Animal Symbolism of Northern Origin in the Lower Danube Region (10th-11th Centuries)

Old and New Approaches

Abstract

This article aims to bring to the attention of researchers, in particular those of Scandinavia, the unique presence of animal symbols in the limestone mountain chambers found in Basarabi-Murfatlar in Romania. The unusual iconographic layering of the underground chalk caverns in the Lower Danube area features an overlapping of pre-Christian animal depictions (horses, hunting scenes, etc.) with Christian-era animal symbols (the dove, the sign ofthe cross, the figures of saints, etc.). From the collection of wall decorations found in the chambers of the Basarabi-Murfatlar site, it is likely that cerrain depictions have strong ancestral links with Nordic cultural space: the spiral dragon, the labyrinth, the symbol of the sun, etc. The Basarabi-Murfatlar site, though studied in depth by archaeologists and historians under the Communist regime after its discovery in the 1960s, continues to give rise to many questions. The true nature of the spiral dragon, together with the runic inscriptions found on the walls, still awaits interpretation by Scandinavian researchers.