After decades of speculation and misinformation going around and around on the internet, and after what seems like 75 years of disinterest from academics, we have finally completed what is likely the first high-quality examination of the world's most ancient swastikas from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze Age.
Read the full article below:
https://aryan-anthropology.blogspot.com/p/worlds-oldest-swastikas.html
Map of the major artifacts discussed in the article. The "unconfirmed" artifacts are labelled with question marks.
On the internet, countless people claim the "Mezine swastika" is the oldest swastika. We have already shown that merely looking at the design is enough to show it is not, in fact, a swastika.
Our research has shown that the oldest swastika currently known originates in the Samarra culture, dating back to ~6200-5800 BC. Within the next 1500 years, the swastika makes its way up the Danube River Basin, following the spread of nearly a dozen Neolithic and Chalcolithic farming cultures into the region. At the same time, the swastika appears in western and south-central Iran at Tall-e Bakun and Susa. The swastika's presence is documented at numerous sites belonging to the Halaf, Ubaid, and Uruk periods in Mesopotamia.
Beginning around 3500-3000 BC, the swastika rapidly expands to the Helmand Civilization in eastern Iran and western Pakistan, the Indus Valley Civilization, the Namazga culture of southern Turkmenistan, and the Majiayao culture of western China. By 2000 BC, the swastika was present in ancient Egypt.
The article has been divided into four sections. The first section examines swastikas we have been able to confirm through museum collections or archaeological publications. For these swastikas, we can be confident that the date and culture they are assigned to are accurate.
The second section discusses artifacts that pop up again and again when you do an internet search looking for the world's oldest swastikas, but it is impossible to know if the information is accurate since we have not found any museum records or archaeological publications. Simply repeating claims found on random blogs without evidence is how misconceptions like the "Mezine swastika" keep being spread. If you know of any additional information on the artifacts included in this second section, please post the information in the comments below!
The third section contains swastikas whose age is likely exaggerated. The fourth section contains claims of "ancient swastikas" that aren't even swastikas!
Another misconception that we have once and for all proven false is the idea that the meaning of a swastika changes depending on whether it is facing towards the right, left, or is rotated. I don't know where this idea originates, but people keep repeating it on the internet and acting like they're smart. Swastikas in all orientations appear in ancient cultures--even the Indus Valley Civilization. Whatever meaning these ancient cultures may have given to the swastika, they clearly didn't all share the exact same traditions as a select few Hindu sects who assign specific meanings to a swastika's orientation... So, let's stop repeating this misinformation.
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Although we tried to make this article comprehensive, there may be some artifacts we overlooked. In addition, this article leaves a number of unanswered questions.
For example, will we find Neolithic swastikas in Turkey, where the oldest Neolithic archaeological sites are located? Did Neolithic Anatolians use swastikas, but evidence was lost during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (~10,000 - 6,500/6,200 BC)? When did the swastika first appear in Ghana and Nigeria, or in North and South America? What did the swastika mean in each of these ancient cultures, and did the meaning and symbolism change over time? There currently does not seem to be enough archaeological information to give satisfying answers to these questions.
To see the other articles in our series on the swastika, click here:
https://aryan-anthropology.blogspot.com/p/the-swastika-aryan-symbol.html
Update July 17, 2023: Version 2 of the article has been published. The article has nearly doubled in length.
Update November 25, 2023: Version 3 of the article has been published.
there is also figure 13 here from arkaim funereal pot: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opar-2020-0123/asset/graphic/j_opar-2020-0123_fig_010.jpg
ReplyDeleteand stamp seal from copper age Elam
https://www.iranicaonline.org/uploads/files/Cylinder_Seals/v6f5a019_f2_300.jpg
Thank you for this information. The presence of the swastika at Arkaim seems to lend evidence that Bronze Age trade networks were important in spreading the swastika after its initial spread during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic eras.
DeleteI took a closer look at that article, and the ceramic with the swastika is described as being from the Sintashta culture, excavated from the Sintashta cemetery, rather than Arkaim. (Although it looks like Arkaim was part of the Sintashta culture).
DeleteAnd thank you for the information on the Susa seal, it has been added to the article. There is a photo of it in the Louvre Museum, but they did not provide a date. (Numéro principal: SB 5686. N° de fouille: N 803. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010179507)
A new version of the article is out. It contains a few corrections, 77 new images, and nearly double the amount of references. Once I have time to work on a detailed examination of more geographic regions, I think I will end up removing the Bronze Age artifacts from this page, and leave only Neolithic and Chalcolithic swastikas. (Or at least remove everything more recent than the earliest phases of the Bronze Age). Images have been given figure numbers to make discussing them easier. (Although these will have to be renumbered once the Bronze Age artifacts are eventually moved to different pages).
ReplyDeleteI intend for this article to be completely exhaustive about its examination of all the claims about the oldest swastikas, so I have included two new sections. Section 1 remains ancient swastikas which are confirmed in archaeological publications or museum records; Section 2 contains artifacts for which I have not yet found a museum record or archaeological publication directly describing; Section 3 is for swastikas which are claimed to be quite ancient, but these claimed date ranges are not accurate; Section 4 is for claimed "ancient swastikas" which are not even swastikas (e.g. Mezine carving).
I have confirmed that the swastika previously said to come from Bylany, Czechia is a LBK/SBK culture artifact from Hrbovice, Czechia. (So, not from the city of Bylany itself, and likely a bit more recent than Bylany, but generally accurate). I'm still looking for more detailed information about the other "Unconfirmed" artifacts.
For the first time in 8,000+ years, we now have a somewhat clear picture of how the swastika spread throughout the Old World. I hope readers are just as excited about this as I am.
Version 3 has now been released. Updates include additional Bakun images that were left out of the of the previous version, the addition of a swastika seal from the Namazga culture at Altyn-Depe, and omissions from the map have been fixed.
ReplyDeleteI'm still thinking about where to draw the line for Bronze Age artifacts. Perhaps 2000 BC would be a logical point, assuming I don't run across hundreds of additional artifacts from this age as my research continues.