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Documenta Praehistorica XXVIII
Celestial symbolism in the Vu≠edol culture
Aleksandar Durman
Department of Archaeology, University of Zagreb, Croatia
IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN
The right bank of the Danube River in eastern Cro-
atia was settled by members of the Vu≠edol Culture
at the beginning of the third millennium BC. This
predominant cultural phenomenon (in the period
between 2900–2400 BC) had a great influence on
other contemporary cultures, and it also left behind
considerable traces in the European heritage as a
whole. Its high standards were first achieved through
an economy related to stock-raising, and in later
phases on mining and copper metallurgy based on
a new revolutionary technological process – mass
casting. The need for copper resulted in the expan-
sion of the Vu≠edol Culture from its homeland of
Slavonia into the broader region of central and
southeastern Europe. Society became stratified, as is
shown by the rich princely graves. It is increasingly
clear that the inhabitants of Vu≠edol were not me-
rely of Indo-Europeanised proto-Mediterranean an-
cestry, instead being the direct descendants of the
Indo-Europeans.
The eponymous site of Vu≠edol has to date given the
greatest contribution to reconstruction of the entire
Vu≠edol Culture, but other important information
has been offered by the finds from several sites in
Vinkovci (
Hotel
,
Zvijezda
), and from Dami≤ Gradina
at Stari Mikanovci and Sarva∏ near Osijek.
This article wishes to present the Vu≠edol Culture
conception of the world, as shown on their vessels,
particularly the terrines and the vessels developed
from them – referred to as censers. They had more
of a ritual than a practical role. The decoration on
them is sometimes paralleled by that on smaller ves-
sels. Shallow bowls sometimes also bear certain mes-
sages, but as a rule they present only part of the
symbolism of the others. Chalices with a short pede-
stal are particularly interesting, most often decorated
inside and outside, but with a completely different
conceptual idea. They increasingly replaced the ter-
rine form at the end of the Vu≠edol Culture. The ter-
rines first lost their evolved ancient form (a long
banded handle in place of a tunnel-shaped one, and
this connecting the rim of the vessel with a rounded
body in place of the usual sharply biconical edge),
and soon afterwards their characteristic decoration.
The decoration on the vessels was made with gro-
oved incisions, which is technically close to a slanted
continuous slicing made by a large thorn (up to 3
mm in diameter) as an instrument. The incisions
must have represented recognizable and clear sym-
bols, as the empty spaces were carefully filled after
firing with the crushed shells of snails or river shell-
fish, mixed in a base of natural resins.
ABSTRACT – The article presents the Vu≠edol Culture conception of the world, as shown on their ves-
sels, particularly the terrines and the vessels developed from them – referred to as censers. They had
more of a ritual than a practical role. Particular attention is drawn to the pot with the calendar image.
IZVLE∞EK – V ≠lanku obravnavamo pojmovanje sveta v kontekstu Vu≠edolske kulture, kot se ka∫e na
njihovih posodah, ∏e posebej na terinah in posodah, ki so se razvile iz njih – takoimenovanih kadil-
nicah. Te posode so imele bolj ritualen kot prakti≠en pomen. Posebno pozornost namenjamo posodi
s sliko koledarja.
KEY WORDS – Vu≠edol; pottery; calendar
Aleksandar Durman
216
It is interesting that the earliest pot-
tery of the Vu≠edol Culture, discove-
red in several refuse pits at Vu≠edol
itself, bears no traces of encrustation,
and the first terrines have a continu-
ously incised horizontal line imme-
diately above the biconical break on
the body of the vessel (Fig. 1).
At almost the same time, shallow or
somewhat more emphasized con-
tours appear above this line, such as
could be used in elementary form
of art to evoke some actual outlines
on a horizon – isolated heights or
mountains (Fig. 2, 3).
And God said: “Let the water under the heavens ga-
ther into one place and let the land appear!”....”
The Holy Bible, Genesis, 1, 9.
It seems like the first horizontal line denoted the
lucid idea of delineating a horizon. This “pattern”
was an interpretation or image of the world pre-
sented on pottery, where the widest part of the
vessel – the biconical edge of the body – represen-
ted a division between the visible and invisible
worlds, thus that section crying out for attention.
“Then running round the shield-rim, triple ply, he
pictured all the might of the Ocean stream.”
The Iliad, 18, 607–608
The visible part of the horizon was soon “canoni-
zed” into the classic Vu≠edol Culture, and was filled
with a centimetre wide horizontal band with in-
cised lattice-like lines, whether zigzag, oblique, or
with impressed circles (Fig. 4, 5).
The incrustation itself often covered the actual deco-
ration in this horizontal band, as was discovered
only when an external layer simply fell apart after
cleaning a vessel removed from an archaeological
layer. Even today, this decoration cannot be seen
under certain encrusted sections. It is as if the incised
decoration in this band was not of any particular im-
portance, having already served primarily as a foun-
dation onto which the encrustation could be applied.
Those pottery fragments recovered from greater
depths, or those found under conditions meaning
that they had not been exposed to constant freez-
ing, preserved a red border along the white encrus-
tation.
In the ancient Indo-European religion, and thus in
many others, the idea is preserved of the Earth floa-
ting on the Ocean.
“... beyond famed Oceanus at the world’s edge
hard by Night”
Hesiod, Theogony, 275–276
In southern Mesopotamia they believed that all the
springs, wells, streams, rivers and lakes received
their water from an ocean of fresh water lying be-
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2. Fig. 3.
Celestial symbolism in the Vu≠edol culture
217
low the land (Abzu or Apsu). The land was sur-
rounded by the salty ocean – Tiamat.
(Black, 1992, 27).
Nonetheless the principle of the “canonized band”,
which is only a millimeter or at most two above the
biconical, widest part of the vessel, could be replaced
only by two symbols that (in their actual and reli-
gious importance) exceed the contour of the hori-
zon.
The first symbol that negates the horizon is an image
of the Sun. It is always placed so that its centre lies
on the biconical point (Fig. 6, 7). On small terrines,
four suns are placed symmetrically as a rule. This
position symbolically denotes the sun’s rise from the
depths of the sea, where it was during the night.
Dawn is the most important moment of the entire
day, the moment when the darkness of night is
overcome.
“The sun dipped, and all the ways
grew dark upon the fathomless un-
resting sea. By night our ship ran
onward toward the Ocean’s bourne,
the realm and region of the Men of
Winter, hidden in mist and cloud.
Never the flaming eye of Helios
lights on those men at morning,
when he climbs the sky of stars, nor
in descending earthward out of
heaven; ruinous night being rove
over those wretches.
Odyssey, 11, 13–19
But while such a depiction of the sun
can be seen to represent the daily
battle of light and dark, where the
Sun arising from the Ocean (Fig. 8)
overcomes the dark (death), the next
symbol representing the con-
stellation of Orion undoubt-
edly refers to the annual bat-
tle between light and dark.
Orion (Fig. 9, 10), shown with
five stars, is incised on the bi-
conical edge of the vessels,
where the central one is al-
ways placed (it is depicted as
larger, as three smaller stars
from the belt of Orion are in-
corporated in it). Orion is the
most dominant constellation
of the winter sky, and its belt (in Croatian known
as “the Reapers”) fell below the horizon exactly at
the spring equinox in 2800 BC. The disappearance
of Orion (specifically the belt) from the heavens
marked the end of winter, and the previously men-
tioned solar symbol on the horizon is celebrated
the same day, but as the first day of spring. This
day was the main annual visual clue for determin-
ing the year of Vu≠edol, more precisely represent-
ing the beginning of the New Year for the inhabi-
tants of Vu≠edol.
The find from Vu≠edol that many interpret as a
worshipper, is the only known graphic image of a
human figure in the Vu≠edol Culture (Fig. 11). This
figure is undeniably an anthropomorphous repre-
sentation of Orion. The most important aspect of
this is the conclusion that the inhabitants of Vu≠edol
(like the Egyptian, the Greeks, etc.) perceived Orion
as a human figure.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Aleksandar Durman
218
The part of a terrine that descends from
the body and narrows towards the base
was never decorated with incision and
encrustation in the classical Vu≠edol Cul-
ture. But the jugs and the low chalices
that developed from the terrines in the
later phase of the culture were filled in
the lower narrow section with exclusi-
vely zigzag or wavy lines, which in pri-
mitive painting always designate water
or the mythic ocean in which the world
floats (Fig. 12, 13). The depths of these
waters are unknown to man, who knows
only the flickering surface, but can only
be conjectured in fear.
According to the cosmogony of Heliopo-
lis (Egypt), the Sun evolved through its
own power from Nun, the fluid and im-
mobile, languid chaos.
Under the surface, in the depths of the ocean, was
the void in which man definitely lost firm land
under his feet and where he fell into a bottomless
abyss – the realm of water, but also death.
The decoration on the low chalices on a single wide-
ned pedestal was made in a special way (Fig. 14).
The upper edge of the vessel always denotes the ho-
rizon, as a series of wavy or zigzag decorations are
often incised on its narrow rim. On the outside, the
vessel as a rule is decorated with large zigzag line in
negative, extending from the rim to the base, which
at first glance look like some kind of flower with
five or six petals. When the vessel stands on its pe-
destal, this exterior part displays the water on which
the Earth floats. The inner part of the vessel was fil-
led with variously organized symbols that stand in-
dependently or in specially marked fields. They most
commonly bear a recognizable symbolism of the Sun,
its daily or yearly rotation, and we can hypothesize
that this was the natural position of the vessel in
which the firmament was reflected. But when the
vessel is turned over as a lid, the vault of heaven is
denied to the viewer, and the decoration of water or
the ocean dominates on the outside. As the wavy line
on the rim of the vessel shows the boundary of the
visible horizon, it can perhaps be suggested that the
horizon was reversed here, and that only with the
vessel that it covered did it perhaps form a unit. Very
frequently the pedestal of the chalice was made like
a classic cross or a cross was incised and encrusted
on the underside of its circular base (Fig. 15). This
was a perception of the Sun in the mo-
ment when it is entirely covered, un-
der the horizon at the bottom of the
Ocean, at night or in winter, or in the
reversed position, as a lid, at the zenith
of the diurnal or summer sky.
“Where is Surya now (after sunset)
and which celestial region his rays
now illumine?
Rig-Veda I, 35, 7
“The nether waters formed not only
the home of the evil spirits and the
scene of fights with them, but that it
was the place which Surya, Agni, Vi-
shnu, the Ashvins and Trita had all to
visit during a portion of the year.”
Tilak, 1903, 306
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
Celestial symbolism in the Vu≠edol culture
219
These vessels because of their decoration and sym-
bolism of ornamentation were certainly used both
as chalices and as lids, but they then served in con-
verse ritual purposes.
“The nether world or world of waters was concei-
ved like an the inverted hemisphere or tub, so that
anyone going there was said to go to the region of
endless darkness or bottomless waters.”
Tilak, 1903, 306
The terrines were most often up
to 15 cm height, and were main-
ly decorated in the previously
described manner. However, ter-
rines beyond this size can be
found, and even over 30 cm in
diameter, which for a vessel with
a single tunnel-like handle is en-
tirely absurd. These large ter-
rines as a rule are more richly de-
corated (Fig. 16). Most often se-
ven or nine suns are drawn at
the biconical break, but not
evenly spaced, instead in groups
(2+3+2 or 3+3+3). This marking
of the Sun seven or nine times
most probably described the
number of sun months in a year.
“The sun drives in a carriage with seven wheels.”
Rig-Veda (I, 50, 8)
Dawn in a moderate climate belt, such as at Vu≠edol,
is visible only for a short time in the east before it
is replaced by the brilliance of the rising Sun.
“One year to a mortal is one day and one night to
the gods: the day corresponds to the route of the
Sun to the north, and the night its route to the
south.”
Manu, I. 67
Dawn is a mortal, as is god of the spring equinox,
and the decoration on the vessels can be interpre-
ted as an annual human visual clue, or calendar. But
just as the sun rises at dawn, at the end of the day
it sets, which could be shown in the same manner –
at the halfway point of the horizon.
“The sun is carried by the current of the heavenly
waters towards their destination, i.e. towards the
Ocean.”
Rig-Veda, VII, 49, 2
“Water and light come from the same source, and
run in the same bed”, as is cited by J. Darmesteter
in a note about Zend-Avesta, as the heavenly water
awakens the heavenly bodies to movements, some-
thing like what would happen to a boat or any
other object carried by the current of some river.
The results of damming these waters would be quite
serious, and the entire world would be thrown into
darkness, into a winter fettered in ice.
Above the incised line on the body of the Vu≠edol
terrine is the world horizon of living man. Nume-
rous symbols are incorporated in this, which repre-
Fig. 8.
Fig. 9.
Aleksandar Durman
220
sent a firm orientation for man finding
his way in time and space.
And God said, “Let there be a firma-
ment in the midst of the waters, and
let it separate the waters from the
waters.” And God made the firmament
and separated the waters which were
under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament. And
it was so. And God called the firma-
ment Heaven.
The Holy Bible, Genesis 1, 6–8
And God said, “Let there be lights in
the firmament of the heavens to sepa-
rate the day from the night; and let
them be for signs and for seasons and
for days and years, and let them be
lights in the firmament of the heavens
to give light upon the earth.”
The Holy Bible, Genesis 1, 14–15
On the large Vu≠edol terrines, a zone with a depic-
tion of the heavens extends from the horizon to the
upper rim of the vessel (Fig. 17). This is divided by
vertical boundaries (usually two parallel lines) into
4 or 6 fields. Constellations are most often shown in
these fields. Orion was present in almost all combi-
nations, and the Pleiades, Cassiopeia, and some pla-
netary symbols also appear. The terrines with such
a decoration offer their illustrated message of an in-
dividual story about the fate of the deceased next to
which they were usually placed. Although it is not
something that is easy to admit, the decoration on
them is closely related to views of the situation in
the graves in which they are most often found, in-
cluding human victims. In this manner the heavenly
drama was equalized with the human fate.
The determination of the seasons can best be perce-
ived in the positions and relations between certain
symbols that undoubtedly mark the constellations
significant for individual parts of the year.
In comparison with the Sumerian-Babylonian, Egyp-
tian, Chinese, Indian, and other ancient calendars,
the constellations can be clearly defined, and the
zones or belts into which some vessels are divided
exhibit larger annual units. The constellations that
denote individual seasons were shown at the mo-
ment of twilight, as the first landmarks
of the evening sky (Orion, Gemini, Pe-
gasus, the Pleiades, Cassiopeia, Cygnus).
Naturally, the very common symbolism
of the Sun (without a single depiction of
the Moon) shows the complete displace-
ment of lunar symbolism, which is an
Indo-European trait.
Particular attention is drawn to a low
pot with a gentle profile in an S-shape,
found in 1978 during excavations at the
Vinkovci-Hotel site, in a pit of the late
classic Vu≠edol Culture (Fig. 18). It was
quite damaged on one side, and the an-
cient break indicated that it had had a
role even in a broken state, as the pit
Fig. 10.
Fig. 11.
Celestial symbolism in the Vu≠edol culture
221
was mainly filled with unbroken vessels. It was di-
vided into four horizontal fields, and the lower one
was preserved in its entire extent, containing 12
equal squares. They are clearly delineated, and every
other one has an incised and encrusted, precisely
formed mark (Fig. 19).
In the first, upper zone, which is proportionally
worse damaged, squares can be recognized in the
following sequence.
❶Empty square, the Sun, empty square, Orion,
empty square, the Sun, empty square... This belt un-
doubtedly evokes sspprriinngg, according to the previ-
ously mentioned terrines that bore the Sun or Orion
on the horizon. This is the beginning of the season
when the Sun, on the 21st of March 2800 BC set
around 5:27 PM, and the Belt of
Orion – in Croatia known as “Rea-
pers”, in Upper Germany it has been
often the Magy or the Three Kings
(
Allen 1963.316
) – set with the first
twilight. This is the only zone on this
pot where the Sun appears, as it was
necessary to emphasize particularly
that Orion was passing, visible in the
very fact that the Sun is shown. This
is more a depiction of the triumph of
the arrival of the first day of spring
– the equinox – than spring itself.
The year at Vu≠edol began with the
spring equinox, when the Sun sym-
bolically supplanted the most impor-
tant winter constellation of Orion. To be
more exact, that night Orion’s Belt ap-
peared a short while for the last time
in the winter sky, disappearing for seve-
ral months. This chance circumstance,
noted by the inhabitants of Vu≠edol,
today no longer exists because of the
course of time (precession), helped them
in determining the first day of the new
year, but also in coordinating the num-
ber of days in their year (unknown to
us) with the actual number of days of
the yearly revolution of the Earth around
the Sun.
The second, lower belt shows ssuummmmeerr,
without too many dominant stars.
❷Empty square, the Pleiades, empty
square, Cygnus, empty square, Cassio-
peia, empty square, the Pleiades... Cassiopeia in the
form of the letter W is particularly interesting. In
this period it was not a circumpolar constellation,
and at the summer solstice it rose at the setting of
the Sun, at 8 PM. Cygnus (like the cross of St. An-
drew) is high above the eastern horizon. The cir-
cular symbol is not typical for several stars (6) in the
Pleiades, but it is difficult to record them all in such
a small space, so it is most likely, as was the case in
Babylonian (
Gossmann 1950.279
) and Vedic astro-
nomy (
Santillana 1969.157
) that Mars was their
planetary representative. The Pleiades appeared only
at 1 AM in the morning.
“When the Pleiades born of Atlas rise before the
sun, begin the reaping; the ploughing, when they
set.”
Hesiod, Works and Days, 383–384
Fig. 12.
Fig. 13.
Aleksandar Durman
222
AAuuttuummnnis shown in the third belt.
❸The Pleiades, empty square, Gemini,
empty square, the Pleiades, empty
square, Pegasus/Pisces, empty square,
the Pleiades... In 3000 BC, the Pleiades
rose at 7 PM, and Gemini (two diago-
nally placed stars) around 8:30 PM. The
large constellation that is today divided
into two, Pisces and Pegasus, was most
often depicted on the Vu≠edol vessels as
two diagonally overlapping squares, al-
though there are also other artistic va-
riants (checkerboard). Examples for this
analogy can be found in Santillana
(
1969.434
), including Sumer and Baby-
lonia, Roman Zodiac of Dendera (Egypt),
as well as rather recent drawings from
the Guinea Coast in Africa, Sumatra, and
the New World. This constellation at 8
PM was high in the heavens and practi-
cally at its culmination.
The wwiinntteerrsky in the lowest belt is par-
ticularly interesting. This is not merely
because of the fact that the vessel in this
section was entirely preserved with 12
squares, but also because of the separate
constellations of the especially attractive
winter firmament.
❹Empty square, Cassiopeia, empty
square, Pegasus/Pisces, empty square,
Orion, empty square, the Pleiades,
empty square, Pegasus/Pisces, empty
square, Gemini. It is extremely interes-
ting that in the depiction of the winter
sky, Pegasus/Pisces is shown twice, but
Orion, as the dominant constellation of
the winter sky and practically its sym-
bol, only once. Pegasus/Pisces set at 9
PM on the 21st of December in 3000 BC.
Cassiopeia can be seen in winter in a
perpendicular position in comparison
to its summer appearance. The already
well-known constellation of the Pleia-
des was directly above the heads of the
inhabitants of Vu≠edol.
It is especially significant that not a sin-
gle season contained the particularly
conspicuous constellation of the north-
ern sky, Ursa Major (the Great Bear, the
Big Dipper), not even when certain sym-
Fig. 14.
Fig. 15.
Celestial symbolism in the Vu≠edol culture
223
bols are repeated in the same row. The reason most
of all must lie in the fact that this constellation was
permanently in the skies throughout the entire year
(circumpolar), and thus it was not significant to the
people of Vu≠edol in terms of the calendar, although
they probably knew of it.
This calendar recognized four seasons and 12 pos-
sible weeks within them, i.e. three months. There
was space in the upper belts for 13 squares, but this
space was probably occupied by a small protrusion.
In any long-term observation of the phases of the
moon, the ancient peoples concluded that they take
somewhat longer than 29.5 days. Thus it can be hy-
pothesized that the month, like that of the Egyp-
tians, would have had 30 days. We could attempt to
prove this with the explanation that one month was
divided into two decorated fields (theoretically each
8 days) and two undecorated (each 7 days). Thus a
year would have 360 days, and it would be neces-
sary to add days, just as in the early Egyptian sys-
tem, to the full so-called tropical year. Perhaps some-
where around the hypothesized protrusion was some-
thing used to add a certain number of days, but we
can only guess at this. Nonetheless. There was yet
another annual super-control, and
that was the setting of Orion’s
Belt on the horizon at the spring
equinox, when a yearly correc-
tion to the calendar could be per-
formed.
It has already been mentioned
that on the varied vessels of the
Vu≠edol Culture, the decoration
was conceived in different ways.
There are vessels entirely filled
with only one astral sign (such as
Orion, Cygnus, Pegasus, Cassio-
peia), or a combination of two
symbols. But it is not unusual to
find several artistic solutions for
a single sign, even on the same
vessel. Orion, in addition to the
usual rhombus with five stars,
with the central the largest (but not necessarily),
also appears as a clepsydra or hourglass figure.
Along with the pot with the calendar image, yet
another exceptionally interesting vessel was found –
a “censer-rattle” (Fig. 20). This is another typical Vu-
≠edol terrine surmounted with a shallow vessel. Du-
ring the first washing after its discovery, one section
of its completely closed lower section came apart,
and three stone balls were found within the hollow
section. They meant that this “censer” was at the
same time a rattle.
The lower part of the vessel was undecorated ex-
cept for symmetrically arranged perforated holes.
Through the entire series of these small circular ope-
nings in the closed lower section, scented grasses
and herbs could be lit and inserted, to smoke or
burn after oil and a wick were added to the upper
section, as this upper part bears all the characteris-
tics of a lamp.
Above the biconical break (horizon) is an encrusted
band filled with zigzag lines and 8 vertical hourglass
shaped figures. Above this horizontal band, in the
Fig. 16.
Fig. 17.
Aleksandar Durman
224
area that shows the sky on the terrine vessels, there
are 8 perpendicularly divided fields with symbols of
Venus, according to analogies on other Vu≠edol ves-
sels, and three small holes like those in the lower
part. There are four symbols of Venus.
The upper section, where the lamp was added above
the terrine, contained some kind of attached lid with
a wide opening in the centre. This had five marked
fields also containing symbols of Venus. Four fields
had 3 and one had 2 signs, for a total of 14 Venus
symbols.
The relation is interesting between the five fields in
the lid of the censer and the eight segments in its la-
teral section. A ratio of five to eight related to Venus
was also noted in the Venusian calendar of the Ma-
yans from the Central American region, known as
the Dresden Codex (
Carlson 1984.224
). This ex-
plains that five synodical orbits of Venus around the
Fig. 18.
Fig. 19.
Celestial symbolism in the Vu≠edol culture
225
Sun agree exactly (to the day) to eight revolutions
of the Earth around the Sun (5 x 584 = 2920 = 8 x
365). The ratio of the speed of the orbits of Venus
and the Earth around the Sun is 5:8, and this corres-
ponds to the relations of the censer segments.
Thus this censer was above all an important instru-
ment in the correction of the annual lagging of the
Vu≠edol calendar, as despite how many days the lat-
ter had, there were problematic days in a year that
could not be accurately corrected even with the set-
ting of Orion’s Belt below the horizon.
Along with Venus, the planetary symbol for Mars can
also be recognized, which, as was noted before, can
sometimes serve as a replacement for the Pleiades.
Some terrines, but also small amphorae from the
final phases of the culture, merely have incised pa-
rallel zigzag lines in the position above the horizon,
which undoubtedly indicates the major problem of
interpreting the astral or heavenly waters and the
manner in which they arrive in the upper sphere,
i.e. the firmament and bring fertility to earth.
Two vessels, found in a late Vu≠edol culture grave
of a “duke” in Mala Gruda, the Tivat Field (
Parovi≤-
Pe∏ikan 1971
), bear ornaments depicting water
both, above and bellow the horizon (Fig. 21, 22).
These disturbed waters negating the horizon sym-
bolize Death itself.
“I am on my way to kind Earth’s bourne to see
Okeanos, from whom the gods arose......”
Homer, The Iliad 14, 200–201
“I might easily lull another to sleep-yes, even the
ebb and flow of cold Oceanos, the primal source of
all that lives.”
Homer, The Iliad 14, 245–246
Fig. 20.
Fig. 21.
Aleksandar Durman
226
Much else can be told by the broken fragments of
vessels with solar motifs on them, as the Vu≠edol in-
habitants separated them from the superfluous re-
maining empty sections of the vessel by careful brea-
king. This newly created object was then perforated
with two holes and worn as some kind of amulet.
All data was tested using computer simulation, as
the firmament was shifted because of what is known
as “precession”, and the North Star from 3000–2500
BC was the star Thuban (the brightest in the conste-
llation of the Dragon).
In this manner it is possible to reconstruct the crea-
tion of something distinctive in the world, what
could be called a completely astral calendar. The be-
ginnings of this earliest European, but also Indo-Eu-
ropean, calendar can be tied directly to the period
after 3000 BC. The calendar-pot and censer are typo-
logically earlier than the beginning of the late phase
of the Vu≠edol Culture (the context in which they
were found), and according to the 14C dates received
from analysis at the “Ru∂er Bo∏kovi≤” Institute in Za-
greb, this stratum was dated earlier than 2500 BC.
The ancients believed that time were the heavenly
mills, grinding us all to dust. If this grindstone could
not be controlled, various cultures at least attempted
to foresee it through measurement. The fixed signs
on this mill were constellations (later the signs of
the Zodiac), and the fateful, relentless, inexorable
grinding was proven by the Sun, the Moon, and the
planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn),
which, carried by the currents of the heavenly
waters, incessantly change their position.
Fig. 21.
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GOSSMANN P. F. 1950.
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HESIOD 1989.
Works and Days
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HOMER 1985.
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dom House, UK, Translated by R. Fitzgerald.
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∴∴
