The Lost World of Old Europe at the ISAW

About 6500 years ago, while most folks in the world were beating mud with sticks and casting a skeptical eye at the new trend called farming, the people of the Danube Valley were busy building Europe's first civilization, complete with towns, trade, and mines. "Old Europe," as this mix of communities is called, is unknown to most of us --- we tend to think of European civilization as beginning in Greece, not Bulgaria or Moldova --- but the artifacts from the region currently on display (for free!) at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World show a dynamic culture capable of genuine aesthetic achievement. Even if their original significance is unrecoverable now, the objects still reveal minds and hands at work, struggling to make lasting meaning in a chaotic world.

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