Europe's Oldest Civilization: The Romanian-Bulgarian Danube Valley (5000-3500BC)

I figured I would make a thread to highlight an oft-overlooked part of history (well, pre-history), both geographically and chronologically. Before the civilizations of Greece and Rome, the people of Romania and Bulgaria were giving their first crack at civilization. It is possibly the oldest civilization in all of Western Eurasia, and certainly one of the most remarkable in terms of artistic expression. Before the first written word and the first wheel was turned, these people were already mastering copper-smelting, were living in large agricultural communities (some as large as 2,000 houses). The main cultural groups are Cucuteni Culture and Hamangia Culture, but there are others like Cernavoda Culture and Varna culture. S

An exhibit on them is shown below:
http://www.nyu.edu/isaw/exhibitions/oldeurope/
There are still many questions about how these societies worked:
1) Were they matriarchal societies?
2) Why did some of them cremate not only the dead but also their possessions? This is actually seen as a reason for their collapse (they simply ran out of wood).
3) Could these proto-Bronze Age civilizations have survived and created a greater European civilization in Eastern Europe? What language did they speak?

Most of the findings of this civilization are in Southern and Eastern Romania, but they extend outwards towards the Bulgarian coastline. This map highlights the spread of these civilizations:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3701199...88974/sizes/o/

Редактирано от Yavanna на 02.02.15 19:28.