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When were the Tărtăria tablets made, and are they genuine Neolithic objects from the pit Vlassa described?

Asked 31 Oct 2026 by ·4 answers·0·0 following
Four answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Four are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.

Why it matters

Vlassa reported the tablets in a pit with figurines and a woman's bones but never published the stratigraphy⁠[1]⁠[2]. The bones date to 5370 to 5140 cal BC, which puts the pit in early Vinča, but the tablets themselves were cleaned with acid and consolidated, and have not been dated directly⁠[3]⁠[4]. Hood's Mesopotamian comparison implies a date near 3000 BC, and Qasim has argued for a modern origin; neither has been tested against the object⁠[5]⁠[6].

Answers 4

Evidence: 1 for, 1 against
Still possible
Evidence: 1 for, 1 against
Still possible
Modern fabrications
Evidence for it, no test yet
Evidence: 1 for, 1 against
Still possible
None of these.
Not tested yet
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

History

  1. Nicolae Vlassa: vlassa never published the stratigraphy of the find, so the association between the tablets and the dated bones rests…Against: Genuine early Vinča tablets of about 5300 BC
  2. M. S. F. Hood: hood found the Tărtăria signs comparable with those of Uruk III and Jemdet Nasr tablets of about 3000 BC.For: Later intrusive tablets showing Mesopotamian contact
  3. Evžen Neustupný: nothing dated from the Tărtăria pit is later than about 5100 cal BC, and no third-millennium material has been…Against: Later intrusive tablets showing Mesopotamian contact
  4. Sorin Paliga: vlassa never published the stratigraphy of the find, so the association between the tablets and the dated bones rests…Against: Genuine early Vinča tablets of about 5300 BC
  5. Gheorghe Lazarovici: the human bones from the Tărtăria pit date to 6310 ± 65 BP (5370 to 5140 cal BC) and animal bone from the adjacent pit…For: Genuine early Vinča tablets of about 5300 BC
  6. Gheorghe Lazarovici: nothing dated from the Tărtăria pit is later than about 5100 cal BC, and no third-millennium material has been…Against: Later intrusive tablets showing Mesopotamian contact
  7. Marco Merlini: the human bones from the Tărtăria pit date to 6310 ± 65 BP (5370 to 5140 cal BC) and animal bone from the adjacent pit…For: Genuine early Vinča tablets of about 5300 BC
  8. Marco Merlini: the re-examination of Vlassa's notes and the Cluj museum records found the discovery account internally consistent and…Against: Modern fabrications
  9. Erika Qasim: qasim matched the Tărtăria signs to reproductions of Sumerian tablets in books available in Romania before 1961, and…For: Modern fabrications
  10. Gheorghe Lazarovici: the re-examination of Vlassa's notes and the Cluj museum records found the discovery account internally consistent and…Against: Modern fabrications
  11. Asked on this site
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