The Global Prehistory Consortium at EURO INNOVANET
 Milady Tărtăria and the riddle of dating Tărtăria tablets [1]
by Marco Merlini
Milady…you are old but look like a babe,
and even dress like a queen,
(a song by the Italian pop singer Roberto Vecchioni)

  1. Tărtăria tablets as the icon on the possibility of Neolithic writing
  2. A controversial discovery
  3. A challenge to some of the myths on the mythical artefacts
    1. The bones are broken in a natural way and not scorched
    2. The human being was not an adult male but an old woman
    3. The person was not a Great Priest or a Shaman but a "revered holy woman"
    4. Milady Tărtăria was not cremated during a human sacrifice
    5. At Tărtăria any kind of ritual cannibalism did not happened
    6. The pit was a secondary burial maybe associated with ancestor worship and socialization of the dead
    7. Possibly the objects found at the bottom of the pit were a foundation offering
    8. The radiocarbon-dating of the bones: calibrated 5370-5140 BC
    9. Tărtăria inscriptions are a genuine product of European literacy
  4. Tărtăria finds belong Vinca civilization cultural phase B1/B2
  5. Can one date the tablets through direct association with the human bones?
  6. A little contribution to clarify the meaning and interpretation of the signs
Bibliography

Marco Merlini is the author of the text and photos appearing on this article.
General Director of the Prehistory Knowledge Project (Roma, Italy)
Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology (Sebastopol, USA)

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