Starinar
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Hisar in Leskovac at the end of the early iron age
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All parts of the site Hisar in Leskovac provided material from Iron Age III according to the division by M. Garašanin (mainly from the 5th century BC). Four or perhaps five habitations from this period, in relation to the excavated surface (app. 15 000 m2), indicate a settlement with a larger number of dwelling places. Its architecture - wattle and daub huts and dug outs - has no particular characteristics, and is similar to habitations from previous periods in the Morava valley. Archaeological material from Iron Age III includes pottery made on the wheel of Greek style, hand made pottery and decorative silver and bronze objects.
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Historical picture of development of Bronze Age cultures in Vojvodina
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As a "contact zone" subject to the influences of the Pannonian Plain to the north, the Balkans to the south, the Carpatho-Danubian region to the east and the sub-Alpine region to the west, Vojvodina is exceptionally important for the study of the Bronze Age of these regions. It witnessed the processes of integration of certain cultures only to see them disintegrate again. At times almost the entire territory was dominated by a single culture, while at others completely divergent cultures developed simultaneously in each of its three constituent regions: the Banat, Srem and Bačka. In the latter half of the Early Bronze Age an attempt to establish control over an extensive territory was made by the Vatin culture which, in its westward and southward expansion, covered the central and southern Banat, and most of Srem reaching as far as Šumadija and the Lower Morava Valley. The Vatin population was driven out by the Encrusted Pottery people descending from the central and western Pannonian Plain. They remained there through several developmental phases extending into north-western Bulgaria and part of the Romanian Banat. At the end of the Middle and in the Late Bronze Age, in Srem the Banat and around the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a new culture emerged, marked by large necropolises containing cremation burials. In its expansion it covered the territory previously inhabited by Encrusted Pottery peoples. At the same time, northern Vojvodina became occupied by the Hügelgräber culture penetrating down the Tisa and Danube rivers. In the final phase of the Bronze Age there appeared black burnished pottery attributable to the widespread eastern Gava complex. In western Vojvodina this complex confronted the central-European, sub-Alpine and west-Pannonian varieties of the Urnenfelder culture. This confrontation, as well as numerous hoards dated to Ha A1-A2 C, mark the end of the Bronze Age in these regions.
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Identification of bird representations in prehistory
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Figures of birds and bird heads are frequently represented in the Bronze and Iron Age in Europe. Birds are usually represented as amulets, vases and parts of vases, parts of complex objects or compositions and are among the most wide spread symbols that are connected with cult, magic and mythology of that time. There has been much discussion on this topic up to now. There are many assumptions concerning the role of different bird representations in the spiritual life of man of that period, which are still not firmly based. Our goal, in the study of this topic, is not to talk about these assumptions, more or less acceptable, but to pay more attention to the creation of bird figures and heads and to conclude to what extent it is possible to identify ornithological, among these numerous representations, individual birds, characteristics of their morphology and way of life. Namely, if the premise is correct, that the users of these ornithomorphic objects as well as their craftsmen, were able to differentiate bird types, morphologically and bionomically, or more correctly taxonomic groups of bird types (families, subfamilies, tribes genuses), to the extent to which these differences are expressed lexicological (nomenclatorilly), in the majority of classical languages then the attempt to make a further step towards the ornithological identification of motifs of these objects can be considered possible. In cases when it seems that the details on an object and their combination can be used for a more convincing identification, we take the freedom to speculate about the cultural-economic value of the recognized birds. Here we deal with three examples of bird representations from the Bronze and Iron Age of the Central Balkans. These are: the Dupljaja Cart, the Posamenterie Fibula from Dobrinci and the Bronze Cart from Glasinac, with the help of which we will try to demonstrate this new type of collaboration between archaeology and ornithology. We hope that this new approach will show all its usefulness in the future. Sometimes, a view "from another angle", on some archaeological problems may provide valuable results, not only in identification of bird representations, but also as a means of understanding the wider cultural or social-economic significance of the prehistoric period in question.
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Illyricum du Nord et les Barbares à l'époque des Grandes migrations (Ve-VIe siècle)
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Les auteurs disscutent des importants changements historiques et sociaux sur la frontière danubienne qui ont fait suite à l’anéantissement de l’armée impériale à Andrinople en 378. Cet échec ne fit qu’ouvrir toute grande la porte à l’installation des Barbares dans les provinces frontalières de l’Empire. Leur arrivée, par vagues successives, devait avoir l’effet d’un travail de sape, démantelant les capacités défensives de l’Empire sur ses frontières septentrionales, tout en provoquant le repli des populations locales plus à l’intérieur de l’Illyricum et dans les provinces balkaniques méridionales. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br.177021: Processus d’urbanisation et de développement de la société médiévale]
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Inscription dedicated to Neptune from the territory of ancient Doclea
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A new votive inscription from the territory of Doclea has recently been published. The reading of the text needs revision, and consequently, reinterpretation. The inscription should be read as follows: Neptuno ׀ sacrum p׀ericuloru׀m Absolu׀tori Petro׀5nius Aspe׀r v(otum) s(olvit) ׀ l(ibens) a(nimo). Neptune’s attribute periculorum Absolutor appears here for the first time. The noun «Absolutor», i.e. «he who absolves, liberator », attested late in the narrative sources e.g. Cassiod. Var . XI, praef. 3, should be close to the Jupiter’s epithets Liberator or Servator. The dedication could be connected with a successful ending of a journey, possibly after being exposed to maritime perils: the dedicator may well be a person engaged in trade and businesses that involve transmarine voyage. His name - Petronius Asper - implies the connection with the large group of Italian settlers in Dalmatia, whose presence is attested in the province all through the Principate. Such relations are illustrated in the light of other Dalmatian examples.
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Insight into the regional distribution and geographic setting of the Vinca and Bubanj-Sălcuţa-Krivodol settlements in the Central Balkans and its implications
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The paper presents the results of research on the regional distribution and geographic setting of the 5th millennium BCE settlements in the Central Balkans. The research encompasses two successive archaeological cultures in the area between the Danube Valley and the upper course of the Južna Morava River and compares the regional distribution of the settlements and their topographic and pedological aspects. It has been concluded that the relocation occured on a regional level, meaning the abandonment or a reduced population of the regions which were densely populated during the Vinča culture. The emphasised dichotomy in the topographic type of the settlements with more or less equally distributed settlements compared to the altitude and an increased focus on soils unsuitable for cultivation suggest the utilisation of a wider range of local resources and a greater degree of mutual connections between the BSK settlements. The observed trends are interpreted in correlation with the previous knowledge on economic strategies of the population of the Central Balkans.
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Investigations of Late Vinča house 1/2010 at Crkvine in Stubline
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The Crkvine site is situated around 40 km southwest of Belgrade (Serbia) in the vicinity of the village of Stubline, in the borough of Obrenovac. Extensive geophysical investigations were carried out during the 2010 campaign and, based on the results, we started investigations of the Late Vinča house 01/2010. The following comprehensive report details the method of construction and organisation of life in that house, which dates from the Vinča culture phase D. The house was very well preserved and we paid special attention to two large ovens inside the house as well as to some interesting portable finds (a clay table, a clay millstone structure and three large clay heads).
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Jewellery made of bronze sheets from the prehistoric necropolis at the village of Velebit, near Kanjiža - Kapuran, Aleksandar
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In 1970, a Bronze Age necropolis in the village of Velebit to the north of Vojvodina was fully explored, but has remained unpublished until today. Apart from possessing all of the features of a Hügelgräber culture complex, some finds indicate connections to the Belegiš - Cruceni culture, developed at the very south of the Carpathian basin. In this paper, we shall present only some of the most attractive finds from the necropolis, including jewellery made of bronze sheets. They include spiral greaves, a belt and finger-rings. The remaining finds shall be presented in a monograph that is being planned. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. OI 177020: Cultural identity, integration factors, technological processes and the role of central Balkans in development of European prehistory and Grant no. OI 177023: Cultural changes and population migrations in early prehistory of the central Balkans]
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L'etat central et le ravitaillement des garnisons frontalieres (284-641 AP.J.-C.)
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(francuski) Les troupes frontalières cantonnées sur le limes danubien à l’époque romaine tardive et protobyzantine sont-elles autonomes ou indépendantes de l’état central pour leur approvisionnement? Trop souvent encore, la vision d’une armée décadente aux frontières de l’Empire persiste dans l’historiographie militaire pour l’époque romaine tardive et protobyzantine. Cette article permet de reconsidérer cette vision désuète opposant les soldats-paysans frontaliers à ceux de l’armée centrale via une approche conceptuelle basée sur l’opposition du couple centre et périphérie.
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