A new site was discovered in Dobrogea, the Romanian area that lies between the Danube and the Black Sea. Given the finding, it looks like the Neolithic populations had a much more intricat spiritual system than we originally anticipated. Mysterious sites, full of sacred symbols, become more and more enigmatic.

Just one mile away from Stonehenge, maybe one of the most sacred places in Europe, another sanctuary, also a megalithic circular monument, was discovered after last June when archaeologists had discovered in Damerham , another 16 miles from the famous circle of stones, a gigantic prehistoric ceremony complex, consisting in 12 circles and estimated to be 1000 years older than Stonehenge.

Since ancient times, some people, endowed with special powers or using magic rituals, created and bordered sacred spaces, usually looking like a circle.The circle is dynamic, it expresses perfection: it is a symbol of balance, eternal return, cycles that occur in nature as seasons, days, moon phases etc. It also appears at cellular level. There are a few images that appear more frequently, here are some of them.

The Snake, main symbol of regeneration, revival, vital force, abundance and fertility, was also regarded with fear, for its venomous aspect. It is an important component of the Neolithic Pantheon, represented as the Great Goddess, under her image of Snake Goddess. The main symbol associated with the Snake is the spiral. One of the most revered Romanian historians, Vasile Pârvan , claims that the real origin of this symbol is in Dacia, the legendary country inhabited by enlightened people, that was to be found on a territory which is similar to today’s Romania. J. Deshayes mentioned that the spiral appeared in the 4th millenium BC on the Lower Danube and then migrated to the Peloponnese, Crete Egypt and Mesopotamia. Recent information push back the appearance of the snake spiral to Superior Paleolithic. , Engraved bones witness the existence of this spiral.

Less than 3 miles from the place of origin of the most famous samples of old art on Romanian territory (the Hamangia culture), last March a huge sanctuary containing the highest concentration of solar disks was discovered. The Seimeni sanctuary consists in  59 solar disks, with 20 meters diameter, some almost touching each other.  Some are separated by lanes that might be walls as thick as 4 meters. The central position is taken by a spiral that coils towards the center of the disk, forming a ramp with a base that is over 8 meters wide and that, getting more and more narrow,  captures the entire spirit energy feeding the matter and sends it like a jet propulsion towards divinity. It is obvious the disks have a different rigidity compared to the adjacent ground, and this becomes visible in the land slide areas and on the slopes. Actually, the entire Seimeni village is sliding towards the Danube. The last landslide, in 2005, destroyed the connecting road  between villages.

Along with the Snake symbol, the Seimeni sanctuary presents representative motifs belonging the Sun worship – the disk, The Great Goddes worship – the spiral – and the Water worship. Until this discovery, there was no clear archaeological evidence of a solar cult in the Carpathian-Danube area. Such a grand sanctuary involves the presence of a powerful cult and structured clergy. The sanctuary is placed on top of a hill, visible to anyone, and in case there were activities on this surface of over 20,000 sqm they would involve over 1,000 persons. The exact diameter of the disks points to advanced technology, given that, if built in limestone and 1 meter thick, a single disk would weigh 50 thousand tons.

But this is not a singular discovery. 16 miles away, next to the Mireasa village, another sanctuary with four disks, 26 meters each, and a similar placement, was discovered one year before Seimeni. Three others showed up at the same time –  40 miles from Seimeni, close to the Black Sea shore. The 13 new disks of the sanctuaries contain two larger ones, with diameters of 28 mteres ,which are the largest ever discovered in the Carpathian – Danube area. Along a straight line of about 45 miles, there are five such sanctuaries showcasing the solar symbol. The old ceremonies are still done every few years.
No historical source is clear about the solar or earthly nature of the Dacian religion. The key god, Zalmoxis, was worshiped from roofless temples or mountain tops. A gruesome ritual involved throwing people up so that they would then fall upon a carpet of swords and die from such multiple stabbing, with the purpose of sending them as messengers to the supreme god.
The andesite solar disk in Sarmizegetusa, the main spiritual center of Dacians, suggests the sun. The Dacian priests are described in ancient sourses as keen in astronomy and nature sciences. It seems that some of the sanctuaries also have a calendar function.
The Dacians seem to be the descendents of Thracians, who adored Ares, Dionysos, Artemis and Hermes (especially the blood line of the Thracian kings adored Hermes). The Thracian Hermes looks like a solar divine being, which then turns into a knight hero, very represented in the Balkans and further assimilated to Apollo.

The Thracian Dionysos ceremonies were held in the mountains, with lots of percussion and dancing in a circle. In these exhausting trance, women wore long dresses, covered with deer skins and holding serpents in honor of Sabazios (the Thracian name for Dionysos) or daggers. This circle dance is one of the sacred method to create a magic space, around a mystical center, an “axis mundi”, a Navel of the Earth. Large quartz statues were discovering in such a dancing circle around the center of a Mesolithic 7th millenium BC were discovered in  Lepenski Vir. The esotheric circle dance creates a ritual brotherhood and has resulted in the current folk dances, that still keep the circle shape. Evidence dating back to 3700-2500BC show such a dance of six women belonging to this culture. This situates the Romanian magic spiral cult before India, Tibet and Cina.

Nowadays, on the peak of this remote hill on the Danube bank, thousand of women dance, in circles of 30-40 persons, on these impressive disks. There ar tens of such circles of people, rotating with frenetic joy and then winding into spirals that come towards the center of the disks… and then back to circles.

Text adapted after the article of : Pintilie Stefan-Cristian