MAGURA

One of the most mysterious places in this part of the world keeps its undiscovered secret to this
day. That secret is hidden deep underground in Magura cave. This wonderful cave in the centre
of the Balkan Peninsula, out off all roads, is an ancient sacred place. In the labyrinth of
underground halls and passages some of the most important cave paintings in Europe are
preserved (fig. 1).

Bearing in mind the published papers on Magura1 (Bulgaria)2 so far, I think it is necessary to
propose a completely new interpretation. The cave paintings in Magura are interpreted as a solar
calendar (fig. 2).3 The authors of this theory do not present evidence to prove it. It is an arbitrary
thesis that supports the modern tendencies of adding astronomical value to almost all discovered
cave paintings. I think this is just another popular scientific myth.

What do we really see in these cave paintings? What can we say about the cave paintings in
Magura? What we see is a detailed description of a ritual. The description of the ritual is divided
into several parts or scenes that are related to each other.

At the beginning is a hunting scene (fig. 3). We can see a hunter with a bow and arrow and a dog.
The other characters have spears and shields. These are not hunters. These are warriors. The
hunter hunts roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.).4

What does this scene mean in the context of a painted description of a ritual? This whole scene
only makes sense as a time mark when this ritual was practiced. It is a time when roe deer were
hunted and military campaigns begin. It is something that the painter (or rather the sketcher)
assumed that everyone knew. Probably it was the month of May. Hence, we can assume that this
ritual belongs to the spring rituals of nature renewal which are mostly orgiastic. This is
confirmed by the following scene.

Above this roe deer hunting scene are dancing characters. The faces of men and women are
painted next to each other. The set of characters suggests mass. We can assume that this is a large
group of people participating in this ritual. The characters presented are extremely stylized and
reduced to standard graphic signs. The graphic representation of these characters indicates
movement. It is most likely a rotation or rotation of the dancers around themselves. The women
are dressed in long dresses with wide skirts tight at the waist and arms raised above the head.
Men are naked and have erect phalluses. They are presented with outstretched arms. They are
also represented in several scenes with their hands on their hips.

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After this series of dancing characters, in addition you can see some more interesting details such
as the scene where a naked woman dances with a roe deer, as well as scenes with other animals.

The next significant scene (fig. 4) begins with a symbolic representation of the Sun in radiation
(a graphic sign of a dynamic sun), under which black crosses or T-shaped pillars rise. It is a
continuation of the frieze where male characters appear, naked and with erect phalluses which
are beheaded. If the transformation of the male character is continuously observed, for which we
cannot say with certainty whether he is dancing or standing (whether he is a dynamic or static
participant in this ritual), we can document the required transformation into a cross or a T-shaped
pillar5 (this T-shape is known since Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, and other archaeological sites
in this region from the same period).

Below is one of the two key scenes that close the scenes’ cycle with ritual dance. Several female
characters in stages of transformation are presented. Around the central figure of a dancer which
transformed into a vessel (the graphic sign can be easily associated with a certain type of ceramic
vessel – lebes gamikos)6 lie decapitated bodies of men. Two of the three decapitated bodies we
can identify are in adoration positions. The third body is in a confused position with unnaturally
raised legs upside down and next to it a head with some kind of crown.

The women dancing or at least one of them transforms into something that resembles a vessel. It
is a kind of vessel used in wedding rituals (lebes gamikos). Here we have a picture of a vessel
that remind us of a woman in a long dress tight at the waist with handles as raised arms and a
rudimentary head that looks like a handle of a vessel’s lid. It is probably a large ceramic vessel
from which the participants of the ritual drink an opioid potion (the image of this vessel appears
elsewhere in the dance scenes). Such ritual vessels are often found in Neolithic shrines. This
transformation of the woman into a vessel whose phases we are following is symbolic and
represents the connection between the woman and the opiate vessel. This connection is strongly
emphasized in this scene. It marks the moment when men drink from the vessel and sacrifice
themselves by cutting off their heads.

There is little we can say today about the groups of dots, geometric shapes and graphic signs, and
symbols. We can only recognize the snakes that appear in this scene. An interesting detail is the
symbol that resembles stairs and which in the next scene closes in a circle around the Sun, so we
can assume that it is a graphic sign that represents the cave’s walls (in the previous composition
between two such signs there is a dark spot for which we can assume is the entrance to the cave).
This is how we can explain the next scene. The sun, if we follow this idea, is trapped in the cave
and gets rid of it radiating and rising to the sky. This assumption is supported by the first scene of
this cycle, where above the men-pillars and crosses exists such a fence – a ladder above which
rises the Sun in strong radiation.

The third significant scene (fig. 5) following the scene of transformation and sacrifice represents
the moment of catharsis in this ritual. That is the key scene. The composition is chaotic,
explosive and decomposed. This scene describes the moment of transformation of the characters
participating in the ritual. This dramatic moment is painted chaotically, as the dance probably
accelerates and reaches its climax.

The central place is the graphically emphasized stylized representation of the anthropomorphic
Sun. The fact that the Sun is personified and assumes the position of an active deity (God who is
present, God agent) is extremely important for the interpretation, but also for the dating of these
images. Scattered around the Sun are graphic signs denoting men. Signs for women are missing.
The symbolic representations of men as T-pillars indicate a complete transformation and entry
into a higher phase, where the Sun symbol is incorporated in the very sign of a man (the graphic
sign T which indicates at the same time a man and a pillar, and possibly a Sun beam, is upgraded
with a circle or semicircle as the graphic sign for the Sun). Men who go through this initiation
that ends with their death are symbolically identified with the new Sun that is born and grows
reaching full strength.

The symbols of the Sun unequivocally indicate the cult of the Sun. It is a young Sun that is born
in the darkness of the underworld. The ritual is in function of its annual renewal. It is also
possible to use wooden pillars in a T-shape (Sun pillar) with which men identify themselves in a
ritual where the body is exposed to torture and pain (there are analogies with the well-known
ritual practices of the Sun cult). The ritual beheading of some of the participants in the ritual is
also obvious.

From this little we can conclude – on the basis of painted (more precisely on the drawn), we can
certainly claim that it is a description of an orgy ritual that was held here in the early spring and
which is dedicated to the Sun. The ritual consists of a dance in which women who dance are
dressed and moving with highly raised hands that symbolize a Sun disk. Men are naked. Women
are probably dancing around men and seducing them with dancing, while men stand by with
spread hands and phalluses in erection. Women’s clothing has an erotic (erotizing) feature. It is
the function of clothing (as well as in our contemporary culture certain clothes are more erotic
than the naked body). Women are dressed probably in sumptuous bridal costumes and decorated
with flowers and herbs. The dance is erotic. It is possible they have a role of solar brides. They
spin around and probably at a certain moment men begin to spin around. In a certain moment of
the ritual, when men drink from the vessel with an opioid potion of some of the men are being
decapitated (based on the description of the ritual we cannot know whether the predetermined
men or are randomly picked). The orgiastic dance transitions in an act of sacrifice.

These are pictures of sex and death. Eros and Tanatos are joined in this ritual. Here are the
elements of the ritual (every ritual is some kind of theatre, the theatre of cruelty): dance, highly
raised hands, erotic ecstasy, sex (we cannot conclude in which form), T-pillars that serve for
torture, vessels (or a vessel) filled with opioid substance, decapitation of men, collective trance...
These cave images describe the stages of the ritual meaning – men’s merging with the T-pillars
(with the solar pillar or the Sun beam), then, their sacrifice and their full incorporation in the
lightning Sun’s body and transformation of women into the vessels from which it is drunk (this
idea of a woman as a holy vessel has a spectacular history, and the form of this vessel
symbolically representing a woman can be traced until the holy grail in the Christian ritual and as
the contemporary wedding beakers). In the symbolic language drawn by the painter (sketcher),
this ritual is not something unknown. There are many analogies with preserved ritual practices in
the Balkans ethnology, as well as analogies with the famous Dionysian cults. Traces of this,
probably a fundamental ritual that will mark the new epoch and will announce the age of Bronze
Age cultures, are present everywhere and today.

A few details are important for understanding Magura cave paintings (drawings):

- The characters do not wear animal masks and there is no presence of a priest or shaman leading
the cult;

- The presence of God as a separate powerful entity is emphasized. The Sun God interacts
directly with the cult participants. The appearance of a deity that has anthropomorphic
characteristics with which the community builds a mutual relationship through rituals is of
exceptional importance for the history of religions;

- The existence of a ritual for identification with a deity is evident through the practice of a ritual
trance which is achieved through orgiastic dance, use of hallucinogenic substances or potions,
but also through possible self-torture;

- Some of the male participants identify with the Sun God. We do not know if the ritual dance is
aimed at copulation or just decapitation of the male participants (or at least a small part of them).
It is unlikely that it is an uncontrolled outburst of anger under the influence of opiates in women
like the Maenads. The ritual has a very controlled flow and the men who sacrifice in favour of
the Sun (the weak sun that thus gains strength) are probably pre-selected and voluntarily
sacrificed.

The Sun cult and its worship is a religious phenomenon that suggests a reformation and a
radically new concept of religion in the Neolithic. I think it is very likely that this ritual, whose
scenes are rationally painted in Magura, which is unusual, given the protection of such rituals’
secret is new and unusual for the inhabitants of this region. Hence, I think that the Sun cult and
the spring festivities is imported and moves along the famous line of migrations along the
Danube route, and that as a new cult it is established in this way through cave paintings in an
already famous holy place such as Magura. The preachers of the new cult are probably
newcomers preaching a new attractive powerful Sun religion. This cult does not deny the
previous religious system but incorporates it, uses the old ritual places and upgrades it without
changing its structure. This is typical of almost all new religious teachings and cults.
I think the cave paintings were painted around 4,000 BC when they were first dated by Bulgarian
scientists (14C) 7. The thesis that they are much later 8 and that they belong to the Late Bronze
Age is due to the connection between the Bronze Age cultures and the Sun cult, but the
chronological boundaries accepted in the scientific community need to be revised. Long before
the use of bronze began, a profound reform of Neolithic society took place and radically changed
the previous religion, and thus the whole society.

NOTES

Maglova, P., Stoev, A. and Spasova, M. 2016. Late Chalcolithic Solar-chthonic Rock-cut Structures for Time
Measuring in the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 16 (4): 401–406.
Ivanova, S., Gurova, M., Spassov, N., Hristova, N., Tzankov, N., Popov, V., Marinova, E., Makedonska, J., Smith,
V., Ottoni, C. and Lewis, M. 2016. Magura Cave, Bulgaria: A Multidisciplinary Study of Late Pleistocene Human
Environment in the Balkans. Quaternary International (415): 86–108.
Tsonev, T. 2009. Ideology of Social Change in the Eneolithic/Bronze Age Parietal Art in the Magura Cave, North-
west Bulgaria. XXIII Valcamonica Symposium Papers: 349–356. 28 October – 2 November 2009. Capo di Ponte.

2
Magura cave is a relatively large and dry cave with an interior space of 28,600 sq m. The main corridor has two
entrances and three branched galleries. In the second, at a distance of 375 m from the main entrance, there are
numerous paintings on the walls. They are made of guano bats and a few – of light brown pigment, as well as
beeswax.
3
Спасова, М., Стоев, А. и Стоева, П. 2020. Праисторически календарни записи в пещерите Магура и
Байлово. Sixteenth International Scientific: Conference, Space, Ecology, Safety. 4–6 November 2020. Sofia.

4
The roe deer group was drawn by someone who knew how to distinguish between deer and roe deer. He hunted her
and knew her well. He painted the group correctly. Hence, one can be confused by the first animal in which the
hunter shoots an arrow that we can only assume to be an ostrich. At first glance it seems that some other animals
here are exotic. However, it is much more likely that they are roe deer, especially considering that they often appear
represented from different points of view and that there are scenes with evergreen trees in the background. What is
interesting is that the sketcher draws them in foreshortening as he sees them. The rest of the scenes are drawn using
graphic characters. When he was drawing animals he used a subjective point of view.

5
This is about transforming the graphic sign for man into a symbol of a pillar, probably the so-called ‘Sun pillar’.

6
The vessel lebes gamikos is a from more later date and is used in wedding rituals. The form in which the dancer
transforms is almost identical to these vessels. The female form of the vessel over time stylizes beyond recognition.
All that remains are reminiscences of its original ritual function and of the female’s body shape with the arms raised,
which are increasingly rudimentary.

7
Kunov, А., Arnaudov, V. and Molnar. M. 2014. First 14C dating of the bat guano used for the ancient drawings of
Magura cave, NW Bulgaria. GEOSCIENCES: National Conference of the Bulgarian Geological Society with
international participation: 111–112.
8
The paintings have been studied and commented by many authors. Most of them have similar opinions about the
chronology of most of the paintings - Late Chalcolithic/Bronze and Iron Ages (Mikov 1928/1929, 1955; Djambazov
1958; Anati 1971; Nougier 1977). Specifically M. Gimbutas (1989) associates the images with the Chalolithic. В.
Gerasimova-Tomova and T. Stojchev (Gerasimova and Stojtchev 1994) associate this painted ensemble based on
their resemblance to some female anthropomorphic images in the Chalcolithic based on archaeological evidence and
finds made of pottery and marble..
Anati, E. 1971. Magura cave, Bulgaria. Bollettino del Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici (6): 83–107.
Djambazov, N. 1958. The paintings in the Magura cave. Nature and Knowledge (4): 21–22. (In Bulgarian)
Gerasimova, W. and Stojtchev, T. 1994. Die Götterdreiheit in der Prähistorischen Einfarbigen Malerei von der Höhle
Magura. Relations Thraco – Illyro – Helléniques: 103–106.
Gimbutas, M. 1989. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers.
Mikov, V. 1928/29. Contribution to the Prehistoric Culture in Bulgaria. Bulletin of the Bulgarian Archaeological
Institute (V): 309–310. (In Bulgarian)
Mikov, V. 1955. The Paintings in the Magura Cave. Art (5): 70–72. (In Bulgarian)
Nougier, L.-R. 1977. Les “ballerines” de Magoura. Prehistoire Ariégeoise (XXXII): 123–131.