ABOVE: Each of the Runic-styled symbols appearing above are attributed to the ancient Vinča, Cucuteni, and other Neolithic Danube River Basin cultures of Southeastern Europe (Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece and others) dated from the 6th through 5th-Millennia BCE (as old as 8000-years!)… All these symbols were originally on ceramic, stone & wood artifacts—most found in Vinča burial sites.

BELOW: Runes that are identical to the Vinča\CuCuteni\Danube River Basin cultures stave symbols are found in the Saxon\Frisian “Futhorc”, in common usage by the Saxon\Frisian and related peoples of Britton and Northwest Germany, from the 5th through 10th-Centuries CE (more than 1500-years-ago). From Left to Right, these runes were called Eölhx, Suvastika (Fylfot), Peorð, Lagu, Œðel, Ös, Ng (Stani), Gyfu, Eoh, and Gær (there are additional matching Runes not posted here)...

There is no dispute that the Danube Script is a written semiotic language that was in use where it likely developed in the Danube region for hundreds of years and there is no question that the ancient peoples of the Danube Cultures are genetically and linguistically related to the people who today populate what is now Europe. Therefore, a rational hypothesis that the Danube Semiotic Script is in fact the forerunner of the first-century Germanic "Runes” of the Futhark is a logical and reasonable conclusion... If true, that would make these symbols the oldest form of semiotic written communication in all of known history! Besides the obvious similarities in appearance, both the Runes and the Danube Stave Script share other relevant connections: both had native languages that are Indo-European; both the Runes Futhark & the Danube Script are semiotic; and It is well known that the Runes were and still are religiously very significant for the Germanic peoples, just as it is certain the Danube script had special religious meaning to the Danube cultures due to the large variety of these artifacts being found & excavated from hundreds of burial sites in Southeast Europe (including sites in the City of Belgrade; also in Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and other countries) that date from between the 7th and 4th Millennia BCE (being between 8,000 and 6,500-years-old).

Scholars hypothesize that both the Germanic and the Danube cultures were religiously similar; both Polytheistic, having many revered Gods & Goddesses that were honored with ritual sacrifices & symbols. Another significant finding from testable remains of these Danube peoples are shared genetic markers with other European Rune literate peoples, such as R1b & I2a1 haplogroup DNA.

Most detailed facts and histories of the Danube civilizations are still unknown and obscure, and many Western European & American Academia are ignorant of the wealth of regional work researched and compiled. there are a number of unfortunate reasons for this--primarily many of these countries where these archaeological sites are discovered and researched were not free of Communism and Communist isolation until the early 1990’s. Even after the “fall” of Soviet Russia and decline of Communist regimes, these countries were often thrown into various states of civil war and chaos, preventing support from most of the World's Archaeological Scientific Community for ongoing and extensive studies.

More of the world’s experts, especially in the fields of Anthropology and Linguistics are needed to recognize, review, and support the wealth of work already existing, and to support further exploration and research. Archaeological Scientific Communities are now being engaged (by HEIF & other US cultural organizations) in the hopes of inspiring extensive, new, and renewed interest and a responsibility to give these amazing and potentially monumental historical discoveries the attention they overwhelmingly deserve...

(Above, Left) Some of the hundreds of compiled Danube Script (some Vinčan) symbols--many of which are recognizably the same as Runes compiled from other European Runic Futhark/Futhorcs; such as the Székely-Hungarian-Rovás (Above, Right) of the 5th to 11th Century CE.