the tărtăria tablets are three tablets discovered in 1961 in the village of tărtăria (hungarian: alsótatárlaka). this is about from alba iulia in romania. the tablets, dated to around 5300 bc, have symbols in clay: the "vinča symbols". some claim they are a yet undeciphered language. if this is so, they would be the earliest known form of writing. in 1908 similar symbols were found during excavations, by miloje vasić (1869–1956) in vinča. this is a suburb of belgrade (serbia), some 300 km from turdaș. later, more were found in another part of belgrade. since 1875 over one hundred and fifty vinča sites have been found in serbia alone. many, including vinča itself, have not been fully excavated. the culture of the whole area is called the vinča culture. although some of these symbols look exactly the same as some letters in etruscan, greek, and aramaic, they are generally regarded as an original, independent development.