With a title that is hardly likely to become a bumper sticker, The Lost World of Old Europe may give the impression of something dry and worthy rather than an engrossing peep into a civilisation about which little is known other than through its dazzling array of artefacts – be they in gold, copper and, most especially, ceramics. Shown in Britain for the first time – the result of the tearing down of the Iron Curtain – the 250 objects were recovered from settlements and cemeteries excavated in parts of “Old Europe”, an area difficult to define but mostly centred on and around the Danube Valley. They reveal a period of great sophistication, creativity and technological advance – far ahead of those that were to develop in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The fertile valleys of the Danube saw Neolithic farmers establish long-lasting settlements, nurtured by the agriculturally rich plains. During the 1,500 years roughly spanning the period of this exhibition, some villages grew to city-like proportions, developing complex metal working techniques and an exchange network for precious metals that extended from the Aegean in the south to northwest Europe. One of the highlights of these extraordinary finds includes the earliest assemblage of gold artefacts found. Among its treasures are the Varna gold bulls. Made from flattened sheets of gold, these highly simplified silhouette-like forms reflect the work of settled and prosperous communities.
With no written records, it is the artefacts that tell us much about the civilisations – in particular, the role of women, such as in the fired clay models of female figurines, often called, misleadingly, mother goddesses, which makes the assumption that this is their purpose. Most of the female figurines are in idealised and simplified form. Some are highly decorated, the incised lines in geometrical patterning appearing like clothing, but equally could be pure decoration, although to lavish such care on a figure barely a few inches high suggests that it had special significance.
Some of the carved sculptures are equally engaging in depicting the human form, the abstracted figures predating the work of early 20th century artists such as Jacob Epstein and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. One pair of these ancient figures, given the title The Thinker, is male, who in comparison to the female, is slim and lean, perches on a low stool, his hands supporting his head as if deep in thought. The female is broader in shape with exaggerated hips and sits on the ground. Directly carved in intricate compositions, the figures are rare in including such detail. Few figures are carved or modelled with such close observation. Many have no heads and are anthropomorphised into vessel forms. The attention lavished on the figures suggests they had special significance in the societies in which they were produced, but we can only speculate on possible meanings and enjoy them as works of art in their own right.
Equally curious are the vessels, all hand-built but with the finish of a wheel-thrown pot. Crisp and smooth, the shapes recall the fine metalworking of ancient Greece. The intricate decoration, possibly painted onto the pot after firing, are, like the patternings used on the figures, variations of geometrical designs with no discernable figurative element. As such, they echo the form of these superb vessels. Restoration in some pieces has added a dull shine that is slightly misleading, but there is no denying the beauty and fascination of these ancient artefacts.
The Lost World of Old Europe continues until August 15. A comprehensively illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition
