On the Source of Culture and Science: A Monograph

The Monograph “On the Source of Culture and Science” is composed of
the contributions made by participants of the International Scientific
Conference held in Belgrade from the 21st to the 23rd of September,
2012. The first day of the conference took place in the “Sava Centre,”
the second day in the formal hall of University of Belgrade's rectory
while the third day took place at the Archeological Site “Vinca” and
“Lepenski Vir” with the last session being held in the “Lepenski Vir”
Hotel in Donji Milanovac. The organizers of this complex manifesta-
tion were: Vinca Neolithic: Belgrade, an association for conserving
and nurturing of the Vincha culture; the Association of Milutin Mi-
lankovic: Belgrade; “Cirilica Beograd”, a social organization for the
fostering of the Cyrillic alphabet; the Regional-Social Organization for
the Unification of Serbs: Moscow; the Regional-Social Organization
“Serbskoje Zemljacestvo Moskva”; the Medical Chamber of Serbia and
“KoloBenija Beograd”. The conference was held with the support of the
Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia, the township of
Grocka, the city of Pancevo, the archeological park of Starcevo,
“Dveri Srpske” organization, touristic organizations of Belgrade and
“Ilustrovana Politika.” The conference was also accompanied by the
following events: an exhibition at the “Progres” gallery; concerts of
ancient music and songs from parts of the “Iliad” played to the sounds
of “gusle” by young “gusla” players Milan Kovacevic and Nikola Je-
knic (for the first time, after more than 3000 years of the formation
of this epoch, as judged by the writings in ancient Serbian language, as
well as in decasyllabic form); a great number of performances given by
many folklore dance groups on the street of “Knez Mihajlo” in Belgrade,
as well as on the plateau by the archeological site in Vinca. As many as
sixty-four authors, eleven of which were from abroad (Russia, United
States of America, Great Britain, Montenegro and Macedonia) were
a part of this conference. The credentials of the participants speaks
to the quality of the discussions and their contributions: thirteen
academics coming from ten academies of science; eleven University
professors; nine Doctors of Science; two master students and around
twenty researchers of various profiles (historians, art historians, ethno-
logists, engineers, philologists, doctors and writers). The work presen-
ted at this conference can be categorized into over twenty disciplines
(anthropology, archeology, archaeogenetics, architecture, enology,
ethnology, ethnomusicology, history, history of mathematics and astro-
nomy, history of literacy, history of mining and metallurgy, history of
law, history of the arts, linguistics, mythology, law, sociology, Serbian
studies, physics). With this, the conference completely satisfied the
expectation that the formation of civilization, culture and science
and its continuity and conservation of heritage may be considered
through multidisciplinary enlightenment covering a period as long
as ten millennia.
The Monograph “On the Source of Culture and Science” unifies
texts which consider the earliest appearances and continuity of growth
of tame animals and agricultures, the formation of mining and metal-
lurgy, of trades, of artistic and symbolic expression, as well as the spaw-
ning of literacy, of mathematical, astronomical and calendar know-
ledge, the shaping of societies and the first characteristics of organized
community, the formation of mythology, faith and other ethnological
characteristics, essential customs, the formation of medicine and
the first shapes of law, architecture and urbanization, early forms of
transport and trade, etc. The conference compared the formation and
development of the aforementioned characteristics of civilization on
the Balkan Peninsula with other civilization formation cores in the
world and considered the link between the two, while discussing the
temporal relation between the two as well. The great cultural heritage
we have today stands as proof of the permanence of this original
civilization
Significant members from abroad gave the conference a special
tone. Anatolij Aleksejevich Kljosov is a biochemist and one of today's
leading world experts in the production of special biomaterial, an
academic of the Russian Academy “DNK-Genealogy” from Moscow
who has been a professor at the Lomonosov University in Moscow for
many years and who has also taught biology at Harvard. At the con-
ference, his works (in the area of DNK-genealogy) proved that ancient
Europeans sprung during Neolithic time in the area of Lepensi Vir and
Vinca and that some 6000 years ago they began to spread to the wider
Eurasian area, returning in a wave-like fashion. With this argument,
he proves the results of anthropologist Srboljub Zivanovic, as well as
the results of the formation and widening of the European pre-nations
and literacy analyzed by Jovan Deretic and Dragoljub Antic. Moreover,
Andrej Aleksandrovich Tjunjajev, an academic of the Russian Academy
of Science and the chief editor of the periodical “Prezident” was yet
another significant member of the conference who came up with
similar results albeit through different means. Giancarlo Tomatsoli,
an Italian who interprets 4000 years of old writing from Crete proved
that there are ancient roots of the Slavs found in the Balkans. Jelena
Mironova, another Russian points to probable cultural linkage in the
time of the Neolithic culture to the wider areas of Europe and Asia. A
few more works were devoted to ancient literacy: Aristotel Tentov and
Tome Bosevski from Macedonia by means of decryption of text of the
famous “Rosetta Stone” (Kamen Rozeta); Radomir Djordjevic with his
code from Sadro; Miroslava Petrovic with a display of decryption of
the letters and language of Svetlislav Bilbija. Bozidar Mitrovic focused
on the ancient roots of mathematics from the time of the Vinca culture
as well as on the roots of law and solar symbolism from the Neolithic
period which are found in the civilization and heritage of the Serbs
and Orthodoxy.
The archeological traces of this first European civilization were
shown by Radmilo Petrovic, Dragan Jacanovic, Dusan Raskovic and
Gordana Cadjenovic while Ivan Kuljancic enlightened the conference
with the roots of vine and wine growing and the cult of Bakizm. The
deep roots of ethnic music and its relation to the Neolithic times
were presented by Mirjana Zakic and Svetlana Svetic-Vukosavljevic.
Dragan Jacanovic provided proof concerning the knowledge of the
calendar and descriptions of jewelry, clothes and funeral rituals from
the Bronze and Iron Age found in Serbian Epic poetry. On the basis
of Milutin Jacimovic’s and Novak Andesilic’s analyses, Slobodan
Jarcevic sang the “Iliad” in decasyllabic form after which he came
across numerous verifications of Jacimovic’s analyses that Homer’s
Troy was located on the fortress Skadar, while also coming across
other numerous facts which confirm the Serbian character of the par-
ticipants of the Trojan war. More works of historians, art historians,
ethnologists, philologists, sociologists, and other researchers showed a
vast continuity of the first European civilizations up to today focusing
on its integration within the Serbian cultural heritage and indicating
and stressing the essential ways of nurturing and upholding this
cultural heritage (Zivojin Andrejic, Vida Tomic, Slobodan Filipovic,
Antonije I Ivan Skokljev, Momir Jovic, Miodrag Milanovic, Milan
Stevancevic, Radmilo Marojevic, Mile Medic, Rade Rajic et al). A last
special block of the Conference was dedicated to the fostering of the
Cyrillic alphabet with about 15 works focusing on this subject.
As discussed during the closing session, the conference, which was
made up of various scientific disciplines and perspectives, proved that
the first European civilization was founded in the time and space of
the culture of “Lepenski Vir,” “Starcevo” and “Vinca” and its conti-
nuity is visible today. The conference adopted many important conclu-
sions and launched further initiative for the alteration of scholarly
history textbooks, strengthened cooperation within Slavic nations as
well as strengthening the conservation of the Cyrillic alphabet. The
Monograph “On the Source of Culture and Science” gives a comple-te
display of this great scientific gathering and provides great opportu-
nities to researchers of various profiles to engage in these explorations.

Translated by: Ivana Dobrilovic, Toronto