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.
