Vinca - pannous/hieros GitHub Wiki
After neolithic settlers conquered Europe via Anatolia about 6500BC, something special happened in the Danube region: To the Neolithic technology stack of Göbekli Tepe and Jericho and Çatalhöyük, cast copper technology and proto-writing were added or developed by Vinca and related cultures, which set of a whole new level of urbanisation.
It is quite possible that Vinca proto-writing and all subsequent systems were inspired by pottery symbols from China. The invention of pottery in east Asia ⋍20000 years ago reached the Near East an Europe very late in pre-history: Only about 7500 BC via the Don river! Or it was part of the paleolithic tool box:
Japanese Jomon pottery (dated back to 13,000 years ago) and Middle Nile Egyptian vessels (from about 10,000 years ago) used open firing techniques.
First proto-writing in western Eurasia:
Interestingly much of this «infant civilisation» has been replaced some centuries later by their 70% technology-only-descendants from Varna, Yamnaya and Maykop as evidenced by their R1b genes, replacing much of the ancient G2 gene pool.
Only 2000 years later do symbols of equal complexity reappear synchronously in Sumeria and Egypt, possibly transmitted through the Maykop culture. Such a persistence in time and space of a tradition or idea Is Not Unusual in history. It is most likely that the system lived on on perishable materials and those bark/textile receipts were just never hammered into stone until 3000BC.
The only proto-writing symbols that are older than the Vinca symbols are
Neolithic signs in China :
However these symbols, which may go back to pan-Russian shamanism and cave painting, are less sophisticated then the Vinca symbols.
True writing in China appears much later, about 1200BC, in a very advanced form, most likely via the Andronovo or Oxus/BMAC cultures. See the Anau seal as a central piece of evidence.
See Samara culture as an Asian intermediate!