Archaeology

HAEMUS - Center for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture
http://haemus.org.mk
Settlements, Culture and Population Dynamics in Balkan Prehistory
International Conference
13-14.03.2015
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
ABSTRACTS OF THE ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS

General Editor: Vasilka Dimitrovska
Cover Design: Vasilka Dimitrovska, Elka Anastasova
Design: Elka Anastasova
Editing and English proofreading: Mark Branov

Vatin Culture is one of the most important phenomena of the early and middle Bronze Age on the Balkans. The history of its studies begins at the end of the late nineteenth century works of the curator of the City Museum in Vrsac, Felix Milleker at the site of Bela Bara, near the village Vatin. The review of research on the site began in 2010 in cooperation with the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy in Ljubljana. The main emphasis was placed on the use of non-invasive archaeological prospection methods, which involve the systematic screening
of surface, subsurface prospection, geophysical research, prospection from the air, as well as various other methods
that can provide relevant information.

The archaeological site of Gradište near Iđoš, in the municipality of Kikinda,
Serbia, is well known in the archaeological literature of the region. Excavated on several
occasions since 1913, the site is best known for the existence of a late Neolithic settlement where
material culture belonging to both Vinča and Tisza communities was found in the same archaeological
contexts. Furthermore, the site is known for a 250 metre diameter fortified settlement from the
Late Bronze/Early Iron Age period. А new research cycle was initiated in 2014 in order to explain
cultural processes during prehistory in this part of the Pannonian basin. The first season of the
new research campaign was focused on geophysical prospection of an area of approximately 2
hectares, geological coring and excavation of four stratigraphic trenches across the site. This
work has confirmed the existence of up to 2.5 metres of archaeological remains on the tell site
with several daub structures detected and the existence of numerous archaeological features within
the Late Bronze - Iron Age settlement.

The violent end of a Late Neolithic village (ca. 4500 BC) at Gradište Idjoš included a fiery conflagration that destroyed houses. This has three archaeological benefits 1) Domestic assemblages were preserved in situ, 2) Inorganic building materials and impressions of organic building materials in these were preserved, 3) The burning led to strong geophysical signatures so that non-invasive survey has provided a provisional plan of the final occupation phases at this site. This provides excellent resolution data on the final habitation phase on a tell site that began some centuries, possibly millennia, earlier. This in turn provides a basis for considering the more ephemeral traces of activity from earlier phases and attempting to make sense of these during excavation. Immediately adjacent to this Neolithic village, a Bronze Age to Early Iron Age (ca. 1450-800 BC) fortified site was built. We know considerably less about the structural traditions of this period, not only at the site but for the wider region. As with the Neolithic tradition, it appears that organic materials and daub using the local loess predominates. Excavation has sought to find traces of settlement structures, no matter how ephemeral, but thus far with little success. The reasons for this include the apparent lack of burning of any buildings, the actual structural traditions that did not involve features cut into the earth (e.g. post-holes) and the agricultural use of the land for generations. Nonetheless, through analyses of impressions in daub and some burnt remains, we are building up a picture of the structural traditions in use, potentially including domestic buildings. In this paper, we will comparatively explore the material evidence for structures from both periods, during which the same landscape resources were used. Through this we analyse material traces for prehistoric “invisible houses” of the southern Carpathian Basin and Balkans.

The tradition of exploitation and production of stone artefacts at Lojanik is
very long, covering several archaeological periods, from early prehistory until nowadays.
Direct acquisition of raw materials and artefacts from the Lojanik mine to the
settlements from the Early Neolithic (Crkvine) and the Late Neolithic (Divlje Polje)
near Kraljevo, has been confirmed. In the last three years, since the archaeological
site Lojanik has been the subject of concern of museums and institutes for the cultural
and natural heritage protection, a paradox is obvious, namely, although the entire zone
formally presents a protected natural monument, it has been exposed to devastation
for decades. During 2016, a set of broad archeological investigations was conducted,
from mapping to analysing the main concentrations of human activities, i.e. stone raw
materials mining from the Palaeolithic to modern times, which represents the first level
of protection of this specific site. A total of seven archaeological clusters (chipped artefact
concentrations) was recognized, mapped and analysed on the top of the Lojanik
hill, where each cluster represents specific activities, from extraction zones to the places
for production of tools. At Crkvine, the results of test-trenching showed that an Early
Neolithic occupational horizon presents a space outside the residential structures. According
to the characteristics of the shape, texture and decoration of ceramic pots, the
relative chronological determination of this horizon approaches to the earlier phases of
the Starčevo culture. The Mataruge rock-shelter presents another prospective prehistoric
habitat, but it can be precisely defined only after previous preparation and realization
of a protection project.

The tradition of exploitation and production of stone artefacts at Lojanik is very long, covering several archaeological periods, from early prehistory until nowadays. Direct acquisition of raw materials and artefacts from the Lojanik mine to the settlements from the Early Neolithic (Crkvine) and the Late Neolithic (Divlje Polje) near Kraljevo, has been confirmed. In the last three years, since the archaeological
site Lojanik has been the subject of concern of museums and institutes for the cultural and natural heritage protection, a paradox is obvious, namely, although the entire zone formally presents a protected natural monument, it has been exposed to devastation for decades. During 2016, a set of broad archeological investigations was conducted,
from mapping to analysing the main concentrations of human activities, i.e. stone raw materials mining from the Palaeolithic to modern times, which represents the first level of protection of this specific site. A total of seven archaeological clusters (chipped artefact concentrations) was recognized, mapped and analysed on the top of the Lojanik hill, where each cluster represents specific activities, from extraction zones to the places for production of tools. At Crkvine, the results of test-trenching showed that an Early Neolithic occupational horizon presents a space outside the residential structures. According to the characteristics of the shape, texture and decoration of ceramic pots, the relative chronological determination of this horizon approaches to the earlier phases of the Starčevo culture. The Mataruge rock-shelter presents another prospective prehistoric habitat, but it can be precisely defined only after previous preparation and realization of a protection project.
Keywords: Lojanik, Crkvine–Konarevo, stone raw materials, opals, silicified wood, exploitation, quarry, mine, Paleolithic, Neolithic, technology of chipped artefacts

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Commanding a position near the edge of a loess plateau
in the southern reaches of the central Carpathian
Basin, the site of Gradište Idjoš (variously called
Gradište kod Kikinde, Gradište near Idjoš or Idjoš
Gradište in literature) in Serbian Banat is a major fortified
site of the Later Bronze Age. Our investigations
are refining its chronology, though the major phase
of settlement appears to belong to c. 15th to 9th century
BC, with a possible gap from the 11th to the 10th century
BC. Clearly visible in historic maps of the area and in
early aerial photographs (Fig. 1), the central fortification
consists of a sub-circular rampart probably surrounded
by a fosse and up to three other curvilinear
ditches at progressively farther distances, all evident
from a geophysical survey and aerial imagery. We will
begin with a brief overview of the landscape setting
of the site, followed by a description of the history of
research. We then present an overview of the results
of our geophysical survey and excavations at the site
in 2014 and 2015, leading up to a preliminary discussion
of the ceramics to demonstrate the chronology of
the occupation. We conclude with a discussion of the
social environment of the site in the Bronze Age, set
within the landscape of the »mega-forts« within and
bordering the geographical and historical region of
Banat (an area now shared by Hungary, Romania and
Serbia).

Commanding a position near the edge of a loess plateau in the southern reaches of the central Carpathian Basin, the site of Gradište Idjoš (variously called Gradište kod Kikinde, Gradište near Idjoš or Idjoš Gradište in literature) in Serbian Banat is a major fortified site of the Later Bronze Age. Our investigations are refining its chronology, though the major phase of settlement appears to belong to c. 15th to 9th century BC, with a possible gap from the 11th to the 10th century BC. Clearly visible in historic maps of the area and in early aerial photographs (Fig. 1), the central fortification consists of a sub-circular rampart probably surrounded by a fosse and up to three other curvilinear ditches at progressively farther distances, all evident from a geophysical survey and aerial imagery. We will begin with a brief overview of the landscape setting of the site, followed by a description of the history of research. We then present an overview of the results of our geophysical survey and excavations at the site in 2014 and 2015, leading up to a preliminary discussion of the ceramics to demonstrate the chronology of the occupation. We conclude with a discussion of the social environment of the site in the Bronze Age, set within the landscape of the »mega-forts« within and bordering the geographical and historical region of Banat (an area now shared by Hungary, Romania and Serbia).

The site of Vatin (Serbia), after which the Bronze Age culture in the north-central Balkans was named, has largely been destroyed by intensive human activity in the recent past (entailing primarily sand extraction). Therefore, although discovered more than a century ago, (what remained of) the site has not yet been adequately investigated. As a result, incredibly little is known about the site’s extent, layout, duration, economy, social structure, symbolism, and virtually any other aspect of life in this settlement. This is despite the existence of a museum collection comprising thousands of archaeological finds gathered during the very limited previous excavations of the site and/or purchased from the Vatin village inhabitants and landowners. The recently initiated multidisciplinary archaeological research at Vatin aims at shedding light on some of the aspects of life of the Bronze Age community. It includes archaeological prospection of the assumed area of the site and beyond, and small-scale excavation in the apparently intact parts of the site. Within the latter, soil samples have been taken from the excavated areas and floated to recover plant remains. Here we report on first archaeobotanical results for Bronze Age Vatin based on the analysis of twenty-one samples. The samples are of low botanical density and the number of plant remains is very modest. The taxonomic diversity, however, is considerable and includes several crops, few potentially gathered wild plants, and a number of arable/ruderal taxa. The preliminary results from Vatin are comparable to the data obtained for other Vatin culture sites in the area.

A newly discovered network of later Bronze Age fortified sites of unusually large size are discussed, with a primary focus on results of excavations at the site of Gradište Iđoš. Closely associated with the rivers Mureš, Tisza, and Danube, these sites are located in the southeast of the Carpathian Basin in central Europe. On current evidence, the main period of construction and occupation took place between 1400–1100 b.c., probably constituting successor communities of the tell-centred societies of the Middle Bronze Age. Geophysical survey and excavation results from Gradište Iđoš, the largest site in this network in Serbia, are presented in this paper within their regional context. We discuss preliminary insights into the structural development of the site, alongside a correlation of new 14C dates with relative ceramic chronological markers and the results of faunal analysis. These results provide new perspectives on settlement systems at the dawn of Urnfield cultural traditions in this region.