sumAChokhadzhiev

EUROPEAN SCIENCE FOUNDATION EXPLORATORY WORKSHOP

EARLY SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS OF COMMUNICATION
IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

KARLOVO, BULGARIA, 14-20 APRIL 2002, SUMMARIES

EUROPEAN SCIENCE FOUNDATION

PREHISTORY FOUNDATION

The Magic of the Signs or “Signs for Magic” (Some Comments Based on Decorated Loom-weights from the Neolithic Tell Samovodene, near Veliko Tyrnovo, Central North Bulgaria)

Alexander Chohadzhiev
Veliko Turnovo University, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
alcho_2000@yahoo.com

The loom-weights are some of the most frequent findings in archaeological excavations. Although correctly identified as long ago as 1846, they have been subject to some funny misinterpretations. It was long ago, but the loom-weights are still underestimated as important archaeological source, and one of the goals of the paper is, if possible, to underline their significance.
     If we have the loom-weights decorated with peculiar signs they fall out of the label “subjects with signs”, but are simply “loom-weights with signs”, i.e. we have well interpreted context of the signs. This gives at least two opportunities more when working with the signs. First, as we know the direction of the artifact, we are able to find the direction of the signs on it. This means that our point of view is the correct one – the one that the signs are accommodated to. The second “bonus” the loom-weights give is in the context it self. If repeating frequently, some signs could be connected with the textile crafts or to be attributed to some mythical patrons of these crafts.
     “Decorated” loom-weights from Bulgaria are not numerous, and those published – really rare. Most of the “signed” loom-weights are single specimens. The only exception is may be the assemblage from Neolithic Tell in Samovodene, near Veliko Tyrnovo. It is hard to say what is their exact number, but about a hundred, a fact that makes the complex very interesting. The decorated loom-weights are either incised or crusted, but sometimes, the whole surface was covered with white substance.
     As a part of the weaving process, the loom-weights have to be magically charged. In some of the religious systems “the Great Weaver” is one of the names of the Creator of the Universe, and the thread is the umbilical cord through which the human is connected to his Creator. In the mythological thinking, weaving is a priority of the lunar Goddesses, most powerful of which is the Great Mother Goddess. She is the weaver of the destiny, by her will and help, the man is weft in the model and the matter of life. There are two anthropomorphically shaped loom-weights – from Samovodene and Pernik that possibly represent the Great Mother. The Samovodene’s one is decorated with signs and the one from Pernik has incised net. The “net” as an attribute is inherent to all of the so-called “tying divinities”- most popular of them is again the Great Mother. But the net has one more semantically charge not in controversy with the main one. The “net” is in close connection with the magic and the witchcraft. This connection is very well illustrated through the Indo-Europeans. The net and the knots are either bewitching or disbewitching.
     From the first sight, most of the loom-weights from Samovodene are decorated with net. But if looking carefully, we can see the frequent use of signs, similar to the Latin letters X and Y (“X” and “Y”) either alone or often combined like in a monogram or ligature. The other signs met on the Samovodene loom-weights are: an angle, either symmetric (“‹”), or asymmetric (“L”); an oblique stroke in both directions (“\” or “/”), and a sign similar to the Latin M but with oblique shoulders (“M”), all of them having good and precise analogies in the “pre-writings”. These signs are often met in mirror variants, which in fact brought me to the idea of the existence of a model where every single sign could be placed.
     Some of the parallels our signs have with the Scandinavian runes are may be shocking, but obvious. As a result of the parallel occurred the idea that the signs could be part of a matrix, containing all of the signs.
All of the signs described above we can find interlaced in the net. And even more – the NET is one of the most popular ornaments in Prehistory, met everywhere, but especially very often on the so called “cult objects”.
     In a net consisting only oblique lines could be noticed some of the signs and their possible mirror and symmetrical projections. In such a net we also find some popular in Prehistory ornamental motives. In a net consisting of both oblique and vertical lines, besides the mentioned signs and motifs, we could also identify some more signs. Of course there are more combinations, in higher degree covering known “pre-writing signs” with sharp shapes.
     The interpretation I am offering here is more like an idea rather than a hypothesis.
     The net is a projection of the Space and the Universe. As in the Space, in the human life everything is connected with invisible threads. Some divinities, mainly lunar ones, are mastering these threads and therefore controlling the Destiny. Humans gifted with special skills can also control these threads in theirs own way, so they could also influence the destiny. And if we consider the net as a model of the relations in the Nature, the signs as elements of the net have to be graphical depictions of definite natural powers or relations. It is possible, in the frames of the religious and mythological sense, the signs to be the device for managing desired results through combining them. This in fact is a kind of homeopathic magic and somehow explains the presence of such signs on loom-weights as for example an incantation for much and better textile production or for the benevolence of the Great Mother (as the Great Weaver) to the weaver and the cloth. The signs X, Y, M, L, <, / could be connected with the weaving manufacture, with the Great Mother Goddess and the magical practice. Those three interpretations are not contradictory but complementing one another. The Great Mother is a patron of the textile crafts and the weaving in fact is magic itself.
     At the end I would like to say that probably some of the “pre-writing signs” are not means for communication, but probably some magical incantative formulas.

cprslc@msn.com

Since 06/21/02