Starinar

Alleged ?Aegean migrations? have long been seen as underlying major transformations in lifeways and identity in the Balkans in the 12th-11th centuries BC. Revisiting the material culture and settlement changes in the north-south ?routeway? of the Velika Morava-Juzna Morava-Vardar/Axios river valleys, this paper evaluates developments within local communities. It is argued that mobility played an important role in social change, including an element of inward migration from the north. We argue that rather than an Aegean end point, these river valleys themselves were the destination of migrants. The prosperity this stimulated within those communities led to increased networks of personal mobility that incorporated elements from communities from the wider Carpathians and the north of Greece over the course of two centuries.

The tomb G-160, known as the 'Tomb with Cupids', was discovered in 2003, during the excavations at the Pirivoj - Viminacium necropolis. The tomb has a trapezial section, characteristic for Viminacium tombs of the late antique period, and its interior was painted using the fresco technique. Scenes and motives are set on all four walls of the tomb. Since the western wall is damaged, the tomb is named after the depiction of cupids on the eastern wall. The wealth of the iconographic repertoire, together with an analysis of the geometry and symmetry, allowed the reconstruction of the conceptual context and it can be concluded that the tomb was dedicated to Venus, or Dionysus. The tomb painting could be dated to the beginning of the 4th century, owing to the analysis of the style, which combines an eclectic Eastern expressionism, classicism and illusionism of the Constantine era.

The paper presents a set of glass fragments excavated at several different locations within and outside the late Roman fortified imperial residence Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Serbia). This small group of eighteen fragments and mosaic glass tesserae are distinguished by their cobalt blue colour. The majority of the finds are mosaic tesserae (six pcs) and sheets of glass (five pcs), which could be related to architectural decoration (sectilia panels). Others are pieces left behind from secondary glass working (four pcs). There are also two fragments tentatively identified as window pane pieces, and only one find is a vessel sherd. The materials are dated to the 4th century. Significantly, some of the production debris and the two ?window pane? fragments were found inside the destruction of a glass furnace. The analyses of the chemical glass composition of the finds confirmed that the blue colourant in all samples is cobalt, and antimony is also present at notable levels (except for o...

Najstariji srpski stručni arheološki časopis Starinar, pokrenut je davne 1884. godine, najpre zalaganjem Mihaila Valtrovića, utemeljivača srpske arheologije i prvog profesora arheologije na Velikoj školi. Časopis je izlazio kao glasilo Srpskog arheološkog društva, sa izvesnim prekidima, sve do 1940. godine. U razdoblju od 1884 do 1895. izlazile su četri sveske godišnje, od 1906-1911. po dve sveske godišnje, a od 1922 do 1940. godine časopis je izlazio kao godišnjak. Od 1950. godine izdavanje Starinara preuzeo je Arheološki institut u Beogradu.

Until 1981, the Late Iron Age in the Croatian-Serbian Danube region was organized using the relative chronology of Jovan Todorović from Belgrade. His division consisted of phases I (pre-Celtic period), II, III, IV, and V (Roman period) – Kelti u jugoistočnoj Evropi 1968, 117 ss; Praistorijska Karaburma 1, 1972, 83 ss; Skordisci 1974, 112 ss). He further divided Phase III into subphases IIIa and IIIb. On the chronological table of graves from the cemetery of Karaburma in Belgrade he assigned many graves to wrong phases. In the section with phase II graves, which should correspond to LT B2 in Central Europe, for example only two female graves appear (63 and 67). He assigned contemporary sword graves to the later IIIa (grave 22) and IIIb (graves 66, 71 and 111) phases. Two graves from the LT D1 phase, grave 14 with a Laminci type belt plate and grave 15 with a belt plate of the same type and a Karaburma 39 type fibula, were on the contrary ascribed to phase IIIa instead of to phase IV.
In my diploma thesis, written under the supervision of prof. Stane Gabrovec, submitted in 1980 to the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana, and published in a somewhat abridged form in 1981 in the archaeological journals Arheološki vestnik (Ljubljana) and Starinar (Belgrade), I proposed a new relative chronology for the Late Iron Age in the Croatian-Serbian Danube region. It was mostly based on graves from the cemeteries of Karaburma and Rospi Ćuprija in Belgrade, but also on other published La Tène graves from this region. My chronology consisted of phases Beograd 1 (LT B2), Beograd 2 (LT C), and Beograd 3 (LT D). In two chapters published in volume 5 of Praistorija jugoslavenskih zemalja (Sarajevo 1987) and in my book Late La Tène-Roman cemetery in Novo mesto (Ljubljana 2008), I have finally improved this relative chronology, which now consists of phases Beograd 1 (LT B2), 2a (LT C1), 2b (LT C2), 3a (LT D1), and 3b (LT D2). 
Phase Beograd 1 includes the graves I cited in 1981 and the mostly still unpublished cemetery of Pećine near Kostolac (B. Jovanović in: Etudes Celtiques 21, 1984; Scordisci and the native population 1992; Balcanica 35, 2004; Scripta praehistorica in honorem Biba Teržan 2007; Balcanica 45, 2014), as well as the female grave from Surduk at Feudvar (Kull 1991). In Phase Beograd 2a are all the graves assigned by me in 1981, as well as a warrior grave from Čubarsko brdo in the Iron Gate region (Popović 1989–1990). Phase Beograd 2b includes the chariot grave from Odžaci, the unusual grave with a horse skeleton and weapons from Pećine near Kostolac (B. Jovanović, Etudes Celtiques 21, 1984), and several single finds (swords, bronze chain belts, fibulae with enamel decoration), e.g. from Kupinovo, Hrtkovci and Boljevci in Srem. In phase Beograd 3a are all of the graves assigned by me in 1981 to phase Beograd 3, as well as the graves from Mala Vrbica – Ajmana (Đerdapske sveske 3) and from Vajuga – Pesak (Popović 1989–1990) in the Iron Gate region, the warrior grave from Mali Bilač in Požeška kotlina (Dizdar, Potrebica 2014), the hoards of silver jewellery from Kovin (Rašajski 1961) and Židovar (Jevtić, Lazić, Sladić 2006), the hoard of weapons and horse gear from Veliki Vetren (Stojić 2003), and the sanctuary at Vojarna in Osijek. From phase Beograd 3b we only know of finds from settlements (e. g. fibulae of the Jezerine, Gorica, Alesia and Almgren 18 types) and not a single grave.

The paper focuses on a group of five anthropomorphic pendants, deposited in graves of sub-adult and female individuals, discovered in cemeteries of ancient Viminacium (Serbia). The selection of raw materials (jet and amber), as well as other parts of the necklaces these pendants were incorporated in, suggest their apotropaic character. Various data sources have been employed in order to answer questions regarding the identification of the depicted beings, reasons for their usage by certain population groups, etc. A comparison has been made with analogous specimens from across the Roman world, which are not numerous but are prominently widespread. Three examples from Viminacium originate from recent archaeological campaigns, meaning that osteological material was available for analysis.

In archaeological literature, the site of Trnjane, near Bor in eastern Serbia is known as an urn necropolis, with 43 discovered urn graves. The excavations in Trnjane took place between 1985 and 1987-1989, and continued in 1998. The investigations also included an excavation of a nearby settlement, but the results of this research were never published. In most of the previous studies, Trnjane was assigned to the Middle and Late Bronze Age, while the necropolis was often connected with the spread of the Urnfield Phenomena from Central Europe toward the Balkans. New investigations started in 2017 as cooperation between the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade and the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology (OREA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences shed new light on the chronology and cultural assignment of Trnjane and other similar surrounding sites in the region of eastern Serbia. The excavation of the settlement area in 2017 and 2018 yielded numerous finds indicating metall...

On the eastern slope of Slog Hill in Ravna, some 400 m to the west of the Roman fortification of Timacum Minus, a multilayered necropolis was investigated from 1994 to 1996 and from 2013 to 2015. There are two main horizons of the necropolis - Late Roman and Early Medieval. The late Roman necropolis has three phases dated from the middle of the 4th to the middle of the 5th century. The early medieval necropolis, according to the new excavations, has two phases, the earlier dated to the 8th - 9th centuries and the later from the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 11th century. An interesting grave (G 159), belonging to the earlier medieval phase of necropolis, was discovered in 2014. It is a unique burial of a woman and a fox, which has its only analogy in a disturbed woman and fox grave (grave 16) at the early Avar necropolis in Becej. The burial with a fox could be interpreted in two ways - that the animal has a cult - ritual - magic meaning or that the fox was a pet of the dec...

Najstariji srpski stručni arheološki časopis Starinar, pokrenut je davne 1884. godine, najpre zalaganjem Mihaila Valtrovića, utemeljivača srpske arheologije i prvog profesora arheologije na Velikoj školi. Časopis je izlazio kao glasilo Srpskog arheološkog društva, sa izvesnim prekidima, sve do 1940. godine. U razdoblju od 1884 do 1895. izlazile su četri sveske godišnje, od 1906-1911. po dve sveske godišnje, a od 1922 do 1940. godine časopis je izlazio kao godišnjak. Od 1950. godine izdavanje Starinara preuzeo je Arheološki institut u Beogradu.

Mihajlo Valtrović
Vide Vuletić-Vukasović
Nićifor Dudić
Ljubomir Kovačević
Vladimir Krasić
Josif Pančić
Mihailo Riznić
Dušan Sabovljević

Archaeological research at the site of Hisar in Leskovac began more than a decade ago and has initiated numerous papers on the relationship between the Mediana and Brnjica cultural groups and cultures that marked the transition from the Bronze to the Early Iron Age in the Central Balkans. This paper seeks to highlight and correct some of the key mistakes which have emerged in the stratigraphic interpretation of this multi-horizon site, and in such a way contribute to the better understanding of cultural movements at the transition from the 2nd to the 1st millennium BC.

In archaeological literature, the site of Trnjane, near Bor in eastern Serbia is known as an urn necropolis, with 43 discovered urn graves. The excavations in Trnjane took place between 1985 and 1987-1989, and continued in 1998. The investigations also included an excavation of a nearby settlement, but the results of this research were never published. In most of the previous studies, Trnjane was assigned to the Middle and Late Bronze Age, while the necropolis was often connected with the spread of the Urnfield Phenomena from Central Europe toward the Balkans. New investigations started in 2017 as cooperation between the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade and the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology (OREA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences shed new light on the chronology and cultural assignment of Trnjane and other similar surrounding sites in the region of eastern Serbia. The excavation of the settlement area in 2017 and 2018 yielded numerous finds indicating metall...

The study addresses an imprecisely defined period between the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Eneolithic in the Central Balkans. The study primarily refers to the characteristic ceramic forms common to both the Vinca culture and the Early Eneolithic groups, especially the Bubanj-Hum I group. The pottery under consideration originates exclusively from absolutely dated sites, single-layered sites, and sites that possess a well-defined vertical stratigraphy. The analyses of pottery, combined with brief reviews on economic strategies, the chipped stone industry, settlement topography and the process of metallurgy indicate that the transitional period from the Vinca culture to the Bubanj-Hum I group was a gradual process in the Central Balkans, without major external factors, yet continuous cultural contacts with the neighbouring communities, especially into the east. This gradual process of vertical genetic transmission between the 47th and the 45th century calBC resulted ...

The study addresses an imprecisely defined period between the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Eneolithic in the Central Balkans. The study primarily refers to the characteristic ceramic forms common to both the Vinca culture and the Early Eneolithic groups, especially the Bubanj-Hum I group. The pottery under consideration originates exclusively from absolutely dated sites, single-layered sites, and sites that possess a well-defined vertical stratigraphy. The analyses of pottery, combined with brief reviews on economic strategies, the chipped stone industry, settlement topography and the process of metallurgy indicate that the transitional period from the Vinca culture to the Bubanj-Hum I group was a gradual process in the Central Balkans, without major external factors, yet continuous cultural contacts with the neighbouring communities, especially into the east. This gradual process of vertical genetic transmission between the 47th and the 45th century calBC resulted ...

The renewal of the archaeological excavations of Timacum Minus in 2019 initiated extensive analyses and an additional interpretation of the results of previous excavations of its buildings. One of the buildings outside the fortification has attracted special attention, because of both its constructive solutions and its dimensions. Although the archaeological research of ?the building with a hypocaust? has never been completed, there are enough discovered segments that indicate the applied building techniques and constructions. In addition to under-floor and wall heating systems, this building had vaults built of terracotta tubes. The rarely discovered and insufficiently documented examples of this type of vaulted structure in Roman architecture in south-eastern Europe necessitate a deeper analysis of their remains in Timacum Minus, with the aim of obtaining relevant information important not only for the reconstruction of the construction process and appearance of ?the building with...

The motif of Medusa had significant importance in Roman visual culture, reflecting the comprehension of ancient people about this frightful being. Visual material from the territory of the Central Balkans suggests a widely known understanding and belief of the protective as well as apotropaic functions of Medusa. The motif of Medusa i.e. the Gorgoneion, was one of the well known and most represented motifs in architecture, funerary art and artiminori and a widely appreciated decoration of jewellery, signifying the importance of Medusa?s protection for people, especially for women.