• 6400 – 5800 B.C. – Early neolithic – “monocrom” Starčevo• 5800 – 5250 B.C. – Middle Neolithic – Starčevo painted pottery• 5250 – 4500 B.C. – Late Neolithic – Vinča culture

Defining the Vinča

Problems:• Insuficient number of excavated sites• Insuficient number of publicated excavations• Selective publication of excavated material in the past• False methodology of researches• Over-attention devoted to typological analyses• Lack of closely-spaced absolute datas and detailed

stratigrafic evidence

The Starčevo culture

• Two main ceramic styles: coarse ceramics with impressed, incised or barbotine decoration, and fine painted wares

• multi-level occupations are rare, settlements are small and temporary

•M. Garašanin (1949)

Vinča-Tordoš IVinča-Tordoš IIGradac phaseVinča-Pločnik I

Vinča-Pločnik IIaVinča-Pločnik IIb

•V. Milojčić (1950)

Vinča A1-2Vinča B1Vinča B2

Vinča B2/CVinča C/D

Vinča D1/2

Chronology of Vinča culture

Absolute cronological dates (Borić, 2009)

• Vinča A: 5400/5300 – 5200 cal. BC• Vinča B: 5200 – 5000/4950 cal. BC• Vinča C: 5000/4950 – 4850 cal. BC• Vinča D: 4850 – 4650/4600 cal.BC

Territory• Area of the Vinča culture approximately corresponds with the extension of

previous Starčevo culture

Pottery• The fundamental Vinča pottery are dark monochrome ceramics - different preparation and the reduced technique of pottery firing – controling of

temperature and atmosphere technological innovation• Very fine and lustrousblack polishing, red crusted painting and a pattern burnishing• The shape that marks Vinča pottery is byconic vessel• Combination of northern Linearbandkeramik, and southern black burnished elements

over a substrate of coarse wares derived from Early Neolithic

The comparison between Starčevo and Vinča pottery

• spherical shapes• rough fracture• predominantly red tones and

their variants• plastic ornament• Painting (only on fine pottery)

• biconical forms• fine fracture• dark and black tones• pattern-burnished ornaments

(Politurmuster)• incision, puncturing

• Late Starčevo II-b - new technique of preparing clay – using of mica, biconic shapes, linear barbotine- an announcement of the comming Vinča chanelling arnament

• General trend during the Balkans middle neolithic: disappearance of the painted and the emergence of black burnished wares

Vinča A

Vinča B 1

Vinča B 2

Vinča C

Vinča D

Oltenian variant

Settlements

• Increasing in settlement size• Appearance of multi-layer settlements• There isn’t any tell, stratification is more horizontal

then vertical• Situated on river terraces, on elevated terrains in

plains or on hill slopes – certain number of them on the same sites as previous Starčevo settlements

• During the Vinča–Pločnik phase – appearance of settlements on the hard accessible tops of the hills

• Many Vinča settlements were founded on the same places as previous Starčevo sites

• But on the most sites with Late Starčevo material, Vinča layer belongs to late Vinča, and on sites with early Starčevo material, Vinča layer to early Vinča culture

• Šljivik- Stragari – 3 layers (Vinča-Tordoš I,II) and all of them containing pottery from final phases of Starčevo culture)

coexistence?

• Dwelings are rectangular in plan, with walls of postholes and wattle covered with a daub, floors of a soil or a coated floor beams

• During the existence of Vinča culture, size of houses increases with subdivisions of interiors

• But also during the Late Starčevo – appearance of rectangular houses

• Contrary, during the Inital Vinča phase, existence of digouts

• Changes in settlement pattern:

Setting of houses in parallel rows – organization of settlement space

Figural plastic• Found in all parts of settlements, but never in graves• Early Vinča clay figurines follow that of Starčevo in development

line. Also the same is with so called amulets, 3,4 legged tables...

• By the time, “evolution” of figurines, emphasising of details

• Lady of Vinča

Burials

• Mortuary practices are the same as in Stračevo culture – inhumation in hocker position

• Appearance of cemeteries - in Botoš and Gomolava –

intramural, in unocupied part of village

• Grave 12 – traces of powdered malachite, stone axe, two ceramic vessels, amuleth - a distinctive status marks in comparison to all other individuals buried at this necropolis.

• Ritual is Institutionalised – the appearance of ritual centres – documented by a big number of figurines and bucranium shrines (Parta, Jakovo-Kormadin)

For the first time indications of buildings for ritual prurposes

Ore mining and metal processing

• Rudna Glava – an evidence of the

exploitation of ore• final phase

represents the earliest signs of the process that would be traditionally called Eneolithic.

• Copper beads at Vinča and Gomolava, 4 hoards with copper and stone tools at Pločnik

• Vinča – house with three metallurgical furnaces• Copper has certainly been used since Gradac phase and throughout the Vinča-

Pločnik phase, but any significant changes in culture and life hadn’t appear.

Agriculture and animal hearding• In crop cultivation there’re no changes comparing to Starčevo period, except

intensification of agriculture• Exception – increasing in the number of cattle consisting about 80% of faunal

remains on Vinča

Chipped stone industry• Two main processes: - specialization of production separation of production areas from settlements - Malo

Brdo – covered in a dense scatter od axe blanks and vaste fakes tool preparation site - progressing standardization of lithic tools - characterized a strong microlithic

component- bladalets and flakes• But in sense of tool types, there are not significant changes comparing to STračevo• Using of opsidian in a large amounts

The origins of Vinča culture

Three ways of Balkans neolithic origins:• Endemic development• Acculturation – by excanging of ideas or/and

commodities• Migration – organized colonization or sporadic

population movement

Larissa culture

Karanovo IV

AşagıpınarLevel 5

5480 – 5300 cal. BC

Level 4/55310 – 5260 cal. BC

Level 45280 – 5000 cal. BC

Level 3/45000 – 4850 cal BC

Level 3

• With the begining of Late Neolithic, important series of internal social, economic and cultural changes, caused by various innovations, transformed the early agriculturists into fully sedentary societies irreversibly commited to a new way of life

The end of Vinča culture

• The Vinča culture in its core region was ended violently by the Bodrogkersztur culture at about 3500 B.C. the number of settlements have been destroyed in fire