Vinča at the Third Glance

New advances in the research on Neolithic in south-eastern Transdanubia have been principally made as a result of the large-scale salvage excavation of extensive Neolithic sites along the track of the M6 Motorway, especially in Tolna county, in the Tolna Sárköz region. The goal of this study is to present recent advances in Neolithic research in Baranya county, a region to the south, which can contribute new insights into the Neolithic of Transdanubia and of the adjacent areas in the Danube region. The discoveries discussed in this study also shed new light on the relations between the Neolithic communities of the Balkans and Central Europe in the later 6th millennium BC.

This paper, focused on the great tell of Vinča-Belo Brdo near Belgrade, Serbia, (figs 1–2) is ultimately a contribution to understanding the development of the Neolithic way of life in the southern part of the Carpathian basin, in the northern Balkans of south-east Europe. It confronts some of the key questions about the trajectory of change in the Neolithic period, through the study of a single site, which can now be dated – as presented in this paper – from the first decades of the 53rd century cal BC to the later part of the 46th century cal BC.

2016

In archaeology special attention was paid to the origins of Precucuteni-Trypillia A culture, which is still quite controversial. Materials from Precucuteni culture were discovered in 1936 at Izvoare (level 1). Radu Vulpe supposed that the main role in the formation of Precucuteni was played by Bojan-Giulesti culture, and this event was connected with the area between the Carpathians and the Dneister (Floresti I site) (Vulpe 1957.111-120). Ion Nestor attributed a primary role in the formation of Precucuteni to LBK traditions (Nestor 1951. 22-23). Excavations in Carpathian Moldova were of special importance in this problem (Traian-Dealul Viei, Traian-Dealul Fintinilor) in the 1950's. After it Vladimir Dumitrescu divided Precucuteni culture into stages I, II, III, and considered that Precucuteni I appeared as result of a connection of a few cultural components. The main component, he thought, was LBK (Linear Band Pottery) with the participation of Boian-Giulesti culture; he also mentioned the Hamangia and Bug-Dnister cultures (Dumitrescu 1963). Later, he wrote about the assimilation of the BDC (Bug-Dniester Culture) population by Precucuteni III tribes to the East (Dumitrescu 1973.304). Hortensia Dumitrescu supposed the relations of the late LBK with Precucuteni, based on materials from ABSTRACT-The relations of Precucuteni-Trypillia A cultures with the cultures of the Late Neolithic/Early Eneolithic of SouthEastern Europe were primarily determined by two factors: origin and cultural contacts. Ideas about Precucuteni-Trypillia A formation appeared sixty years ago on the basis of typology and stratigraphy. The first part of the twentieth century was marked by numerous investigations of Neolithic cultures in SouthEastern Europe and excavations of Trypillia A sites in Ukraine. First, we present these materials. Precucuteni-Trypillia A complex was a multi-component formation which included components of different Southern and Western components originating from different cultures from the wide Balkan-Carpathian area. At different stages of Trypillia, some directions of contact became more important than others. IZVLE∞EK-Odnosi med kulturami Precucuteni-Trypillia A s kulturami poznega neolitika/zgodnjega eneolitika v jugovzhodni Evropi se dolo≠ajo predvsem na podlagi dveh faktorjev: izvora in kulturnih stikov. Ideje o oblikovanju Precucuteni-Trypillia A so se pojavili pred 60 leti na osnovi tipologije in stratigrafije. Za prvo polovico 20. stoletja so bile zna≠ilne ∏tevilne raziskave neolitskih kultur v jugovzhodni Evropi in izkopavanja najdi∏≠ obdobja Trypillia A v Ukrajini. Najprej predstavljamo ta material. Precucuteni-Trypillia A kompleks je ve≠komponentna formacija, ki vklju≠uje razli≠ne ju∫ne in zahodne komponente, ki izvirajo iz razli≠nih kultur iz ∏ir∏ega balkansko-karpatskega po-dro≠ja. V razli≠nih stopnjah kulture Trypillia so nekatere smeri kontaktov postale bolj pomembne kot druge.

Newsletter of the Association for Coroplastic Studies 12, 2014

ABSTRACT BOOK KIEL CONFERENCE Scales of Social, Environmental & Cultural Change in Past Societies Kiel University, March 13 – 18, 2023

The Late Neolithic settlement of Opovo Ugar-Bajbuk was discovered in the 1960s. It became known in the archaeological community after the excavations of an American-Yugoslav team in the 1980s led by Ruth Tringham. Interpretations of the site evolved over the years, shaping the image of a provincial Vinča culture village with an emphasis on trade goods and economic features that show links to the Tisza culture, such as a high proportion of hunted animals. Recently, a team from the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, in cooperation with the National Museum of Pančevo and the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, conducted a geomagnetic survey, fieldwalking and a drilling survey. The results show a medium-sized settlement with a structured and organized settlement layout consisting of several ditches. This allows for a reevaluation of the site and its position within the settlement network of the Vinča and Tisza cultures. In this presentation, the new results will be presented and set into relation to the previous work at the site. Especially questions of demography and settlement organization are in the focus of the talk. The talk was held on the 14.03.2023 by Kata Szilágyi at the Kiel Conference.

Current Anthropology

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2019

The Neolithic settlement in Vinča near Belgrade, Serbia, was occupied for more than a millennium (c. 5600–4500 cal BC); from about 5200 cal BC the occupation, associated with the regional Vinča culture phenomenon, was uninterrupted. After gradual horizontal expansion in the beginning, the Vinča culture settlement grew vertically. A number of successive occupation levels composed of large, dense agglomerations of buildings formed an artificial mound of more than 10 ha in extent. The long and continuous life in a fixed location was likely facilitated by favourable natural environment offering a range of subsistence options and pathways. This paper reviews previous, and presents more recent, archaeological (i.e. artefactual) and palaeoenvironmental (geological, hydrological, palaeobotanical, faunal) evidence for the Vinča site and uses it to identify natural resources available in the settlement’s surroundings as well as those found in more distant areas. Using the on-and off-site data, it indirectly evaluates economic potential of the different environmental zones around Neolithic Vinča. The impression is that the resources available locally were remarkably diverse, offered a wide spectrum of food and raw materials, and were exploitable throughout the duration of the settlement. In addition to the apparently marked profusion and variety of opportunities in the vicinity of the site, the subsistence behaviour and the nature of landscape use were likely such that they did not have a great impact on the natural environment.

Marco Merlini, Neo-Eneolithic Literacy in Southeastern Europe: an Inquiry into the Danube, Biblioteca Brukenthal XXXIII, Ministery of Culture of Romania and Brukenthal National Museum, Editura Altip, Alba Iulia, 2009