Lepenski Vir

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Relocated excavation site under a glass roof.

Lepenski Vir is a Middle and Neolithic archaeological site in the area of ​​the Serbian community Majdanpek at the Iron Gate on the Danube . The first traces of settlement date from around 7000 BC. The settlement reached its peak between 5300 and 4800 BC. Chr.

Surname

The name refers to the large rapids in the middle of the Iron Gate and also the horseshoe-shaped river terrace on the steep slope of the right bank of the river.

location

Entrance to the exhibition
Extension of the Lepenski Vir culture around 6000 BC Chr.

Lepenski Vir is located on a narrow river terrace on the right bank of the Danube in the Iron Gate ( Đerdap ) in eastern Serbia . The terrace is made of Paleozoic porphyry and is covered with sand loess . Behind the terrace, which is 59 to 66  m above sea level. A. , the steep Koršo Mountains rise from the narrow river valley and reach a height of 250 to 700 m. The mountain slopes are covered with a forest in which oak, walnut, hornbeam and hackberry are the dominant species.

On the other bank is the porphyry rock Treskavac (679 m high) with its characteristic trapezoidal peak. The narrow valley has a very mild, humid climate without climatic extremes and formed a refuge zone for numerous tree species during the Ice Age .

Excavation history

The first excavations took place in 1965, but the importance of the site was only recognized in 1967 when the first sculptures, identified at the time as Mesolithic, were discovered. The excavations ended in 1971 with the relocation to a level about 30 meters higher in order to prevent flooding by the Iron Gate I dam, which was built at the time . The main contribution to the exploration of the site was made by Professor of the University of Belgrade Dragoslav Srejović .

stratigraphy

The settlement consists of several construction phases and horizons. Srejović identified five phases in the settlement of Lepenski Vir. He counted phases Ia-e and II to the Mesolithic, the following ones to the early and middle Neolithic .

Phases Lepenski Vir
phase cultural assignment Dating after Srejovic 14 C, corrected for hard water effect calibrated with CalPal
Proto-Lepenski Vir Early Mesolithic   > 8500 BP > 7562 ± 15 cal BC
Lepenski Vir I Late Mesolithic 7400 BP 8500-7400 BP 7565-6290 cal BC
Lepensky Vir II End Mesolithic 6560 BP 7400-7100 BP 6290-6000 cal BC
Lepensky Vir IIIa Early Neolithic   7000-6700 BP 5897-5630 cal BC
Lepenski Vir IIIb Early Neolithic    
  Salcuţa   5300 BP 4150 ± 66 cal BC
  Roman    

Proto-Lepenski Vir

The remains of the first layer of settlement lie on the Dryas- era low terrace directly on the river, in the immediate vicinity of the eponymous rapids. The settlement lies parallel to the Danube. It has an approximately elliptical shape, about 90 m long and a maximum of 12 m wide. The settlement was not completely excavated as the Phase I houses were left in place. Eight hearths were excavated. They consist of upright limestone slabs and are 0.8–1 m long, 0.2–0.25 m wide and 30 cm deep. On its west side, there was a concentration of municipal waste that extends to around 3 m west of the hearth. Clear house traces were not found. The structures were probably not deepened. Srejovic (1972, 47) cites reeds or skin as possible building materials and suspects an elliptical outline of the tent-like structure.

Burials

Only one complete burial is known from Proto-LV. The dead lay in a 1.10 m long pit. The head was on the chest, the legs were spread and strongly crouched, the arms stretched, with the hands on the hips. Additions are missing. Remnants of the skull were found both in the concentration of finds around the hearth and in the otherwise sterile deposits in between. In the southeast of the settlement a single mature male jaw lay with stone tools and fish bones.

Lepenski Vir I

The culture layer is on average 1.5 m thick. The settlement covers about 2,000 m 2 , 85 houses have been excavated, not all of them completely. Srejovic differentiates between five construction phases (Ia-e), but the new houses were not built synchronously, which led to a very complex stratigraphy . Srejovic's phasing is not always comprehensible in detail. Up to five houses overlap. Between the floors there is 25–50 cm of sediment.

layer Number of houses Dimensions in m 2
Yes 22nd 1,500
Ib 26th 1,700
Ic 26, 10 new ?
Id 20, 17 new ?
Ie 24 not completely excavated
II 6th ?

Houses

The floors consist of lightly burnt lime and gravel and are trapezoidal. The longer narrow side is generally rounded. A foundation trench about 15 cm wide and 10 cm deep ran along the floor, in which wooden beams presumably sat. Quarry served to hold these in place. Post holes were found on the long sides and, slightly inward, in the middle of the rounded side. They too often contained quarry stone post wedges . The rounded side almost always faces the river (exceptions are houses 36 and 58 in phase Ia, 26 in Ib, 10 and 49 in Ic). In phase Ie, the rounding of the front decreases significantly, the floor plans of the houses now almost resemble real trapezoids. The hearths were set into the floor. They are rectangular and, as in the Proto-LV phase, consisted of upright stone slabs, which were now larger overall. The hearths were 0.6–1 m long, 0.4 m wide and 35–40 cm deep. Often the hearths are connected to the rounded narrow side by a stone pavement. Behind the hearth there is often a rounded boulder that can be worked. According to Srejovic, this forms the center of the dwelling. As the building site rose the further it was from the river, the rear areas of the houses were often sunk into the ground, up to a meter in the case of house number 34.

Srejovic adopts sloping wooden walls and a gable roof. Boric reconstructs upright walls and a sloping flat roof. The curvature of the front probably formed a kind of forecourt. The houses vary in size, between 5.5 and 36 m². In phase Ic there are two miniature houses No. 10, 31 with only 1.4 and 1.9 m² floor space. They contained no finds, but the hearths had been used. The largest house (No. 57 with 36 m²) comes from phase Ie. It is highest within the settlement. In phases Ib and Ic there are “tables” and sculptures made of sandstone in the houses. The tables are made of sandstone slabs that are barely higher than the ground. Srejovic sees them as a feature of domestic sanctuaries, but they can also have served domestic functions. From phase Id, the hearths were decorated with triangles made of red sandstone slabs, which were arranged around their edge (house 19). Sometimes they were only on one (43, 48) or both long sides (4, 12, 24, 32, 47) of the hearth. Srejovic wants to connect these structures with human lower jaws (1972, 121). The houses of phase Ie are less carefully constructed than the previous ones, their floors are significantly thinner. Srejovic gives this phase only a short lifespan.

Settlement organization

Srejovic assumes a central “market place”, behind which the largest house (No. 54a in phase Ia) was. In phase Id, Srejovic sees a division of the settlement into two parts, which will be lifted again in phase Ie. The focus of the settlement shifted up the slope. This central place is missing in phase Ie.

Material culture

Microliths are typical in the lithic industry, but geometric microliths (trapezoids and triangles) are extremely rare. In addition to flint, quartzite was also used . Among the Utils commun there are mainly scratches, also end retouching, roughly laterally retouched blades and scraper-like devices.

Rock was processed into club heads, which are often decorated with geometric patterns. So-called "net weights" have a notch in the middle. They are made of sandstone. Polishing stones were made from sandstone, larger specimens from volcanic rock. Crystalline limestone was used to make jewelry such as pearls and pendants or belt buckles. Ceramics are found in houses 1, 4, 15, 16, 24, 26, 28, 32, 35, 37, 46, 47, 54.

Burials

From phase Ib burials can be found in the houses, directly in front of or behind the hearths as NS-oriented stretchers. There are 1–5 burials per house, but individual burials are rare. In addition, individual bones such as the jaw, skull parts and thigh bones were buried (houses 3, 35, 54, 65). Children's bones are completely absent; the bones usually belong to older adults of both sexes. The first child bones were found in phase Ic. They lie under the floors of houses 26 and 40 and must therefore have been buried before the houses were built. Only adults are buried at the herds. With phase Ic, the number of graves decreases overall. Grave goods are rare and usually consist of deer antlers. Sometimes the entire skull was also added (houses 64, 65). Two male burials had pearl necklaces around their necks. The burial in house 21 (phase Id) was accompanied by a wild cattle skull, a deer skull and antlers. There was also a dog burial in house 65.

Age male Female
adult 5 11
adult / matur 9 8th
matur 11 5
matur / senile 7th 4th

Sculptures

House 40 (phase Ic) had two sculptures, one of which was in the southwest corner, while the second was in the hearth. There was a human lower jaw in the hearth. In some cases there is a connection between burials and sculptures (house 63, phase Ic, house 21, phase Id).

Lepensky Vir II

The culture layer is on average 0.5 m thick. The layer is culturally homogeneous and was probably formed in a relatively short time. The settlement covered 2,400 m² and extended in the northwest beyond the former settlement area. 44 house floor plans were excavated, only six of which are complete. The remains of the settlement were severely damaged by the phase III buildings. Srejovic accepts a completely new construction of the settlement after the structures of the Ie layer were systematically demolished. The plan of the houses and the settlement corresponds to that in phase I. The construction work in phase I had increased the subsoil and there was more level surface. The houses are no longer partially submerged. In contrast, the now unstable subsoil was often paved with large boulders before a new house was built. Dry stone walls with a preserved height of about 1 m should prevent landslides.

Houses

The houses of this phase were numbered in Roman numerals. They are oriented towards the river. The house plans are less regular than in phase I. The stone slabs in the foundation trenches are always aligned vertically, which indicates vertical walls. The house floors now consisted of large stone slabs. Overall, the hearths are shorter and wider than before. House XLIV contains the “stone tables” that were used in phases Ic and Id. It contained five stone sculptures.

Material culture

Microliths also occur in phase II. Drills, scrapers and spoons were made from bones.

Burials

In addition to the burials of skulls and single bones, there are also headless skeletons (three in house XXXV).

Lepensky Vir III

The culture layer is on average 1.2 m thick. There is no clearly pronounced sterile layer between the deposits of II and III, from which Srejovic concludes that there was no larger settlement hiatus. Srejovic divided the shift into sub-phases a and b. This is where the largest area of ​​the settlement is found (5,500 m²). This layer of settlement is covered with pebbles and clay that come from the slopes of the Korso Mountains and were probably deposited by a catastrophic landslide. It belongs to the Proto-Starcevo and Starcevo I phases of the early Neolithic.

Houses

The houses are radically different from the previous phase. They are elliptical and often slightly sunk into the ground. The houses were on average 5 × 3 to 3 × 2 m in size, the largest house (D) measured 10 × 4.5 m. They were oriented towards Nazism. In Phase IIIB, the houses appear to have been mostly above ground, but they are very poorly preserved.

Material culture

The pottery belongs to the early Starcevo culture, barbotinated goods are common. Goods painted black-on-red, on the other hand, are very rare. Bracelets and dress pins were now also made from bones.

From Phase IIIB obsidian from the Bükk Mountains , pearls from malachite and azurite and jewelry made from spondylus shells , which indicate long-distance trade connections.

Burials

The burials from this period are all stools. They are peripheral to the settlement. The graves are often surrounded by stone fragments or covered with large slabs (for example grave 7). There was no preferred orientation, and partial burials are rare (graves 1, 19).

Roman

In the Tiberian times, a road led across the terrace of Lepenski Vir, and a small watchtower was built that was in use until the 6th century.

Sculptures

Head sculpture from Lepenski Vir

All sculptures are made of yellow, coarse-grained sandstone, which probably comes from the upper reaches of the Boljetinka , about 10 km away. Most pebbles are 16-30 cm tall, the largest 60 cm. Phase II is characterized by larger stones overall. Sculptures are known from phase Ib (10 pieces). They are usually behind the stove. They are not always preserved in situ; holes 8 to 20 cm in diameter indicate the location of missing sculptures. In some houses (for example 3, 29, 62) unworked stone blocks were found in an analogous position. Srejovic differentiates between sculptures and altars, but admits that this distinction is of a purely formal nature. "Altars" are mostly flat and have a depression. Sculptures, on the other hand, are made from elongated, rounded stone blocks. The size of the stone blocks worked seems to depend on the size of the houses. Srejovic distinguishes three types of stone blocks:

  • naturalistic representations (15 pieces)
  • abstract "arabesque" pattern (24 pieces)
  • aniconic and semi-aniconic blocks (13 pieces)

All three types occur at the same time. Houses 3 and 28 contain all three types.

"Naturalistic" representations

  • human figures (house 3, 28, XLIV) with stylized bodies
  • human heads / fish heads (house 24, phase Id, XLIV, XLIV, phase II)
  • Vulvar representations (house 51, phase Ic)
  • Animal heads

Abstract representations

15 figures come from layer II. The patterns stand out more clearly from the stone. Of the 30 altars, three are sculptured, 10 have ornaments and 17 are undecorated.

The Goddess of Capdenac (also Capdenac-le-Haut) is an archaeological find from the Neolithic period in the department of Lot in the region Occitan in southern France . Despite the chronological gap, the statue of Capdenac is very closely related to two of the Serbian statues in terms of material, technology and style .

Dating

As the new analysis of the finds by Borić showed, contrary to the excavation results by D. Srejović, the lower layers of Lepenski Vir (Lepenski Vir I) also contain fragments of the Starčevo culture . Stone axes and the typical honey-colored "Balkan" flint are also found there. The settlement is therefore probably an expression of the economic specialization of the local Starčevo population, who elsewhere lived mainly from agriculture and cattle breeding. The 14 C dates are between 6200 and 5400 BC. Chr. (Calibrated).

Comparisons of human bones with directly associated bones from ruminants (bone tips from graves in the neighboring settlement of Schela Cladovei ) revealed a considerable age difference. From this it was concluded that a considerable part of the human diet consisted of fish, which in this area is 425 ± 55 years "too old" due to the reservoir effect . More recent AMS dates of animal bones fall between 6200 and 5400 BC. Chr. (Cal.)

Economy

Animal bones according to settlement phases
Organic residues Lepenski Vir

In phases PLV, I and II, only the bones of wild animals and dogs are found. From III pets are common. The most numerous are cattle, followed by sheep / goats and pigs. Dog bones are noticeably common, Sandor Bökönyi interprets them as hunting dogs, but they were probably also eaten. Among the wild animal bones of this period are also inhabitants of open landscapes, such as the hare and the wild ass , which were probably brought into the gorge from outside. The aurochs is also more typical of gallery forests than of dense mountain forests . Chamois probably lived at lower altitudes in the Neolithic than today and were probably hunted on the slopes of the Korso Mountains. 17 houses contain deer skulls. This is probably not food leftovers, but hunting trophies or ritual deposits.

The most important food component was fish. There were rapids on a stretch of almost 500 m below the site that made fishing easier. There are carp , catfish and sturgeon caught

Isotope analyzes show that the proportion of fish in the diet decreased significantly in the course of the Neolithic. In the burials of Lepenski Vir, three groups can be detected which, according to the isotope analysis of δ 13 C and δ 15 N, mainly fed on freshwater animals, mixed and mainly on land animals. In the layers of LV III and later, the land animals predominate, in the Mesolithic the fish, while the diet in the transition phase was very different from each individual. Sturgeon was caught throughout, as evidenced by the relevant bone finds.

epoch Dating [BP] nutrition
Early Mesolithic older than 8500 <60% fish
Late Mesolithic 8500 <60% fish
End Mesolithic 7400-7100 BP inconsistent
Early Neolithic 7100-6700 50-80% land animals
Late Neolithic 5300 50-80% land animals
middle Ages - especially land animals, possibly millet (C4)

Further sources

Other important early Neolithic sites in the area of ​​the Iron Gate are Pădina , Schela Cladovei and Vlasac .

literature

  • Dušan Borić: The Lepenski Vir conundrum: reinterpretation of the Mesolithic and Neolithic sequences in the Danube Gorges. In: Antiquity 76, 2002, pp. 1026-1039.
  • Clive Bonsall et al: Stable isotopes, radiocarbon and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Iron Gates. In: Documenta Praehistorica 27, 2000, pp. 119–132.
  • G. Cook et al .: Problems of dating human bones from the Iron Gates. In: Antiquity. 76, 2000, pp. 77-85.
  • Jutta Meurers-Balke , Hansgerd Hellenkemper (Red.): Lepenski Vir: Human images of an early European culture. Mainz 1981, ISBN 3-8053-0494-3 .
  • Dragoslav Srejović : The Lepenski Vir culture and the beginning of the Neolithic on the central Danube. In: Hermann Schwabedissen (Hrsg.): The beginnings of the Neolithic from the Orient to Northern Europe. Part 2: Eastern Central Europe. (= Fundamenta, Monographs on Prehistory, Series A, Volume 3). Cologne 1971, pp. 1-19.
  • Dragoslav Srejović: Europe's first monumental sculpture: new discoveries at Lepenski Vir. Thames & Hudson, London 1972.
  • Dragoslav Srejović: Lepenski Vir: Human images of an early European culture. Zabern, Mainz 1972.
  • Dragoslav Srejović ao: Lepenski Vir, Guide. Narodni muzej, Belgrade 1983.
  • Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe, Volume 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Presumably (6200 BC) there was an intensification of special cult practices, which can be interpreted as a typical reaction to external pressure such as environmental or climatic stress". Detlef Gronenborn: Lepenski Vir and the late Mesolithic at the Iron Gate. In: From hunters and gatherers to farmers- The Neolithic Revolution. Theiss, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-8062-2189-3 .
  2. ↑ Bonsall et al. 2004

Web links

Commons : Lepenski Vir  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 44 ° 33 ′ 40 ″  N , 22 ° 1 ′ 27 ″  E