Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
@serbiaireland
Nov 20, 2021 • 11 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
Thread: These 3 strange terracotta tablets, resembling decorated loafs of bread, are examples of over 300 similar tablets made by the early bronze age people of Central Europe between 2100-1400 BC... Image
They appear for the first time in Northern Italy, and are also found in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Romania... docplayer.org/docview/70/626… Image
Their meaning and their function are still unknown, which is why the scholars refer to them as "enigmatic tablets"...de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Brotlaibi… Image
They were found almost exclusively in people's homes, sometimes several together, which is why they are believed to have had profane purpose... ImageImage
Tablets contain the same symbols: points, cups, cupels or circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, grooves, cruciform motifs, rhombuses, spirals, dashes...

A recent survey of the tablets has the same sequences of symbols, even on tablets found in distant sites... Image
This points to the distinct possibility that these tablets were used for storing and exchanging information between distant and different communities, connected through trade...
One possible explanation for the use of the tablets is that these were bills or checks, like tally sticks...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_sti… Image
When used a bills, a matching pair of incised sticks was created, usually by splitting one incised stick into two halves, one half going to the creditor, the other half to the debtor...
The sticks recorded what was payed, and what could be collected if you possessed the correct matching tally stick...
In case of "enigmatic tablets", the "identical" patterns would be made on two such tablets, recording the deal. The tablet could then be exchanged for promised goods anywhere along the trade network...Once...after which the tablets were broken...
Interestingly, the "enigmatic tablets" disappear at around the same time that the first Linear B inscriptions appear in Mycenaean Greece (1400 BC)...

This website contains the list of all the so far discovered "enigmatic tablets": museocavriana.it/tavolette-enig…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with oldeuropeanculture

oldeuropeanculture Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @serbiaireland

oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
Aug 20
Thread: The other day I posted this article and it went completely unnoticed??? In this thread I want to present the full analysis of all 4 sides of this sarcophagus. Honestly this is as cool an example of symbolic religious calendar art as they come.

First, I definitely don't think that these panels depict funerary rituals, which is the most common interpretation of the scene ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/agia-…
I think that they could be depicting religious rituals related to Proto Demeter, Persephone and Poseidon. The "two queens and the king" mentioned In the Mycenean Greek tablets dated 1400–1200 BC.

They are also a religious calendar closely linked to the climatic calendar.
Read 36 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
Aug 4
Thread: Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilisation in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no... Image
...Mead said that the first sign of civilisation in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die...
...You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal...
Read 5 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
Jul 3
Thread: Have you ever heard of shepherd's stick calendars? Here's one from Bulgaria...

In the mountains of the Balkans, up until the end of the 20th century, shepherds carried with them calendar sticks... Image
It was a stick with a notch cut into it for every day of the year and a cross or some other symbol for major holy days, which in Serbia are all linked to major agricultural events and major solar cycle events...
At the end of every day a piece of the stick up to the first notch, representing the previous day, was cut off from the stick. When the last piece was cut, the year was over...
Read 8 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
Jun 3
Thread (a quite long one, sorry, but I think worth reading to the end): A while back @another_barbara posted this 1865 beehive panel image with this description: An interesting Shrovetide tradition from Slovenija "babo žagajo" (sawing of an old woman)... Image
The other day wanted to write an article about this custom, and while looking around the net for more info on the subject, I came across 1960 paper by Niko Kuret "BABO ŽAGAJO, Slovenske oblike pozabljenega obredja in njegove Evropske paralele" etno-muzej.si/sl/etnolog/slo…
In which he presents all the different versions (he knew of) of the "SAWING OF THE OLD WOMAN" ritual found in Slovenian lands, and its European parallels...

Here I will translate the most interesting bits from this paper, and will then give my interpretation of the ritual...
Read 64 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
May 27
Thread: The žirgeliai (little horses), are common motifs on Lithuanian rooftops, placed there for protection of the house... Image
They are a symbolic depiction of the Ašvieniai (), Baltic counterparts of Vedic Ashvins, who are said to pull the chariot of Saulė (the Sun Goddess) through the sky. As depicted on this rooftop of a house in Nida... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C5%A1vi…
Image
Both names, Lithuanian ašva and Sanskrit ashva, mean "horse" and are derive from the same Proto-Indo-European root for the horse – *ek'w-...

I talked about Ashvins here
Read 10 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
May 14
Ok, buckle up, this is going to be quite a ride🙂

Thread:

Maruts came (to earth) along with Agni (fire) from above...

The other day I read a very interesting paper "Comets and meteoritic showers in the Rigveda and their significance" by R.N. Iyengar () academia.edu/7324390/COMETS…
Image
Most Vedas interpreters agree that Maruts are deified moisture laden monsoon storm winds, turned into rain bringing deities armed with thunder and lightning. Even I agree with that and I even wrote a thread talking about this:
But, the Mysore Palace edition of the Rigveda, which gives in 36 volumes an exhaustive introduction, the text, traditional meaning, ritual application, grammatical explanation, and the Sanskrit commentary of Sâyan says that: Vâyu (winds) and Maruts are distinctly different...
Read 49 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(