in a certain order, we encounter workshop-dwellings for processing lithic material, bones, horns, ornaments, statuettes, etc.). —Gumelniţa Culture by Silvia Marinescu-Bîlcu
Danube Script
During the Middle Copper Age, the Danube script appears in three horizons:
The Karanovo VI–Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen cultural complex (mainly in Bulgaria, but also in Romania), the Cucuteni A3-A4–Trypillya B (in Ukraine), and CoțofeniCoțofeni cultureThe Coţofeni culture is a Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age culture that existed for over 700 years in the south-eastern part of Central Europe....
I (in Serbia). The first, rates 68.6% of the frequencies; the second, rates 24.2%; and the third, rates 7.6%.
External links
- http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/gumelnita/cd/default.htm
- http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/gumelnita/gumelnita_engl/cd/default.htm
- http://www.brukenthalmuseum.ro/pdf/Biblioteca_Brukenthal/XXXIII/13%20distinguish%20symbols%20a.pdf
- http://civa.uv.ro/Sandu10.1.pdf
- http://civa.uv.ro/Ciocan5.1.pdf
- http://www.bulgariatravel.org/eng/sights.php?id=15
- http://www.worldmuseumofman.org/balkanneolithic1.htm
- http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/harsova/en/dobro3.htm
- http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/gumelnita/gumelnita_engl/3arii/4Sudul/Gumelnita_in_%20Dobrogea.htm#com
- http://www.cimec.ro/arheologie/gumelnita/gumelnita_engl/1Intro/1/index.htm#1
- http://arheologie.ulbsibiu.ro/publicatii/ats/ats8%201/merlini%20keyfeatures.pdf
- http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2007/10/04/0703411104.DC1
- http://www.arheologie.ro/doc/sp1/105_114_Pandrea.pdf