Starinar
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A portrait oil lamp from Pontes
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The subject of this paper is a fragmented oil-lamp, discovered at Pontes (east Serbia) dated to the 6th century, whose handle ending is shaped as a woman’s head. The question posed in this paper is whether the image of this woman could be identified as a portrait of some particular person or if it is just as a pictorial sign with some complicated symbolic meaning. The suggested identification alludes to the image of some of the empresses from the second half of the 6th century. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177007: Romanisation, urbanisation and transformation of urban centres of civil, military and residential character in Roman provinces in the territory of Serbia i br. 47018: Viminacium, Roman city and military camp - research of the material and non material culture of inhabitants by using the modern technologies of remote detection, geophysics, GIS, digitalization and3D visualization]
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A small stone column of the altar screen from the treasures of St Archangel Michael's monastery in Prevlaka
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Amongst exhibited fragments of carved stone decorations in the monastery of St Archangel Michael in Prevlaka, Boka Kotorska, situated on the ground floor of the monastery's accommodation quarters, there is a segment of stone liturgical furnishings which is, among other things, distinguished by its monumental dimensions, the high level of its craftsmanship, and the important artistic value of its carved decorations. This small stone column was found by chance as a surface-level find on the neighbouring island of St Gavrilo. This stone column is made from a monolithic piece of high- quality, light-grey marble. It is 96 cm in height, 20 cm wide at the front, 18.5 cm wide at the side, and 13cm wide at the rear. These dimensions indicate that the fragment has the form of an elongated hexahedron, with sides of unequal width. Only the front of this stone fragment is marked with relief decorations, comprising a regularly shaped two-part curled sprouting vine. Moving with its undulating rhythm, its arc defines a space in which is located the central motif of the decoration. This comprises the motif of a bud in the form of stylised crinoline flower, composed of two lateral leaves with a pronounced bulge in the middle. These tightly bent lateral leaves with sharp ends, together with the root of the formed shoot, leave an empty space filled with an offshoot in the form of a regularly formed volute. The left lateral side of the stone column is marked by a long but relatively shallow channel, created around its axis, with a width of 7.5 cm. Its rear side is divided by its own height into two vertical fields, of almost the same width - 6 and 7 cm respectively - one slightly elevated compared to the other. The right lateral side of the column is slanted and only lightly sculptured. On the upper surface of the pillar, a relatively shallow circular hole with a small span is visible, intended as a connection point for other segments that would have been placed on it. The material, size, characteristic shape, together with its special personal details, such as the channel around the whole height of its left lateral side, as well as the shallow hole on its upper surface, without doubt show that it was one of the original stone columns of a particular stone altar screen. Analysis of the motif's source, decorative forms, and the quality of its carving confirm that this segment of the altar screen represents one more parts of the same sculptors' workshop which produced one preserved part of the stone altar screen of St Triphon in Kotor, which received the same decorative and sculptural treatment, also undoubtedly originating from no before than the 11th century. The possibility of completely resolving the dilemma of which sacred complex the column originally belonged to will only be resolved when archaeological excavation and investigation of the site of the monastery of St Archangel Michael in Prevlaka, in whose treasury it stands, together with the neighbouring island of St Gavrilo, on which the pillar was found, takes place. The possibility of precisely dating this stone altar screen will only occur with the expected full understanding of the whole altar screen of the Cathedral church of St Triphon in Kotor. However, this segment of the stone altar screen also represents a reason to better comprehend the morphological characteristics and variety of stylistic expression present and specifically applied in the decorative elements of early-medieval sculpture on the southern-eastern Adriatic coast.
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A stone mould from Klinovac
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A two-piece stone mould that reached the National Museum at Vranje in 1966 had been recovered from a depth of about one meter at the site known as Tri Kruške (Three Pear-trees), the village of Klinovac. The site is situated on a river terrace on the right bank of the Krševica River some 15 kilometers south of Vranje. The mould was carved out of metamorphic rock from the class of schist, more exactly, of greenschist (with chlorite and mica as its constituent minerals) that is widespread in the area, which geologically belongs to the upper (Vlasina) complex of the Serbian-Macedonian mass. The mould was intended for casting four kinds of bronze weapons: three chisels and a winged axe. More sensitive as dating evidence, the winged axe (Ärmchenbeil) may be broadly dated to the last three centuries of the second millennium BC. The type is geographically related with the Aegean, while its northernmost findspot so far is Pobit Kamak in northern Bulgaria. The chisels cast in this mould do not have direct analogies, although many hoards of similar tools have been registered in Croatia, Romania and Central Europe. Apparently the mould was made by a local workshop and from the locally available raw material. The possible activity of local workshops in the above mentioned period has already been presumed by scholars, and the Klinovac mould constitutes yet another corroboration of the hypothesis. Nevertheless its Aegean origin should not be ruled out completely, because cultural contacts between the Late Bronze Age population inhabiting the region and their southern neighbours seem quite certain, as evidenced by Mycenaean pottery discovered on the site of Resulja at Lučani near Bujanovac.
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About neolithic authenticity of finds from Belica
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The objects of “Neolithic plastic art” from Belica, made from baked clay, stone and bone, have been arriving at the Regional Museum in Jagodina since 1991. These are accidental finds which never caught the attention of experts, even though one of them, a figurine from black rock which arrived at the museum in 1992, has been a part of a permanent exhibition. Almost two decades after its arrival at the museum, the archaeologist Dr Milorad Stojić would place it among the most substantial finds of Neolithic figural plastic, identifying it as the Proto-Starčevo culture, dated to 6000 years BC and named it the “Great Mother”, linking her to the Neolithic cult of fertility (Stojić 2011, 344) Asignificantly greater number of objects from Belica since 2001, first as accidental finds by Života Milanović, an associate of the Regional Museum in Jagodina, arrived to Dr Milorad Stojić who undertook a one-day protective intervention at the site of Pojate-Pojilo in Belica village, the exact area from which previously collected finds originated. Ashort excavation, which was “less than two full hours of work” (according to the Report of the excavation), was carried out in January 2002. On that occasion a pit, which was only 10 cm deep and located on the surface of the village dirt road, was investigated (fig. 1). The excavation, together with the appropriate technical documentation, has not yet been published. The discovered pit was located in the middle of the dirt road which was used by agricultural machinery and which had, on several occasions prior to the exploration in 2002, been repaired by heavy construction machinery. In the years following 2003, two more groups of finds of art objects from the Early Neolithic were discovered in Belica and Lozovik (Stojić 2008, 73). In the Livade site in Belica, which is 500 m from the site of Pojate-Pojilo, four objects made of stone were found. In Lozovik, in the Repuška site, three figurines made of deer bone were discovered. In both sites the finds of the aforementioned objects were followed, according to the author, by finds of Proto- Starčevo ceramics. More detailed descriptions of the locations, conditions of discovery and subsequent finds do not exist. In August 2003, within the usual activities of the project Permanent Archaeological Workshop - Central Pomoravlje in Neolithisation of South East Europe, under the supervision of S. Perić, in the Pojate-Pojilo site in Belica, some sondage excavation was performed. One of the reasons this precise location was chosen for exploration was that stone plastic finds are attributed to it, for which there are no suitable analogies within the Middle or Late Neolithic Starčevo culture. Two sondages of 5 x 5 m (fig. 2) were explored. The results of the exploration were modest, which was in accordance with expectations based on several visits made to all three Neolithic sites in Belica village. One smaller Late Neolithic settlement from the Proto-Starčevo period existed on this location. In conclusion, it should be mentioned that none of the finds from this exploration could be connected to the accidental finds of stone plastic from the village road even though, during the time of the exploration, daily surface prospecting of this and the two neighbouring Neolithic sites was carried out. A detailed inspection of the profile, which is cut by the village road where it is believed that there was a Neolithic pit of about 1m in depth, was also performed. The village road, as we originally found it, worn out and uneven, with around twenty centimetre deep tracks made by tractor wheels and with no clods of turf on it, didn’t leave the impression that an only 10 cm deep bottom of a pit could be preserved (fig. 3). The objects discovered in the pit explored in 2002 include: 60 stone, 9 ceramic and 11 bone and deer horn objects. Within this number are also included the objects found in 2001 in the immediate vicinity of the pit (Stojić 2011, 341-342). The most numerous are anthropomorphic figurines, and besides them there are several examples of sacrificial altars, conical objects (pintadera), axe figurines and one rectangular plate. Ceramic figurines from Belica, which in their form resemble the Palaeolithic Venus figurines, were made from insufficiently refined soil, which is a practice completely opposite to the one noticed on the figurines from the other Neolithic sites of the Central Balkans. The soil from which they were made resembles that used for making rough ceramics or for building houses (daub). Therefore, our doubt that we are dealing here with figurines which resulted from the mechanical treatment of already baked soil, and not with objects which got their final form in raw clay prior to baking, is not surprising. The same is true with bone objects in which subsequent work is visible on a piece of bone which remained in the ground for a number of centuries. By courtesy of Dr Milorad Stojić, an archaeologist to whom Života Milanović, the sole discoverer of these objects, was bringing finds from Belica, and who was digging the pit with the group of art objects finds, the authors of this paper had an opportunity to thoroughly microscopically examine several stone and bone objects from Belica (the Pojate-Pojilo and Livade sites) and from Lozovik (the Repuška site). Specifically, we are talking about five stone and four bone objects (fig. 4). The examination of traces of the treatment on the surface of these objects clearly showed that we are dealing with objects which had been mechanically treated by grinding tools spinning at a large number of rotations per minute. The results of this kind of treatment are fine, narrow, uninterrupted parallel grooves (fig. 5-10). After manual treatment with a grindstone of natural sandstone or by using only sand, only short grooves, which are significantly wider and not perfectly parallel, remain (fig. 11). With bone objects the situation is slightly different. Bones from the archaeological stratum were used, on which a subsequent treatment was performed which removed the darker coloured patina. Microscopic evidence of the working of the bone also shows the use of a grinding tool spinning at a large number of rotations (fig. 9-10). The case of the “Serpentine figurine” is particularly interesting. On a simply crafted awl, which can be dated to the Neolithic period and beyond, a spirally carved embellishment was added (fig. 13). The difference in colour between the spiral detail and the rest of the awl indicates a large time interval between the making of the awl and the addition of the decoration. A fortunate circumstance in the story about the “Neolithic art objects” from Belica is that they have not been accepted in Serbian archaeology. If we exclude the works of M. Stojić, the finds from Belica, glorified for their beauty, symbolism and originality, have not yet found their place in archaeological literature. There are no texts which even mention them as analogies for some other cult or art creations from the Neolithic. For this reason, this critical approach also happened at the right moment. If Serbian archaeology had not made any comments about the finds from Belica, for which there is some doubt as to whether they actually are of Neolithic origin, perhaps the damage caused by it would have been deeper and more noticeable. The question as to whether we could then talk about the Serbian “Neolithic deception from Belica” is one whose answer the authors of this paper did not want to wait for with their arms folded. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177020: Arheologija Srbije: kulturni identitet, integracioni faktori, tehnološki procesi i uloga centralnog Balkana u razvoju evropske praistorije]
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Absolute chronology and stratigraphy of Lepenski Vir
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In the last decade, a number of specialist analyses were made on the material from old excavations of Mesolithic-Neolithic sites in the Danube Gorges. These new results altered significantly our understanding of the Lepenski Vir culture. The question of chronology of this regional phenomenon has been acute since the discovery of Lepenski Vir in the 1960s, and it remains of key importance for understanding the character of Mesolithic-Neolithic transformations in this and the neighbouring regions. The most heated debate was fuelled by the initial stratigraphic and chronological attribution of the type-site itself. There remained the question about the adequate dating of the most prominent phase at this site characterized by buildings with trapezoidal bases covered with limestone floors and with rectangular stone-lined hearths placed in the centre of these features. There have been suggestions that these features also contain Early Neolithic Starčevo type pottery and other similar items of material culture and should thus be dated to the Early Neolithic historical context. Moreover, the first series of conventional radiocarbon determinations (21 dates) also suggested that the absolute chronology of these features should be confined to the period from around 6400-5500 cal BC (Fig. 1). Due to the importance of defining more precisely the chronology for the start of construction of these particular features at Lepenski Vir and for establishing the life-span of these buildings and their associated material culture, we have AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) dated a number of contexts from this site. The results are presented in this paper. The project was made possible through the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerate Dating Service (ORADS) programme funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) of the Great Britain. Apart from those dates presented in this paper, there are 29 previously published radiometric dates from Lepenski Vir 21 made by the conventional 14C dating of charcoal and 8 AMS dates made on animal (3 dates) and human bones (5 dates). There is also a series of 20 new AMS dates made on human bones from Lepenski Vir. The last group of dates has not been published with all the contextual details and are of limited use in our analyses of absolute chronology and stratigraphy of Lepenski Vir. New dates are listed in Table 1. From 32 dated contexts from Lepenski Vir, 27 contexts are stratigraphically related to trapezoidal buildings while 5 dates are connected with the area outside of buildings. From those contexts related to trapezoidal structures, 24 contexts are dated with animal and 3 with human bones. The emphasis on the dating of animal bones is connected with problems of precision when dating samples made on human and dog bones due to the reservoir effect and the deposition of 'old' carbon. Dated remains of animal and human bones originate from the following types of stratigraphic contexts a) beneath building floors, i.e. stratigraphically the oldest contexts in the settlement (2 dates) (Fig. 2); b) between two superposed floors of trapezoidal buildings as 'sealed' contexts (8 dates) (Fig. 3); c) lying directly on top of the floors of trapezoidal buildings but not overlapped by a later floor (17 dates) (Fig. 3); d) outside of trapezoidal buildings, found in contexts such as pits, domed ovens, and burials, or in contexts that can be attributed to the occupation layer only (6 dates) (Fig. 4). The new dates indicate a very long duration of the Mesolithic period, from around 9400 to around 7500 cal BC (Fig. 2, 23). These early dates are concentrated in two particular periods that may point to two separate phases within these two millennia, with settlement discontinuities. It remains possible that there were many more occupation episodes that these dates do not encompass, and more AMS dates may indicate whether these two groupings with three dates per grouping are meaningful and representative of two separate and defined phases of occupation at this locale. This early period would correspond with the phase that the excavator of Lepenski Vir defined as Proto-Lepenski Vir although his ideas about the spatial distribution of this phase, its interpretation, duration and relation to the later phase of trapezoidal buildings must be revised in the light of new AMS dates and other available data. The phase with trapezoidal buildings most likely starts only around 6200 cal BC and most of the trapezoidal buildings might have been abandoned by around 5900 cal BC. The absolute span of only two or three hundred years and likely even less, for the flourishing of building activity related to trapezoidal structures at Lepenski Vir significantly compresses Srejović's phase I. Thus, it is difficult to maintain the excavator's five subphases which, similarly to Ivana Radovanović's more recent re-phasing of Lepenski Vir into I-1-3, remain largely guess works before more extensive and systematic dating of each building is accomplished along with statistical modeling in order to narrow the magnitude of error. On the whole, new dates from these contexts better correspond with Srejović's stratigraphic logic of sequencing buildings to particular phases on the basis of their superimposing and cutting than with Radovanović's stylistic logic, i.e. her typology of hearth forms, ash-places, entrance platforms, and presence/absence of -supports around rectangular hearths used as reliable chronological indicators. The short chronological span for phase I also suggests that phase Lepenski Vir II is not realistic. This has already been shown by overlapping plans of the phase I buildings and stone outlines that the excavator of the site attributed to Lepenski Vir II phase. According to Srejović, Lepenski Vir phase II was characterized by buildings with stone walls made in the shape of trapezes, repeating the outline of supposedly earlier limestone floors of his phase I. However, the trapezoidal buildings must be envisioned as dug-in features with their rear, narrow side dug deep into the slope since these features were dug into the sloping terrace where the site is situated. It is more likely that these stone constructions assigned to a separate phase were part of the same trapezoidal buildings with limestone floors assigned by the excavator to phase I. Thus, vertical stone walls existed on the level above limestone floors, built in dry wall technique around buildings' floors and cuts. The visual overlap of phases I and II clearly shows the match between these stone constructions and trapezoidal limestone floors (Fig. 27). Even on the published section of the western part of the settlement of Lepenski Vir which runs through the backs of Houses 43, 34, 27, 20, 33 and 32, phase II is not marked (see Fig. 28), which might lend further support to our conclusion about its elusive character. Furthermore, no activity areas were reported with regard to the 'floor' level of these structures, with the exception of the largest building at the site, XLIV. Therefore, trapezoidal stone walls previously attributed to phase II were part of the same phase I buildings. Henceforth we suggest treating Srejović's phases I and II as a single phase and we refer to this building horizon as Lepenski Vir I-II (see Table 2). The new dating programme also suggests no temporal break between phases Lepenski Vir I-II and phase III. The dates indicate that Srejović was right to separate the latter as it seems that most of the trapezoidal buildings were abandoned by 5900 cal BC and that new and different occupation pattern commenced at the site in the period following 5900 cal BC. Yet, some of the dates indicate that, at the current resolution of the chronological scale there could have been some overlapping between the use of particular trapezoidal buildings, perhaps primarily for the interment of human burials (e.g. House 21 and Burials 7/I and II, see Fig. 11), and the new types of contexts that appear around 5900 cal BC. These new contexts included a number of pits, dug primarily in the rear area of the site, outside of the zone with trapezoidal buildings. There are also several domed ovens the function of which remains unclear. Also, crouched inhumations became the dominant burial rite (of possibly migrant individuals) during this phase. Some of these crouched burials were found lying on the floors of trapezoidal buildings. This seems to have been the time of significant changes in patterns of habitation of the Lepenski Vir community. Bones of domestic animals were also found in those features assigned to phase III. We have directly dated four samples that come from domestic animals (sheep/goat, cattle and pig) found in these contexts at Lepenski Vir. In this way, it was possible to directly date the introduction of domestic animals to the site. The results suggest that the these domestic animals must have been introduced to Lepenski Vir in the post-5900 cal BC period. The upper limit of this Middle Neolithic phase Lepenski Vir III remains to be elucidated further. While previous charcoal dates indicated that the site was used up until around 5400 cal BC, the upper limit of new dates is around 5700 cal BC. Existing dates from the neighbouring site of Padina suggest that some trapezoidal buildings at that site (Houses 15 and 18) might have been used up until 5500 cal BC. It is possible that future dates will move this limit to the end of the Middle Neolithic, i.e. c. 5500 cal BC. At this time, previously occupied sites on the Danube, such as Lepenski Vir, Padina, Vlasac, etc., were abandoned for more than a millennium. Lepenski Vir is used again during the Eneolithic period, when a burial of the Salkuţa culture, AMS dated to around 4300 cal BC, was interred here (see Burial 2, Fig. 25). New radiometric dates from Lepenski Vir, together with all other newly available data, demand a revision of conclusions previously made with regard to the absolute chronology of particular phases as well as stratigraphic attribution of certain contexts. Such a revision inevitably leads us to suggest a new stratigraphic division and phasing of Lepenski Vir (see Table 2). This revised phasing largely keeps the old nomenclature of the excavator of Lepenski Vir. We would like to avoid confusions and complications in suggesting completely new labels for particular phases when there is no need for such a radical break from the original understanding of the site's stratigraphy. We are aware that the future dating of Lepenski Vir may affect certain elements of our conclusions and that the suggested changes thus remain tentative. Yet, at present, our conclusions are firmly grounded in the available data.
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Accessibility of archaeological sites to people with disabilities
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The accessibility of public facilities and the availability of their content represent a moral imperative and an obligation to society. Unhindered movement and the participation in public and cultural life is a legal obligation under the Constitution and is one of the main postulates of human rights and freedoms. Also, to deny someone education and their creative potential is a violation of various laws. People with disabilities are able to work, earn, produce and engage in all social and economic developments in a country. In economic terms, their potential is huge. The facilitation of access to cultural events and archaeological sites presents a great potential for culture, tourism and economy. The survey on accessibility, conducted with the management of the sites of Mediana, Caričin Grad, Vrelo-Šarkamen, Ravna, Gamzigrad, Viminacijum, Vinča and Sirmium is integrated into this paper. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179048: Teorija i praksa nauke u društvu: multidisciplinarne, obrazovne i međugeneracijske perspektive]
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Ad Palatinas acipensem mittite mensas
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The paper presents the results of archaezoological analysis of fish remains from three locations at Viminacium (the Amphitheatre, Nad Klepečkom and Pirivoj), discussed jointly with finds of fishing equipment and relevant written sources on the subject. Albeit small and biased due to the hand-collection of animal bones, the fish faunal assemblage from Vimincium provides valuable data on the choice of exploited species, fishing and fish transportation practices, and patterns of consumption and deposition in the city and its surroundings. In addition to remains of locally available freshwater fish, occurring at all three sites, the Amphitheatre sample contained the remains of large anadromous sturgeons, possibly obtained from the downstream, Iron Gates area. Their size, contextual provenance, as well as their exceptional status according to written sources, indicates that there had been notable differences in access to high-quality fish among the different social classes at Viminacium. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. III 47018: Viminacium, Roman city and military camp - research of the material and non material culture of inhabitants by using the modern technologies of remote detection, geophysics, GIS, digitalization and 3D visualization and Grant no. III 47001: Bioarchaeology of Ancient Europe - humans, animals and plants in the prehistory of Serbia]
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Adolf Hitrek i prva arheološka iskopavanja Sirmijuma
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(francuski) Les martyriums du Sirmium chrétien sont devenus le leitmotiv des premières recherches archéologiques conduites à Mitrovica vers la fin du XIXème siècle. Cet article, concernant les premières fouilles archéologiques conduites à Mitrovica, en 1882/83, par l’archéologue Adolf Hytrek. Il s’agit d’une basilique paléochrétienne dédiée à saint Synerote, mise au jour, dans la nécropole nord-est de Sirmium. En fait, Hytrek avait reçu la tâche délicate, s’agissant d’un site fortement bouleversé, de dégager et de reconstruire le plan d’un bâtiment dont les murs étaient déjà, pour leur plus grande partie, irrémédiablement détruits. La question est de savoir si Hytrek disposait d’un oeil d’archéologue suffisamment aguerri pour pouvoir reconnaître et reconstruire, de façon fiable, des murs à jamais disparus, sur la base de leurs seules ville empreintes au sol. En ce qui concerne nos remarques et objections à l’égard des reconstructions de Hytrek, elles ne sauraient, de toute évidence, résoudre les problèmes relevés qui, assurément ne pourront, y compris à l’avenir, qu’être abordé que dans le cadre de réflexions et suppositions théoriques.
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Ageing in the Danube gorges population (9500-5500 BC)
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Tooth cementum annulation, the microscopic method for the determination of an individual’s age, gives results that are highly correlated with the chronological age of an individual. Nevertheless, this method is still rarely used for age estimation in archaeological populations. In this study, using the tooth cementum annulation method, teeth of 21 individuals of the Djerdap anthropological series, dated to a period from the 10th to the 6th millennium BC, were analysed. The obtained data are important for overcoming some methodological issues in anthropology of the Danube Gorges, as well as with the precise age estimation of old individuals and with the assessment of age in cases where the skeletal material has been very poorly preserved. The only obstacle to the full application of the tooth cementum annulation method is the taphonomy changes of tooth cementum which were detected on several teeth in this study. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47 001: Bioarchaeology of ancient Europe - people, animals and plants in Serbian prehistory]
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Alka Starac
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Zotović, Radmila M. - Alka Starac: Rimsko vladanje u Histriji i Liburniji i, monografije i katalozi 10/i, Arheološki muzej Istre, Pula 1999 - Starinar
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An AMS dated late Bronze Age grave from the mound necropolis at Paulje
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The subject of the paper is a closed entity - an incineration grave from northwest Serbia, dated to the developed Bronze Age, with an absolute date obtained by AMS (Accelerator mass spectrometry). The sample was taken from the wooden support on which the urn with the bones of the deceased and bronze jewellery was placed. The date obtained corresponds to the 14th century B.C. and confirms earlier proposed suppositions concerning the chronological determination of the necropolises from the territory of Jadar, Podgorina and Lower Podrinje. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. OI177020: Archaeology of Serbia: cultural identity, integration factors, technological processes and the role of Central Balkans in the development of European prehistory]
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Analysis of human osteological material from the eastern part of site no. 37 in Sremska Mitrovica
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The direct reason for writing this paper was the new find of skeletons in the medieval necropolis (10th-12th century) discovered as far back 1968 at the Site No. 37 in Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium). Institute for the protection of cultural monuments in Sremska Mitrovica undertook protective archaeological excavations in the eastern part of the site in 2010, discovering 29 skeletons. Since that archaeological analysis of Belo Brdo communities is still in its infancy and considering that there is not a sufficiently big sample for a more precise monitoring of this population’s inner dynamics, it is considered useful to present results gained by studying these skeletons on Site No. 37. Although the results in many ways match the results gained up until now, there are some paleopathological changes that so far, have not appeared and for which we had no direct confirmation in the osteological material. One of these paleopathological changes is certainly syphilis. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177007: Romanization, urbanization and transformation of urban centres of civil, military and residential character in Roman provinces on the territory of Serbia]
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