둥구나무

 

크리스 허스트는 뉴욕타임스의 정보 포털 어바웃닷컴의 공식 고고학 블로그를 10년 동안 운영해왔던 인물. 그가 지난 5일 블로그에 대단히 흥미로운 연구 결과를 소개했다.

요는 5,200년 전의 가장 오래된 애니메이션의 존재가 확인되었다는 것.

크리스 허스트가 인용한 연구 결과를 4일 내놓은 단체는 이란의 '문화유산, 관광, 수공예품 협회'(CHTHO)이다.



불탄 도시 (Burnt City)(5,200년 전의 유적지)라 불리는 이란 남동쪽 유적지에서 발견된 질그릇 잔의 염소 그림이 연구 대상이었다.

문제의 잔은 한 무덤에서 1970년대에 발견되었다. 잔 위의 염소 그림은 총 다섯 종이다. 나무를 향해 점프하는 모습이었다. 그러나 연구자들은 이 염소 그림들의 연관성을 알지 못했었다.

최근 연구에서 밝혀진 바, 염소 그림들을 이어보면 나무를 향해 폴짝 뛰어오르는 애니메이션이 된다. 땅위에 있던 염소는 점프하여 나뭇잎을 입에 넣은 후 다시 착지한다. 컷을 이어 시퀀스를 만들면 영락없는 ‘활동 그림’이다. 이리하여 인류 역사상 가장 오래된 애니메이션이 발견된 것이다.

잔 위에 묘사된 나무는 ‘아시리아 생명의 나무’이며 염소는 보석이나 그릇 등 고대 유물에 자주 등장했던 ‘페르시아 사막 야생 염소’이다. (사진: ‘고대 이란 연구 서클’ 홈페이지에 소개된 그림)


 World’s oldest animation, 5,200 years old

LONDON, (CAIS) -- The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) announced on Monday that it has recently completed the production of a documentary about the ancient Iranian earthenware bowl bearing the world’s oldest example of animation. 

Directed by Mohsen Ramezani, the 11-minute film gives viewers an introduction to the bowl, which was discovered in a grave at the 5200-year-old Burnt City by an Italian archaeological team in late 1970s.

The artefact bears five images depicting a wild goat jumping up to eat the leaves of a tree, which the members of the team at that time had not recognised the relationship between the pictures.

Several years later, Iranian archaeologist Dr Mansur Sadjadi, who became later appointed as the new director of the archaeological team working at the Burnt City discovered that the pictures formed a related series.  

Nonetheless, according to English daily Mehr, during a ceremony held on Sunday to promote the production, CHTHO's cultural authorities claimed the image is a depiction of ‘Assyrian Tree of Life’: “the earthenware bowl, which is wrongly known as ‘The Burnt City’s goat’, depicts the myth of ‘The Assyrian Tree of Life’ and a goat.”  

Depiction of ‘The Assyrian Tree of Life’ on this bowl which was made at least 1000 years before the Assyrian civilisation even appear in historical records is one of the most preposterous claims by the new-breed of experts in post-revolutionary Iran.  

The image is a simple depiction of a tree and wild-goat (Capra aegagrus) also known as 'Persian desert Ibex', and since it is an indigenous animal to the region, it would naturally appear in the iconography of the Burnt City.  

The wild goat motif can be seen on Iranian pottery dating back to the 4th millennium BCE, as well as jewellery pieces especially among Cassite tribes of ancient Luristan. However, the oldest wild goat representation in Iran was discovered in Negaran Valley in Sardast region, 37 kilometers from Nahok village near Saravan back in 1999. The engraved painting of wild goat is part of an important collection of lithoglyphs dating back to 8000 BCE.

However, wild goat representation with a tree is associated with Murkum, a mother goddess who was worshipped by all the Indo-Iranian women of the Haramosh valley in modern Pakistan, which culturally had closer ties with Indus and subsequently the Burnt City civilisations, than Mesopotamia, which could had influenced the ancient potter who made this unique piece.