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605 THE UNIVERSE OF THE DIRECTIONS Alexandra Comșa*, Iharka Szücs-Csillik** * Romanian Academy. Center of Thracology of the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology; [email protected] ** Astronomical Institute of Romanian Academy, Astronomical Observatory Cluj-Napoca; [email protected] Rezumat. Axa lumii aliniat polului ceresc este înclinat. Steaua polară asigură punctul de nord în emisfera nordică, și polul nord determină punctele cardinale, meridianul, mișcarea aparentă a stelelor în jurul polului ceresc, înclinarea eclipticii, timpul solstițiilor și al echinocțiilor. Am studiat simbolurile Pilonul Lumii (Pomul Vieții, Axa Lumii) în legătură cu ocupații, cultură și credință religioasă. Cuvinte cheie: Orientare, Axa Lumii, Polul Nord, simboluri, arheoastronomie. 1. Introduction It is possible that astronomy had an important significance in the Neolithic time, as we can conclude from the new symbols (related to the sky) which appeared during this period. Ancient peoples determined their own location in space and in time, they defined well their place in nature, on Earth, in the Universe. They marked the limits of their space habitat with cardinal points, and their time habitat with cycles. In their perception about life appeared the image of the celestial pole with the circumpolar a. b. Fig. 1. a. The first and second World Axis with cardinal points. b. Star trails caused by the apparent rotation of the celestial sphere.
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THE UNIVERSE OF THE DIRECTIONS

Alexandra Comșa*, Iharka Szücs-Csillik** * Romanian Academy. Center of Thracology of the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology; [email protected] ** Astronomical Institute of Romanian Academy, Astronomical Observatory Cluj-Napoca; [email protected] Rezumat. Axa lumii aliniat polului ceresc este înclinat. Steaua polară asigură punctul de nord în emisfera nordică, și polul nord determină punctele cardinale, meridianul, mișcarea aparentă a stelelor în jurul polului ceresc, înclinarea eclipticii, timpul solstițiilor și al echinocțiilor. Am studiat simbolurile Pilonul Lumii (Pomul Vieții, Axa Lumii) în legătură cu ocupații, cultură și credință religioasă. Cuvinte cheie: Orientare, Axa Lumii, Polul Nord, simboluri, arheoastronomie.

1. Introduction It is possible that astronomy had an important significance in the Neolithic time,

as we can conclude from the new symbols (related to the sky) which appeared during this period. Ancient peoples determined their own location in space and in time, they defined well their place in nature, on Earth, in the Universe. They marked the limits of their space habitat with cardinal points, and their time habitat with cycles. In their perception about life appeared the image of the celestial pole with the circumpolar

a.

b.

Fig. 1. a. The first and second World Axis with cardinal points. b. Star trails caused by the apparent rotation of the celestial sphere.

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rotation of the stars (Fig. 1). The first world axis is the axis aligned to the zenith, which is a vertical line

between zenith, location and nadir1. The world’s axis aligned to the celestial pole is a second world axis, which is inclined to the northern sky pole2 (Fig. 1).

Geographical position, topography determines the starry sky what we can see. We should mention that Central Europe has a geographic position in the temperate zone, with four seasons a year. Two solstices and two equinoxes regulate and define sights and cultures at mid-latitude3. Due to those four seasons and to the favorable geographic conditions, occupations like agriculture, fishing, animal breeding etc. can be practiced. We note that during this period, plant cultivation, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, gathering etc. were practiced. Ancient populations could safely live here, having enough food.

Jacques CAUVIN discussed that in the Neolithic human mentality was restruc-turing, as expressed by new religious ideas and symbols4. For example, the spirituality of the communities in many cases can be investigated by the study of their necropoli. In many cultures of that time, the dead were most frequently placed in the burial with or without grave goods. Every element of the funerary ritual had its own significance and reveals to us parts of the ancient way of thinking5.

For instance, the community mentality determined the orientation of the de-ceased. As can be observed from previous research6, during the Neolithic, orientation and alignment were very important for everyday life7. Research8 shows that during the Neolithic on Central European territory, orientation relied mostly upon the cardinal points, or upon the movement of the Sun in the sky. People whose basic occupation was agriculture9 mainly followed a solar cult and aligned things based on the Sun.

Ancient people regularly noticed the equinoxes (when the days were equal with the nights) and the solstices (when a day or night is the longest in that year), which determine the solar arcs limits (a solar arc is the arch made by the sunrise or by the sunset during the year - east-west direction).

Since ancient times people have used the Sun to determine direction. The north and the other cardinal directions could be determined during the day according to the movement of a stick’s shadow. During the night, the spot around which the stars ap-peared to spin (the so-called world pillar) could be observed10. Moreover, in recent times, the North point is situated in the direction of the Polaris star, of the Ursa Minor 1 Rappenglück, 2005, p. 157. 2 Rappenglück, 2005, p. 158. 3 Dietrich, 2011. 4 Cauvin, 2000. 5 Down, Milbrath, 2015. 6 Csillik et alii, 2001. 7 Ruggles, 2015; Schlosser, Čierny, 1982; Singh, 2009; Szücs-Csillik, Comșa, 2012; Szücs-Csillik et alii, 2010b. 8 Szücs-Csillik, Comșa, 2017. 9 Cauvin, 2000. 10 Leeming, 2014.

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constellation11. For example, in the year of 4800 BC the polar star was Edasich (iota Draconis), in the year of 3000 BC the polar star was Thuban, from the Dragon con-stellation.

The north point represented a spot where the living people could communicate with the dead through the facilitation of a specialized person12. This individual assisted the dead in their journey to the Afterworld and had the knowledge which facilitated the communication with that realm13. In ancient conception the world comprised three realms (or even more): the upper world (in/above the sky), the underworld (beneath the ground), both with numerous spirits and inhuman creatures, and the intermediate world (Earth), where the living beings existed, humans being part of it14. The first two of these worlds used to interfere in different manners with the intermediate world15 and one of the roles of the above-mentioned person was to keep the balance amongst all three, by performing all kinds of magical religious rituals. Consequently, the polar axis (the second world axis) defines a multi-layered Cosmos16.

The vertical world-axis lacks the real rotational aspects, because the sky is pass-ing over the axis, but not really rotating around it17. The dynamical aspects of the world axis is represented by the celestial pole, which can be symbolized by the spiral motion, the vortex. In Romanian customs there are many traditions where people dance around a tree, a pole, a rock, a temple, etc. For example, the Călușari dance. The Călușari group is a secret, male-only society associated with a spring rite. The group members take an oath of secrecy, whereupon they participate in an initiation rite and taught the forms of the dance. People worldwide have similar traditions, such as dancing around the may-pole. Another Romanian traditional dance, the Hora is a cosmic dance, which can be a symbol of the Sun circling motion around the world-axis (World Pillar).

2. The world pillar (Axis Mundi) The Axis mundi – in certain beliefs or philosophies – is the world center. Usu-

ally, it is represented by various relief forms, like mountains, tumuli, or even caves situated on top of elevations (like hills, mountains), biological forms (usually trees), but also by architecture elements (pillars, columns, towers etc.), man-made objects (stick, cords, ladders, chains etc.), or geometric forms (spirals, zigzags etc.). For exam-ple, a shadow-stick (gnomon, sundial, representing the daily course of the Sun) is a holy world-axis vital instrument18 for fixing the location in space and in time.

Because we referred above to the different representations of the Axis Mundi, we should also render the interesting interpretations offered by the Romanian historian of religions, Mircea ELIADE. He believed that, on a macrocosmic plane, the world

11 Wittmann, 1979. 12 Lewis-Williams, Clottes, 1998; Hoppál, 2005; Hulkranz, 1996. 13 Szücs-Csillik, Comșa, 2017. 14 Chevalier, Gheerbrandt, 1996. 15 Kvæstad, 2010, p. 28. 16 Rappenglück, 2000. 17 Rappenglück, 2005, p. 158. 18 Rappenglück, 2005, p. 160.

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pillar was represented by a tree, mountain, rainbow etc., while on the microcosmic level this was the central pillar of the dwelling, the first pillar of the settlement, a bridge, a ladder, a line of arrows etc19. All these were very important, as they ensured the com-munication between the Earth and the Sky, or between the world of the living and that of the dead20. Regardless, in the case of the relief forms, they were put together in a specific manner, so that they could create a sacred landscape.

Such an example of combined elements that create a sacred area could be the Mesolithic finds from the proximity of Lepenski Vir, in Serbia, where the Treskovac

Fig. 2. Burial no. 69 from Lepenski Vir21.

Mountain seems to have been con-sidered an Axis Mundi, also being correlated with the burial no. 69 at that site, which belonged to an indi-vidual interred in a sitting position and with his legs crossed, who was considered to have been a revered person, with magical powers22 (Fig. 2). This discovery, even if much earlier than those that we refer to, shows again the correlation between the venerated person and the Axis Mun-di. On the other hand, we could con-clude that a core of such a belief ex-isted in the region a long time prior. Other much later examples of pil-

lars are, for instance, in the caves from Stravonyti, on the Western side of the Mount Luktas, from Crete, used in the Bronze Age as a sanctuary, or Pelekita, on the Eastern side of the Mount Traostolos23 as well as in other parts of the world24.

An interesting find from Romania was in the Runcu Cave, which was inves-tigated by Constantin S. NICOLĂESCU-PLOPŞOR. There, he discovered an interesting engraving, dating back to the Iron Age. The image rendered a human being with up-raised arms, like an orant, facing four pillars. Two of them were placed on the upper plane, seeming to have had a cylindrical shape and having a similar height. The other two, placed on the right plane, were probably rectangular, with different heights, the smaller one with a rosette on its top, and the other one with the effigy of a horse, placed

19 Eliade, 2014, p. 248, p. 251-252; Eliade, 1991a; 1991b; 1992. 20 Boyadzhiev, 2010; Comșa, 2006; Csillik et alii, 2004. 21 apud Srejović, Babović, 1983. 22 Borić, 2007, p. 113. 23 Tomkins, 2012. 24 Antalné Tankó, 2004; Diószegi, 1969, 1998; Szűcs, 1945; Kovács, 1984; Pócs, 1999; Danielou, 1998; Rees, Rees, 1961; Bonev, 2000; Fol et alii, 1986; Fol, 2004; Lazarovici, Merlini, 2005; Noble, 2006; Parpola, 2005; Ridderstad, 2009; Srejović, Babović, 1983; Sparavigna, 2016.

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on a disk25. Ethnologist Romulus VULCĂNESCU interpreted the cylindrical pillars as be-

ing extra muros funerary pillars, such as we still find in today Romania. The rectangular ones would have been intra muros marks of a sacred space, where the solar cult could be practiced26. In our opinion, they would all be part of a cult of the column, as shown by the presence of the orant. We don’t know for sure if all of them were world pillars, but we are inclined to believe this, especially regarding the one with the rosette, because such symbols appeared also in the Neo-Eneolithic time and functioned as Axis Mundi.

As a matter of fact, amongst ethnologists, Vulcănescu had the most constant concerns about the world pillar, which he named “column of the sky” and to which he dedicated an entire volume27.

In Romania, the aspects regarding the world pillar have been intensely studied by ethnologists, but not by archaeologists. A rather recent study was published by Ştefan DORONDEL28, in which he discusses several interesting aspects about the Neolithic-Eneolithic finds within the territory of Romania and its adjacent regions. Șt. Dorondel started from the archetypes, interpreted by Carl Gustav JUNG as “patterns of behavior”, and attested to worldwide. The author of the study goes even further, considering that the archetypes are static elements, rendered by varying symbols. As an example, he mentioned the ascending archetype, with its multiple symbols, such as a column, pillar, cord, chain, ladder, tree etc. We should add here the spiral, which, like the others, is a means of passage towards a higher level, and was intensely used in prehistoric times.

In the remote past, it seems that communication between the Earth and the Sky was extremely important, as the world where people lived was considered to have orig-inated in the hyerogamy between the Father Sky and the Mother Earth. The archaeo-logist Nicolae URSULESCU and Nelu ZUGRAVU mentioned, for instance, that at Parţa (Banat Culture), Căscioarele (Boian Culture) and Truşeşti (Cucuteni Culture), the column cult was practiced and was the main connective element “between the two pri-mordial divinities: the Sky and the Earth”29.

It should not be forgotten that most of the sanctuaries were situated in the center of the settlements in which they were built. This location, according to Marija GIMBU-TAS30, reflected a more advanced stage in the magical-religious evolution of the respec-tive communities, defining the various divinities and the relationships among them, by using a system of symbolic representations. The sanctuaries were established in well- determined places and considered to be sacred, for various reasons. These, according to the above-mentioned idea, were interpreted as centers of the world, by a spot marked with pillars, columns, sacred trees or other ascending symbols31.

25 Nicolăescu-Plopşor, 1969, illustration. 26 Vulcănescu, 1985, p. 172-173. 27 Vulcănescu, 1970. 28 Dorondel, 1996. 29 Ursulescu, 2015; Zugravu, 1997; Kovacs, 2017. 30 Gimbutas, 2001. 31 Ursulescu, 2001, p. 42.

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In the following paragraphs we will present few examples which, in our opin-ion, are very relevant for the cult of the column and which are also considered as such by Dorondel. For instance, in the last phase of the Boian culture (Spanţov), at the site of Căscioarele-Ostrovel, in the center of the settlement, a relevant sanctuary was dis-covered.

The walls in one of its rooms were painted with yellowish-white spiral-geo-metrical motifs on a red background. Inside the same chamber, there were also an altar table and two columns. The latter ones, with an estimated height of about 2 m, were painted in the same colors and had no architectural purpose of supporting the roof. The larger column had three overlapping layers of painting, each of them decorated with distinct motifs. We should also emphasize the fact that, within the decoration of this column, for the purpose of enhancing its symbolism, there were also included forms that somehow resemble the columns (or pillars), made with a yellowish color (Fig. 3).

Fig. 4. The sanctuary model from Căscioarele32.

Fig. 3. The larger column from Căscioarele-Ostrovel33.

The second column, which was a little bit smaller than the first, but thicker at the base and slimmer at its upper end, was surrounded from top to bottom by a spiral band. It had a wooden core, covered with a mixture of clay and chaff.

The respective structures were connected with the column cult34, especially for the fact that they were bordered, on each side, by lines of pillars, supposedly to have supported a canopy, which was meant to protect the columns and, at the same time, to reveal them to their worshippers during the magical-religious ceremonies35.

Within a later construction (Dwelling no. 1/1964), which partly overlapped the above mentioned sacred building, a sanctuary was discovered. In this representation, it seems that the columns were associated with the horns, most probably with the bucrania,

32 apud G. Iliescu, 2000, illustration 32. 33 apud Dumitrescu, 1970, pl. III.1. 34 Dumitrescu, 1986, p. 69-71; Dumitrescu, 2001, p. 155; McKim Malville, 2008. 35 Dumitrescu, 1970, p. 22.

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which were rendered here in a somehow sketched manner (Fig. 4). In other Boian sites, like Greaca and Gălăţui-Movila Berzei, other columns

connected to the Axis Mundi were documented36. At Parţa appeared a local variant of the Vinča Culture, called the Banat Culture.

The sanctuary here was also situated in the center of the settlement, upon a space that was initially left opened. The respective construction had preserved its location through-out several habitation stages of the settlement, other sacred constructions also being added even further on the same spot. Specialists consider that, right from the beginning, the space mentioned had a function other than an economic one, probably intended for reunions, or ceremonies, with a religious character37. The inner fittings of the sanctuaries discovered at that site clearly indicate the use of the cult of the column, as pillars are associated with the divinities present there, but also with the bucrania, or simply with bovid horns38. In this later case, when bucrania or horns are associated with columns, we believe that we are dealing with a complex symbol, which brings together the ascending meaning of the pillar, as a passage towards a higher level and the bucrania as a symbol of welfare, power and fertility. Together, they show a directed progress, towards the prosperity of the community (Fig. 5). Besides, we could add here an interesting obser-vation, namely the practice with a long history reaching back to the sophisticated Neo-lithic site of Çatalhöyük in eastern Anatolia, where cattle skulls were overlaid with white plaster, or the sanctuary from Parța, where the bull skulls had also an archeo-astro-nomical meaning. Between 4000 BC and 2000 BC, the vernal point was situated in the Taurus constellation39.

Fig. 5. Parţa, sactuary 2, altar A and Eastern entrance40.

Between 6000 BC and 4000 BC, the vernal point was in the Gemini constel-lation, which might have been correlated somehow with the double statues, mother-

36 Dumitrescu, 1970, p. 20; Neagu, 2003, p. 253, pl. LXIII, fig. 1-2, p. 248, pl. LXVII. 37 Lazarovici, Lazarovici, 2006, p. 103-111. 38 Csillik et alii, 2001; Szücs-Csillik, Maxim, 2015. 39 Szücs-Csillik, Maxim, 2015. 40 apud Gh. Lazarovici, 1998, p. 11, 12, Abb. 4 and 6.

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daughter, female-male divinity, father-son. At Parţa, for instance, there are several such representations, like the Sun-Moon couple, the double idol statue etc.

In the Cucuteni Culture, one of the most spectacular civilizations in the world, particularly due to its pottery, a so-called “sanctuary façade” was discovered from Tru-şeşti (Iaşi county). This was decorated with the so-called “column-idols”, as they were named by their finders41. Even if, somehow, these columns had a human allure, we are inclined to believe that they were rather simple columns that supported a type of large cup on their top, in which a purifying fire or incenses were burned during ceremonies. As it is easy to note, on the sanctuary façade from Truşeşti, that the horns are also pres-ent, on its lateral side. The columns, as rendered there, seem to have again no functional role, as with those discovered in the excavated sanctuary from Căscioarele-Ostrovel. Of course, the general context is not the same, as here we have a whole line of columns, all of them placed in front of the sanctuary. In our opinion, the discovery at Truşeşti displays two idols, with their arms spread laterally and wearing long clothes, with large sleeves, which were customary for the priests. The heads are shaped like cups, in which, as with the columns, a fire was probably lit, or incenses were used, as symbols of spir-itual enlightenment.

Fig. 6. The sanctuary façade from Truşeşti42.

They might be the Mother Goddess and the Father Sky, both of them being placed above a construction that resembles a sanctuary and its entrances (Fig. 6). The respective representations were considered by Vladimir DUMITRESCU to be “Illus-trations of the sky column associated with the female divinity”43, an opinion that was 41 Petrescu-Dîmboviţa et alii, 1999, p. 529; Lazarovici, 1998. 42 apud Dumitrescu, 1979, fig. 169. 43 Dumitrescu, 1979, p. 105 and explanations on 169.

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also shared by Dan MONAH44. Also in the Cucuteni-Trypillia Cultural Complex were found representations

of some female dancers in the shape of columns, or ladders. Of course, this was the sacred dance, which facilitated the communication between the living community and the divinity and also the trance of the initiated person. As observed by Gheorghe and Magda LAZAROVICI, sometimes, the arms of the dancers took the shape of the bull horns45 (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. The female dancers shaped as

ladders on Cucuteni pottery46.

We are facing again a complex sym-bol that involves the sacredness of the dance, the symbolism of the bull, or his horns, which again connects to prosper-ity, fertility and fecundity, especially that of the women. The images of the women were multiplied using a very ingenious method, of repeating parts of their bodies, as we see their trunks, shaped as ladders. On the other hand their missing legs show a hampering element which was removed.

The multiplied women could not be rendered with a lot of legs, because this would have given them a monstrous appearance. Moreover, the repetition enhances the initial idea of multiplication, but also one of a more powerful symbol47.

We should not neglect the fact that the mentioned material cultures to which we referred had an important connection with the Balkan-Anatolian space. To give just an example, representations of pillars appeared also at the site of Čatalhöyük, from Ana-tolia (modern day Turkey) and they were often in the same association, with bucrania, being considered as part of a domestic cult. In an early phase, the Bos primigenius bucrania was exposed. Initially, they were just naturalistic representations made in clay and plaster, afterwards including the horns and finally the entire frontal part of the animal skull. In the later stages at Čatalhöyük the Bos primigenius bucrania was re-placed by those of the well-known bull, which had smaller skull and horns. This was a sequence of a communal cult that included public animal sacrifices as well48.

We mention here the example of Čatalhöyük in order to point out the existing connections, as well as the similar way of thinking and interpreting the world which are found in some sites in Anatolia and in the Carpathian-Balkan region.

3. Some conclusions This paper is focused on the study of the symbol of World Axis. The topic

regarding the Axis Mundi or world pillar is an extremely complex and extended one,

44 Monah, 2012, p. 235. 45 Lazarovici, Lazarovici, 2015, p. 55-56. 46 apud Lazarovici, Lazarovici, 2015, p. 56, fig. 14. 47 Berciu, 1939; Iliescu, 2000. 48 Dayan, 2002, p. 174-175.

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and thus it opens large avenues of study. In this paper we have offered just a glimpse into its symbolism.

The real example of the “sanctuary façade” from Truşeşti can provide us with a hint about the spiritual life of these people. They might have largely practiced the cult of the column but, more likely, as we are inclined to believe, they utilized it only in specific spiritual centres. The same happened in the Gumelniţa culture, where the solar cult is usually found and the mentioned cult of the column, or Axis Mundi is seldom met, under specific circumstances, such as at Durankulak49.

By studying the orientation of a necropolis we can better infer the mentality of that population50. For example, we can obtain more information about the ancient way of thinking by investigating three sites of the Gumelniţa culture, from Romania and Bulgaria (Vărăști-Grădiștea Ulmilor, Dridu, Durankulak), where it was found that the geographical position, as well as the main occupation of those populations and other elements, could have determined their major religious beliefs51, connected with concept of world axis.

The North Pole, the north point, cardinal points, orientation, columns, the world axis, spirals are all terms and symbols which connect the macrocosm to the microcosm, and ancient cultures with modern research.

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Prof. dr. Barbara VOYTEK from the Berkeley University of California, United States of America, Otis Norman CRANDELL from the Universidad Federal do Paraná, Brazil and Marco MERLINI from the Institute of Archaeomythology Sebastopol, California, United States of America, for their valuable comments and ob-servations concerning this paper. Moreover, we highly appreciate the efforts of Prof. dr. Barbara VOYTEK and Otis Normal CRANDELL, who also spent their valuable time proof-reading our English language. 49 Szücs-Csillik, Comșa, 2017; Comșa, 1995a, Comșa, 1995b; Lazăr, Soficaru, 2005; Lazăr et alii, 2013; Häusler, 1994; Maxim et alii, 2002; Todorova, 2002; Yordanov, 1978. 50 Szücs-Csillik et alii, 2010a. 51 Szücs-Csillik, Comșa, 2017.

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