INSTlTUfE FOR BALKAN STUDIES Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Special edition No. 6 I

in association with

Publishing House DRAGANI -The Heritage Series

Editor Academician Milutin Garaanin

General editor of the series Dragoslav Antonijevi Corresponding member of the SASA

BELGRADE 1995

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Reviewer Academician Milutin Garaanin

English translation Ivana orevi (pp. 9-93) Nenad Tasi (pp. 103-175)

Proof-readers Marina Adamovi Nenad Tasi

Layout Nenad Tasi

Drawings Plates l-XLIII Sead erkez (from PJZ III. 1979) Figs. in the chapter Register. .. Sneana Bekri

Published by The "DRAGANI" Co.

The publication of this book has been financi ally supported by the Ministry for Sciences and Technology of the Republic of Serbia. The Research Funds of the SERBIAN ACADEMY of SCIENCES and ARTS and "MADLENA JANKOVI FOUNDATION"

CONTENTS

~_......... ....... .... . .... ........ ........... ....... . ....... . ... ............................. . ........ ... ...... . .... 7

--=X....:.t:non ... ... . .... .... ..... ...... .. ........................... .... ... . ..... ........................... .... .... ..... 9

=-~_'LY E.'>EOLlTHIC.............. .................................. ........................ ................ ... 19

::c ::x)Uthem Pannonian zone ......... ................ .................................... .... 20 -:::e Central Bal kan zone ................................................ .. ...................... .. 28

-;-:,e Alpine slopes zone ... ........ ....................... .... .... ........... ........................ 35

-:-:.e Adriatic zone ..................... ................................. ............................... 38

,. c)::lLE ENEOLITHI C ............... ""'''''''''''''''''''''''' ... .. ............................. .. ......... 43 ':;e Cernavoda III . Boleraz culture ................. ..... ... .... .. ...... ........ ....... .. ... 46

' ::e Baden culture .............................. .. .... .... .... .... .. ........... .. .. .. .. .... .. ......... S l

-:-:le Kostolac culture ................. .. .. ...................... .. .... .... ... ..... .. ........ .. .... .... 59

-:-:,e Cotofeni culture .... .. ................................ ... .. .... ..... .... .... .... .. .............. 65

-:-'"e Re u.Gaj ary horizon....................................... .. ...... ................ .... ..... ... 69 -:-:'1e Pit grave culture and the turnuli.... .... .... .... ....... .... ......... .. ............. .... 72

:... :..~ E}, "EOLITHI C .... ............................ ............ ......................... ... .. .. ................. 75 -:-:-:e Vuedol culture ................................................. .... ...... ...... .. ........ ... ... 76 -:ne terminal Eneolithic of the Alpine zone ............. .... ...... .. .......... .. .... .... 85

Tne tenninal Eneolithic of the Adriatic zone ... ............. .......................... 88

.,0-:1:5 .. ..... ...... ....................................................................... ....... .... ..... ............... 93

~C:STER OF MAJOR ENEOLl1HIC SITIS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA .. 103 :; ~. ! OGRAPHY ...................... ___ .... .. ___ .......................... ___ ..................... .... ........... l 75

:O" '\ ~ Y .. ......................................................................................... ................. l 9 l -::-JE LIST OF PLATIS (IXLlII) ........ ....... ........................ .. .... ...... .......... ............. 20 l

PREFACE

The TWble wish of Alojz Benac, the originator of the five- volume Serba-Croot version of the Prehistory of the Yugoslav Lands (Sarajevo 1979; 1983; 1987) ... as tO produce a book which would give a synthetic account of that subject not only . Serbo-Croat, but also in English and Gennan. This wish, we are sorry tO say, ,=

-u. been fu lfilled. A. Bertac' s death and, later, the disimegration of famler Yugoslavia ' ~-"tc p-revented the completion of that project. By that time, some autiwrs had alread) 7--ished tileir manuscripts, and some others were still working on tileir porticn15 of the ':e:x:. According ta the editor's arrangement, tile texts for the English edition were ta =-e u:rinen by Mitja Brodar ("The Palaeolithic") , Alojz Benac ("Tile Neolithic"),

':kola T asi ("The Eneolitiue") ; Borivoje ovi ("The Bronze Age", apart from the ?::rJ101uan region, wlUch was to be discussed by Nikola Tasi) ; and Mi/utin G.lraanin ("The Iron Age"). Tile Editorial Board made certain general guide-lines ::;- che autlwrs. They were mostly based on the methodology used in tile original S~Croat edition of the Pre/us tary of tile Yugoslav Lands. Tile illustrative material " .:lS reduced, but it was also updated with new drawings, plans and charts. Unfor. ='.ll!ely, tlUs part of the work seems to Itave been lost in the tragic developments wlUch

~ "::t afflicted parts of the fonner Yugoslavia, especially Sarajevo and tile Centre for 3.:zJ

8 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

via) exists no longer, and therefore the earlier title has been replaced by the temi "The Central and Western Balkan", which is llOt fully adequate, but which does cover approximately the territory of fonneY Yugoslavia. The book discusses four regional wholes as in the original Prehistory of the Yugoslav Laru1 (Vol. Ill) : the south Pannonian region, the central Balkan regiml, the A lpine region and the Adriatic region. The two former regimiS belong to the central Balkans, and the two latter anes to the western part of the Balkan region. ln view of the character and the development of the individual Eneolithic culture (the Kostolac culture, and particularly, the

Vuedol culture), which extended over more than one rel(ion, this approach ,eemed appropriate. ln order to avoid long descriptive expreSSiOns, the text uses tenns such as "former", or "previous" Yugoslavia, and it is IlOped that the well-meaning reader will accept them in the sense in which they are used.

Another im/Jortam modific ation of the original text is the addition of the second part, which contains a Ust of the fifty most important Eneolithic sites in the regions. lt includes those that have been used by the author for the synthetic part of his text, those are archaeological material from which is well known to the author. Since 1990, which nta)' be considered the upper chronological limit of the greater portion of the text, a number of major Eneolithic sites have been explored, especially in the western parts of the Balkan Pminsula, but they have not been discussed here either because they have llOt been fully published of because of evidence on their chronology and cultural traits is still not available. lt may be observed tltat the list of sites shows cmlSiderable regional variations as regards their distribution. lt should be added, besides, that these regions Itave not been explored equally thoroughly: for example, the sites in Slavonia, Srem or Pelagmua are co1lSiderably better known than those in Istria, on tite Adriatic coastline or Herzegovilta.

The illustrations used in the book are of various origin, and tltat is specified in the appropriate place. The tables are mostly tllOse used in Vol. 1Il of the Prehistory of the Yugoslav Lands, and they were made by Sead erkez after the instructimlS of N. Tasi, S. Dinlitrijevi and B. Jovanovi. They Itave been complemented by a few drawings made for the English edition by EIma Buo from the Centre for Balkanologi-cal Research of the Academy of Science and A rts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The drawings in the chapter on the sites have been made by Sneana Bekri.

INTRODUCTION

The study of Eneoli thic sites and cultures , and of the Eneolithic in general, does not have a long tradition in fonner Yugoslavia. If we take as its starting point the systematic excavations of 19 (Ljubljansko Barje) carried out by K. Deschman in 1875 1 we are left with a period of some 120 years. Extensive material has been collected during tha t time, rela ring to Eneolithic se ttlements and necropolises, the material and non-material culture of the period, the relative and absolute dating of the cultures, cultural groups, and their variants, as well as the period as a whole, so that it is now possible to offer a fairly accurate syntheric survey of the development of the cultures, their stylistic and typologi-cal features.

Deschman's research was followed by the investigation of other Eneo-lithic sites, most notably by F. Fiala at Debelo Brdo (1893) , J. Brunschmidt at Sarva (1 897) and Vuedo l (1898), Vohalski at Gomolava (1904) , M. Vasi at Kostolac (1906) and Vina (1908), F. MiIleker's many smaller-scale exca-vations in southern Banat in the late nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth, and many others .1 Ljubljansko Barje, Vuedol, Vina, and Bubanj excepted, the first large-scale and systemaric excavations were to take place only after World War II: at Gomolava, Hrustovaa, Vinkovci, Zecovi, Ravlia Peina, Grapeva pilja, Gudnja, Vela Luka, Odmut, several sites in Pelagonia, Hisar and Lipljan in Kosovo, Ajdovska jama in Slovenia, and elsewhere. This survey of the Eneolithic in the Yugoslav Danube Basin, and the central and western Balkans is based on material gathered at these sites.

In addition to archaeological excavations and the collecring of archae-olOgical data, the nineteen-thirties saw the first attempts at systematizing the material from the Eneolithic sites and drawing up a periodization of the Eneolithic cultures. These attempts are to be found in the first volumes of what

10 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

was then a ground-breaking series, the "Corpus vasorum antiquorum", chiefly the 1937 volumes by N. Vuli and M. Grbi dealingwith the material contained in Belgrade's Prince Paul Museum (Muzej Kneza Pavla) l and, to a lesser extent, V. Hoffil1er's volumes of 1933, devo ted to Vue dol, and 1938, publishing the results of excavations at Sarva, Dalj , and Velika C;orica 4 A more thorough sys tema tization of the Eneolithic cultures and their rel ative chronology became available only with the works ofV. Miloji (1949), M. Garaanin (1959), A. Benac (1962), S. Dimitrijevi (1961), N. Tasi (1967) and, ofcourse, compre-hensive monographs such as Tite Preltistory of Serbia by M. Garaanin and The Prehistory of Vojvodina by B. Brukner, B. Jovanovi , and N. Tasi 5 These synthetic works, numerous studies, articles and papers, excavation reports, and unpubli shed material, served as a basis for the five volumes of The Preltistory of Yugoslavia, whose third volume (by N. Tasi, S. Dimitrij evi, and B. Jo vanovi) is devoted to the Eneolithic cultures of former Yugoslavia.6 The present text is, in a sense, a summary of that volume, which have been updated with the information on recent excavations and recent insights of domestic and foreign scholars relating to the Eneolithic in Central and Southeast Europe.

***

The tenns Eneouthic, Copper Age and The Period of Traruition Between the Neolithic and tite Bro1!ze Age are all used in archaeological literature;? we have opted for the tem) Eneolithic, not so much because it was the most appropriate to the period under consideration but because it best suits the general out1ine of the book and is the most frequent1y used in recent literature. Of course, we could very well have used the term Copper Age, but not The Period of Transition for it implies shorter duration of the epoch and a transi -tional nature of cultures , which is by no means true of the Eneolithic cultures, especially Baden, Kostolac, Vuedo l , and least of all the Culture of Tumuli (Pit-grave culture) in the Danubian region. The main reason for singling out the Eneolithic as a period in its own right is provided by the new categories that emerged during that period, characterized by changes in the economy of prehistoric society (advanced development of stock-breeding), the emergence and development of mining and primary metallurgy (the extraction and use of copper ores), the appearance of crafts in connection with the manufacture of copper artefacts, the stratification of Neolithic society, the emergence of new populations, especially in the northeastern parts of the Balkan Peninsula, etc. However, the transition from the Neolithic Age to the Eneolithic was not in itself abrupt, with cultures and their bearers succeeding each other in a clear-cut way. It was a gradual and long-lasting process, which started midway through the development of the Neolithic agrarian cultures of the Vina , Lengyel, Butmir and Theiss (Tisza) types, and lasted as long as the cultures themselves. These were superseded by the first true Copper-Age (Eneolithic) cultures, in which the extraction and processing of copper, the manufacture of artefacts and their exchange (initial trade) assumed the nature of economic categories. In the Balkans the "Eneolithicization" of the Neolithic cultures was

Introduction II

nm a unifornl process, either chronologically or geographically. Depending on rhe strength of the indigenous base, the geographic features of the land, and rhe in tensity of outside influences (from the Carpathian Basin, the north Pontus, or the Aegean), some regions were quicker to accept innovation, especially in the field of prehistoric economy. Two factors particularly promoted the "Eneolithicization" of the cultures in eastern and central parts: the swift development of the mining and processing of copper and gold in the "circum-Pontic zone", especially in the eastern Balkans (the mines of Ruk Bair and Rudna Glava, the horizon of gold finds of the Vama type, etc. ) on rhe one hand and, on the other, Indo-European nomadic migrations from the steppes. This is why the beginnings of the nomadic settlements of the Bubanj-Salcuta-Krivo -dol type in eastern Serbia coincided with the continued existence of the Late

Vina culture (Vina D horizon) in the Sava , Danube and lower Morava basins and of the even later Lengyel (Sopot) culture in Srem and Slavonia.

As regards the cultural-historical processes in the central and western Balkans, rhe mapping of the sites and the delimitation of the various Eneolithic cultures have revealed specific features in the continuous development in particular geographic entities or, to be more precise, four main zones: southern Pannonia, the central Balkans, the Adriatic, and the Alpine slopes. With some minor oscillations, the cultures and style s there succeed each other in a continuum, thus laying the foundations for future palaeoe thnic entities which were to develop their distinctive features in the first millenium B.e. Of course, the boundaries of these zones did not remain static throughout the Eneoli thic. Some cultures would occasionally encroach on others but, with time, integra-tive processes grew stronger and were most apparent at the time of the Vuedol culture. Nevertheless, regional development remains one of the main detenni-nants of the continuity of the existence of autochthonous cultures and their successors over a lengthy petiod of time (e.g. Baden-Kostolac-Vuedol in southern Pannonia). The cultural-geographic zones would thus be the follow-mg:

a) The south Pannonian zone includes the Yugoslav Danube Basin and, in the words of ].Cviji,8 the hinterland gravitating to it: lower courses of the Drava, the Sava, the Velika Morava, the Tisza, and the Timok ti vers. During Map I the Eneolithic this was mostly a zone of transmission between the cultures of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans, and vice versa. By its cultural-historical development it is rela red to the Tiszapolgar -Bodrogkeresztur complex (the central and eastern parts) and, to a lesser extent, to Lengyel and post-Lengyel developments (the western parts), with the possible addition of the Lasinja (Balaton-Lasinja I) culture . In the second half of the Eneolithic period, from the establishment of the Cernavoda III-Boleraz culture to the Baden, Kostolac, and Vuedol cultures, the region became integrated into a wider Pannonian-Balkan area which also attracted the Alpine and Adriatic zones during the final stages of the Vuedol culture.

b) The central Balkan zone consists of the mountainous parts of fonner

12 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

Yugoslavia, with &)snia, most of Serbia, anJ Kosovo forming its nucleus. Here the continuity of cultural development is not as clear as in, say, southern Pannonia, as the region had frequendy been exposed to encroachment by already fonned cultures, most often from the north or northeast. In the Early Eneolithic the Bubanj-Salcuta-Krivodol complex developed in the eastern reaches of the region (sites in eastern Serbia and Kosovo), while Kostolac and, afterwards, Vuedo l cultures predominated in the late phase. Owing to the mountainous nature of the region, there was intensive movement of nomadic stock-breeders, especially aloIJg the line stretching from the Carpathians to Homoije, Mts. Kopaonik and Sara, and the Pindus.9 The northern parts of thi s zone were also, no doubt, characteri zed by uanshumance between the Sava valley and the mountainous parts of northern &)snia, as testifieJ to by Pivnica-type Kostolac sites or Vis-type Lasinja sites near Modran (Derventa) . 10 The same rela tionships are [o be obse rved in the southern part of the zone, between the Adriatic coast and its hinterland (Ravlia peina, Ha tvel jska peina , etc.), especially since the recent excava tion work in Herzegovina. ll

c) The Alpine slopes zone or, to be more precise, the southeast Alpine region, include Slovenia and most of northwest Croatia . In the Early Eneolithic the cultures of the region lay under a strong west-Pannonian influence, especially that of the Lengyel and Balaton-Lasinja cultures. In the latter half of the Eneolithic the Vuedol culture exerted a powerful influence, most particularly on the fonnation of the Ljubljansko Barje (lg I) culture and, less decisively, on the emergence of the Ljubljana cultureY The continuity of development and the more specific nature of the different cultures are more pronounced in the latter part of the Eneolithic rather than in its early stages, when the Lengyel culture and the "Alpine facies of Lengyel" were merely regional variants of their parental cultures: Lengyel , Balaton-Lasinja \. One of the factors to have influenced this was the strong development of copper metallurgy, testified to by the many finds of both copper tools and moulds used in their casting (Ljubljansko Barje) .

d) The Adriatic zone encompasses a long and narrow strip of land along the Adriatic sea, from Istria in the north [o the Skadarsko Lake in the south. Recent excavations in the hinterland (Herzegovina) have shown that some areas north of the Dinaric range also gravitate to it. The cultures of the region display greater .independence and point to a continuity of development from the Hvar culture to the proto-Nakovana and the Nakovana cultures. As elsewhere, this continuity was disrupted by the expansion of the Vuedol style, i.e. the ljubljana culture, as evidenced by sites such as Tivat and Rube, pottery of the kind found at Grapeva pilja, from the early phase of the Cetina culture, or the Istrian sites, including the caves in the Gulf of Trieste (Grotta dei Oclami, etc.).

*

The chronological framework for the study of the emergence and development of Eneolithic cultures in this book is something of a problem, especially in dealing with the beginning of the period under consideration. In

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14 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

recent years, especially since the discovery of the prehis toric mine at Rudna Glava near Majdanpek, but also on the basis of the presence of copper artefacts at Vina sites (Plonik, Vin a, Fafos near Kosovska Mitrovica, Gornja Tuzla) and necropolises (grave no. 12 at Uomolava), there has been a tendency to include the later Vina culture in the Eneolithic period, II i.e . to shift the upper chronological limit to the middle of the fourth millennium B.e. Vina-type

PI. I. 4-7 pottery from the platforms of the Rudna Ula va mine dates from the period of transition between the earlier and later Vina cultures; the copper bracelet from the grave no. 12 at (,omolava and the copper beads fl)und at the same site also support such a dating. These and many other copper t1nds of a similar kind have placed the present writer in a quandary: should the Eneolithic period begin with the much later Vina culture or, as is usual, with Tiszapolgar, Bubanj-Salcuta, Lasinja, or protu-Nakovana? We have opted for the la tter approach , even though quite a few "Neolithic agrarian cultures" of the Lengyel,

Vina, Theiss, and Hvar types pa rtly belong to the Eneolithic period. The upper chronological limit of the Eneol ithic in the central and

western Balkans is more clearly drawn, although some problems remain there, especially as regards the post-Vuedol cultures of thc Adriatic or Ljubljansko Barje. In most cases the "disintegration of the Vuedol culmral complex" and the formation of new post-Vuedol culmres such as Kosihy, aka, Mah), Ljubljana, the early Cetina, etc. , marks the end of the Eneolithic an d the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. This phase was not incl uded in P. Reinecke', periodization , but it is to be found in most of the mOte recent publications dealing the subject (cf. Kulturen Der Friihbronzezeit des Karpatenbeckem und Nordbalkam). In tenm of absolute chronology, the end of the third and beginning of the second millennium B.e. can be taken as the end of the Eneol ithic in the central and westem Balkans. W e have thus estahlished a ehronologieal framework of some 1,000 years for the Eneolithic cultures, from the late fourth to the late third millennium B.e.

11,ere have been several at tempts to systematize the phases of devel-opment of the Eneolithic in the Balkans on the basis of either the cultural-his-torical picture of the period or the economic features of individual cultures. 11,e Eneolithic could thus be divided into: Early and Late Eneolithic; Early, Middle, and une Eneolithic; there is (or was) also a view of the Eneolithic as a brief period of transi tion between the Neolithic and the Metal Age. 14 In recen t literature the Eneolithic is usually divided into the Early, Middle, and Late phases , and this ternary division has also been applied in the third volume of The Prehiswry oj Yugoslavia . 11,e Early Eneolithic saw the further evolution of the Neolithic cultures which were familiar with copper and its processing and produced copper jewellery, weapons , and tools, but whose material and non-material culture preserved the chief characteristics of the preceding period. Owing to these characteristics we tend to refer to these cultures as post-Neo-lithic, i.e. cultures whose evolution from the Neoli thic to other, new styles, was generally smooth. In the Yugoslav Danube Basin this process is evidenced on

In troduction 15

the one hand in the emergence of T iswpolg5r on thc foundations bid by the ll,eiss, the Corzsa and the Herpaly cultures and, on the other, in the evolution of the Bubanj-Saleu(8 eompicx south (lf the Danube which includes, among others, a Vina component. In the west, the transt()tmation of Neolithic cultures in to Eneolithic one, can be traced in the replace ment of Lengyel (Sopot-l..cngyel) by Early Lasinja- Ba!Jton, whereas the Alpine region offers the "Alpine faci es of Lengyel", i.e. the Lasinja culture. Finally, in the Adriatic region, the Nakovana (proto-Nakovana) hori zon was tormed on the basis of the Hvar-Lisi ii group, and it largely preserved the preceding culture's tea-tures . ll,ese changes al most always took place sm(Klthly, as a graJual evolution sp urred on by the avai lahility of new disCllV

cl~6 _ ____________ --,-Th,,-e::...=.:En,-,e=o:.::lit:.::h::.:ic:...:::cultu res of Cen tral and West Balkans

phase of the Middle Eneolithic, as is the case with the Cotofen i culture in western Romania . In areas left untuuched by the direct migrat ion of the bearers of steppe cultures (Bosnia, most of Slavonia), the Kostulac c ulture wcnt on developing, evolving [()wards the "carving" stylc of the Vuedol culture. Con-tacts between the Pit-grave and Vuedol cultures during rhe Late Eneolith ic are refl ected in the adoption by t he Vuedol culture of the custom of burials under tumuli and the och re staining of gmve goods (Batajnica, Vojb, Moldo va Veche) , the appearance of "carac()mb grave;" in Vuedol, and the like . lo The expansion of the Vuedol culture westwards and southwards was to be the hall mark of the La te Eneolith ic in the central and western Balkans, too. The pressure exerted by the steppe peoples can be taken as the cause of these shifts. T he Alpine region witnessed the cmergence of the Ljubljans ko Barje culture, while a local variety of the Tivat-Rubd type "fbte Vuedol appeared on the Adriatic Cl)ast and in its hinterl and . As stated above, the end of the Late Eneolith ic, and of the Eneoli thi c as a whole, is marked by the disintegrarion of the Vuedol complex and the formation of numerous regional groups and cultures, which inaugurated the Early Brome Age in the Pannonian, ca ntral Balbn, Danubian, and Adriatic zones.

Besides the nomadic component, one of the main features of the Eneolithic cultures' cconomy was the early, llr primary, copper metallurgy - Drc min ing, processing, and the manufactu re ofcopper artebcts - i.e. initial mining, metallurgy, and manufacturing technology. TIlesc new activities speeded up the stratiflcation of Neolithic society , the emergence of specialized economic activities , and the differentiation between settlements within the same culture or between various cultures. T he Enelllithic sites in thc Yugoslav Danube Basin played a crucial part in these processes , characteri stic of a broad area of Central and Southeast Europe . TIlese sites were both important mining and metallur-gical centres and maj or links in the transmission of new discoveries in material culture between the Aegean and the Near East on the one hand and the Pannonian cultures on the o ther. The importance ntthe sites and findings from the region is amply illustrated by the prehistorical mine at Rudna Glava, the processing centre in Zlocska peina, the remains of metal-casting workshops at Debelo Brdo, Alihode, Sarva, Ljubljansko Barj e, or the copper hoards found at Plo nik, Bemen and De in Srem, Vranovi i and Kozarac in Bosnia, Stabanj and Split-Gripe in Dal matia, e tc. Several extensive studies of copper finds (by B. Jovanovi, A. Durman, M. Kuna - to mention hut thc more recent ones) 17 have emphasized the richness and diversity of artefacts of this kind. Regrettably, most of them have been found outside an archaeological context , which has rather restri cted the possibility of interpretation . Only a few come from system-atica lly excavated sites (Zlocska peina, Vuedol, Sarva, Ljubljansko Barje) 18 and these , together with copper-moulds (Sarva, Ljubljansko Barje , A lihode, Debelo brdo, Zecovi, e tc .), 19 allow us to connect the forms of certain copper arte facts with particular Eneol ithic cultures (th is issue will be payed particular attention tO later in the book).

Introduction 17

Extensive study of ca rly mini ng anJ metollurgy in the central anJ eas tern Balkans has foregrounJeJ twO basic a$S ump tions "bout their origins. According to somc (S. Jungha ns, E. Sangmeister, M. SchrclJer, J. Deshayes, G. Clark, S. Piggot(, and others) ,20 (he use of copper haJ been importeJ from the Aegean and Asia Minor; more recently, its aurochthonl)us origin has been claimed for (B. Jovanovi) ZI Considering the greater concentra tion of copper artefacts in the Early Eneolithic cultures of the eastern Balkans (CJumein ita , Salcuta, Marica) as compareJ with west"rn reilions, it woulJ s"em that the view which places the eastern Balkans within the "circumPontic :one of the Early Eneolithic" and gives it preceJence in tim" is the correc r on" (1' . ernih) 22 The necropolis near Varna and the mines Oi' Ai Bunar anJ Rudna Glava might provide sufficient evidence tl) supp..)rt such an opinion.

The im]X)nance or mi~rawf\ trenJs ror the perioJi :ation l)tTneolirhic cul tures in foml"r Yugosla\ia has alr"aJy heen stresseJ . A few worJs need to he said about their mechanism and [heir significance tllf the relmive Jating of the steppe culrures or southern "'LC;;:3 in th"ir relation fl) rhose of rhc Balbn Danubian :o ne. i(o doubt che m.:..l\-cnkn:~ 1".)i che ItS [cPp pas(oralist::;n towarJs :;,e Pa:l:1cnian Plain, rh" YU~c ,~3\' D3~;;he re!!ion, and rhe central Balkans "'it" c' ~;::ial impl1nanc" i~'r thc:r "n:,:" subsequ"m development. n je :::e\-xt:::: 0::'1 !110n in a rchac''1k''\f:'!~3: b ~cr::H,-,-:-e (P. Rl1111an, A. Benac 1 M. -;:; :-3i:;;--lli-.. B. jO\'3no\i, " . T 3S:~. ,,:;::. \:' ;, ih3i ih" n1c1\,ementS of the steppe

l "1 ~ E 'h' . ?c\,:,p eS. : .c. :::e nl.....:'I- t.:. r\..l!k3n :T.l~..:;~~a ,r '.."'-~ ~ [ e iOfl11 ot successive l nigra~ :: ':::;5. OVt:: :- 3 '?--'"::C~.: C ~ 3tx. .... C: 3 :h (~..:s.:::.::": \c:3:-S: 3;: :lfSr lt was merely () question

~i c ... rtW',,1 ~. n:3~i' :;~.: iru~;.:"~;:,,, ~ [\!;::J \:ureSulul, the Kladovo hoa rd of \, ., J _ __ - -- \.:- .--- -. --. - ~- . ;. ;;;'--:h E l' h" h . . l,nQ ,llnt. ua,=~c.~. C~....... ....!~c .... l...~...!.~ ~.x ~11h ..... ........:e \." ... e neo l( IL, ( c ::,teppe peoples ac[uallv amn:':. :::-~;: ;:..) ;:r.c lli:--.:..6t: :-C'tiun. and rht:n tO [he regions Sc)urh or the Sa\'a and D3:1L::>e. Tn~ e~"r~enLe o:' ,h" C:ma\'oJ3 11I&)lera : cul ture, the appearance Oi' 'Sch"ltxnhen\;el" ]X)"". \,:n rhe Yu!?c"!a,, pans or rhe Danube region, and rhe s_'urhwarJ sprad oi rh Buban, Saicura culrure tH." Koso\'o , and [hence [ O Pelagonia) were resulrs Q i ~(r('ng pressure exerreJ by the newcomers on the au[()chrhonous culrures or rhe Carparhian. Danubian, and Balkan regions.

ln addition to these largescale movemems of rhe bearersofrhe Eneolirhic cultures, the endof the period al sosaw the expansion of the Vuedol culture. Air"r a period ofconcenrrated growth during the Iasr third ofehe Eneolithic, me Vuedol style spread from its native SremSbvonian region in all directions: fl) the wSt, to tam) the Alpine nucleus of "carveel" p

18 The Eneoli thic cultures of Cen tral and West Balkans

Central Ba lkan zone

Bubanj I -Saieula II

Cernavoda III

Kostolac (Cotofeni)

Vuedo l

Alpin e s lopes zone

Lengyel final

La sinja I II

Kevdere

Vuedo l (lg I) (l g II)

Adriatic zon e

Proto- Nakova na Nakovana

Adriatic faeies of the Vuedo l culture (Tivat- Rube)

Note: When pointing to the illustrative material in the margins . followin g system has been established: PI. 1 1 I is the reference to the table within the text: PI. IXlIlI is the reference to the tables given at the end: Fig. 1 50 stands for the number of the site and the individual number for each drawing in the chapter "Registre of mahor Eneolithic si tes in former Yugoslavia" (e.g. Fig. 1/1 stands for the figure number one in Ajdavska Jama) .

EARLY ENEOLITHIC Post- Neolithic cultures

As already noted, a clea r line dividing the Neoli thic and Eneol ithic cultures cannot be drawn . We have opted, therd()tc , for the term post-Neolithic tO refer to cultures which were familiar with copper and its technology, but which preserved Neolithic characteristics in the main features of their material and non-material culture. Continuity of development is the hallmark of these cultures, and it is refl ected in the shape of their vessels, their material culture, the loca tion of their settlements, thei r economy, and their buri al practices. The pottery ofTiszapolgjr or Bubanj-Salcuta preserved the basic shapes and similar fa bric - refined clay and burni shed grey or black surfaces, typical of the agrarian cul tures of Central and Southeast Europe. A good example are the conical bowls with thickened, turned-i n rilll s, known as "(;radac plates" and found both in the Vin a culture and in the Bubanj -Salcuta-Krivodol and Gumelnita complexes . T11e decora tion of the inside is burnished in the Vina culture, graphi te burnished or red-painted in Bubanj -Salcuta or Gumelnita Z5 Then Fig.8 there is the infl uence of Neoli thi c figurines on Eneolithic ones found at early Eneolithic sites in eastern Serbi a, Koso vo, and Pelagonia , which also belong to the widespread Bubanj-Salcuta-Krivodol complex and thar of the "graphite burnished ware llf the eastern Balkans". Numerous other exampl es point to close ties between the Early Eneolithic cultures and the autoch thonous base . lt is enough, for instance, to compare the graves orthe Vina culture necropolis at Gomolava with the late r necropolises of Tiszapolga r or another Early Eneolith ic culture to reali ze how st rong the tradition wa s I The crouched position of the body laid on the side, its orien t

20 The Eneolithi c cultures of Central and West Balkans ~--------------------~~~

include: in the east, Bubanj-SalcutJ , its Pelagonian varian t (Crnobuki-Bakarno Gumno), and Tiszapolgar-Bodrogkeresztur; in the Sava valley and the Alpine zone, Balaton-Lasinja ; on the Adriatic coast and the islands, the Nakovana culture .

a) The Sou thern Pa nnon ian zone

In its cultural-historical development, the region north of thc Danube and the lower Sava (Vojvodina) has been close ly connected wi th the c ultures of the eastern Pannonian Plain. TI1e Neoli thic tradition which produced Thei in the east and Lengye l in the west of the Plain survived intO the Early Eneolithic. Theiss and its desccndants, Herpaly -Csciszh alom-Cimzsa-O borin , served as the base for the fo nnntion ot T iszapt)lga r, whil e Balaton I-Lasinja I evolved from Lengyel. T he integration of the eastern and western areas would come about only later, with the emergence of Bo leraz- Cernavoda III , i.e . the Baden culture . TI1e area would preserve its unity th roughout the Middle and La te Eneolithic, until the disintegration of thc Vuedo l complex and the advent of the early Bronze Age cultures .

T he Tiszapolgar culture is the first genuine manifestation of the Copper Age (Eneolithic) in the South Pannonian zone . It was the produc t, as most authors agree,n of a long evolution of thc Neolithic cultures in the T isza valley, some of which, although familiar with copper and its use in the manufacture of weapons, tools, and jewell ery, still belonged to the Neoli thic civilization. TI, is is especially true of Hcrpal y-Csl)zshalom in Hungary, Oborin in Slovakia, and proto-Tisza polgar in Vojvodina. Some a uthors have classified these cultures as transitional dating them in to the Early Pannonian Eneolithic. The problem of the "proto-Ti szapolga r" group, noticed by B. Brukner in southern Baka and Srem, remains open. The gro up is illustrated by material from Gospodjinci, Sirig, and the "Eneol ithic hu mus" at Gomolava (Gomolava II), which migh t belong part ly to the Lengyel style, and partly to Balaton I-Lasin ja l. TI1e q uestion of the genesis of the Tiszapolgar c ulture may therefore be best resolved by recourse to stratified sites in Hungary and Slovaki a (Her-paly, Luky, Ti ba va) which, in our opinion, offer much more evidence. The Tiszapolgar culture was already well formed when it reached the southern areas of its expansion.

Another questi on concerns the stylistic and chronologica l differentia -tion be tween the Tiszapolgar and the Bodrogkeresztur cultures. In Hungarian literature, they are treated as independent cultures.zo However, the evidence of stratified sites, the fact that large necropolises belong, as a rule , to both cultures , and the charac teri stic features of their pottery indicate that the two cuitures are part of the same line of development, with the later one di splaying new pottery shapes and types of decorati on (the "milk pot" shape, net patterns)

PI. V, 1-5

Fig 45

PI. VII, 7,8

PI. IX, 7

22 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

Bodrogkeresztur, when rhe same region was to wirness the appearance of Salcura IV -Scheibennenkel portery on the one hand (Baranda) and, on the orner, of the Bole r

I

Early Eneolithic __ ~. 23

the organization of the necropolises, nor have they provided sufficient anthro-pological evidence to establish a demographic picture of the neeropolis as a reflection of life in the settl ement. Instead we have the grave goods, whose typological features can be used to determine the position of the Vojvodina necropolises within the development of T iszapolgar and Bodrogkeresztur throughout the Pannonian Plain. They belong to the same cultural circle as the much more thoroughly investigated nec ropolises in Hungary and Slovakia, such as Tiszapolgar-Basatanya, H(idmez(\vas6rhely-Kot3cpart, Tape, Deszk, Tibava, Lucska, and many others.4o If our purpose is a more accurate location of our necropolises, we might place the ea rli er graves in the Deszk group according to the division by I. Bogn6r-Kutzi6n, while the others (Vina, Subotica) would belong to a mature Bodrogkeresztur (Pusztaistvanhaza -Bo-drogkercsztur II) culture.41

11le material culture of the Tiszapolgar and Bodrogkeresztur sites in our parts corresponds entirely to the finds ITom necropolise~ and settlements in neighbouring countries, especially the Hungarian part of the Tisza valle y. Tiszapolgar pottery is generally ofa good fabric, finely burnished, but plain. 11le only exception is the portery from Vrac, which is of somewha t inferior workmanship.42 A characteristic shape is that of the footed goblet, one of the main features of the Tiszapolg6r style: the tall goblets have a holl ow cylindrical or slightly profiled foot; the receptacle has the telrm ufconical or biconical bow!. Lugs, at tinles ve ry prOllline nt , are a constant feature of must sbapes of Tiszapolgar pottery - bowls, globular vessels, pots, etc. 111e difference between ho usehold porrery and grave goods is negligible and lies chiet1y in the quality of workmanship (grave goods are finer) and diversity of shapes (household pottery is more varied, especially at Crna Bara or Vrac). The Bodrogkeresztur culture saw two major changes in pottery-making: the appearance of decoration and of new shapes - the characteristic "milk pot" vessel and the calotte-shaped bow!. The footed goblets, so frequent in Tiszapolgar, were gradually abandoned. Bodrogkerezstur decoration takes the form of incised lines, pricks, and circular appliques. Ir is very rich, oft en covering the entire surface of a vessel (milk containers from Dubovac and Batajnica, Vina bowls, e tc.).

Besides pottery, which is no doubt the chief cha racteristic of the Tiszapolgar and Bodrogkeresztur style , the se ttlements and necropolises have yielded other artefacts, mos t significantly long flint knives, copper and gold artefacts . 111e knives were fc)und in a grave from the Biserna Obala necropolis near Subotica, in enta (Mali Alas site), and Kladovo, in a well -known hoard which might belong to another cultural complex (Bubanj-Salcuta, or the incursion of "steppe pastoralists" into the Yugoslav Danube region).4 J The Importance of the knives lies in their connection with an early steppe cul tures' imoad into the Carpathian Basin and the Danube region. Thei r presence in the necropolises of Decia Muresului horizon anci Tiszapolgar and Bodrogker-esztur graves (Kisvarda - grave l; Deszk B - grave 8 ; Csongnid-Kettbshalom-grave l; Basatanya - several graves)44 is related to their frequency at Sredni

PI. I

PI. VI. I

PI. V. 1 9

PI. VII. 1.2.8

PI. VII. 7 flg.45/1 -2

P V I. 2 PI. XI . 5.9

~ ------------ The Eneolithi c cultures of Central and West Balkans

Stog II necropoli ses (Clleksandriski anJ Novodanill)Vski 1l1ogilnik, etc .) anJ their reappearance later, within the Pit-grave culture ." M. (Jar"anin mwehes panicular significa nce to the Kladovo hom'd, which cnnmined 22 lo ng flint knives anJ a c rucifonn copper axe.40 They arc probably co nnected with t he steppe cultures, th o ugh when placed in th e cultural Cllntext of th e groups developing in th e Yugosl"v Danube Basin some reserve remains in M. Garaanin's article regarding th eir "ttribution. The KlaJovo hoarJ waS t,)unJ in the border zone separating Tiszapolgar and Bodrogkeresztu r (the southern

PI. XI. 5.9 Banat sites) from Bubanj-Salcura sites in their immediate vicinity (Saicuta grave at Lepenski Vir in easte rn Serbia ). Nevertheless, th e Kladovo find is of maj or signifk"nce , both on account of its li nks with the steppe cultures and because it allows us [o connect th e copper finJs (c rucif, lfIil axes) with "n important c ultura l hori zon from the tail-end ut the E"r1y Eneulithic. C rllcifonn axes o f the kind fu und in Kladovu bclo ng to [\mlrogkereszt Llr rather than Tiszapolgar, anJ that is impon:ant in establi shing the relali vc chronology of the E"r1y Eneolithic c ultures of th e Carpathian-Balbn- Danuhian zone.

lInfortuna tely, th e Cllpper anJ gold artefacts which might bdo ng to T iszapolgar and I:lod rogkeresztur arc most often chance finds. On the basis of analogues fi'om Hungarian sites they coulJ, t,,, the most part, be rega rded as belonging ro this horizon. This is especially true of a smaller hoard uf coppe r rools from LivaJe near Kikinda and the finds from :ob, th e Subot ica region, etc H The cultural a ttribution l)f t he copper hoarJs anJ individua l finds from Srem remains unclear. They encopmass bo th earli er t'1fl11S ufaxes fm m De, which might we ll bclnng to th e Tiszopolgar horizon, anJ l\umewus cru cifl ll'lll

PI. III. 1.2.5 axes (the Bemen and Dobanovci hoarJs)4S Jating from Bodrogkeresztur's shon-lived incurslc)n into this and neighbouring areas (Surin, th e graves in Vin a) hut also from the period of th e B"den culture , wh ich was very stl'llng in thi s regio n (Do banovci, Lice near Erdevik, C;ollllllava, e tc .) 49 11)e same applies to th e gold find from Progar, which some "uthl) rs have arrrihmeJ to Tiszapulgar and ml~e r s to FloJl'llgkeresztur. ,n The manufac turing technology, intricacy, anJ quality o f th e gold amulet Ii'om Progar "re more advanced than, say, th ose uf similar finds from Tibava or thc Hencid" hoard. lt is typologicall y close r (o the finds from Homica, grave no. 97 in V"rna, anJ e ven (~umejnita (le vel A2a). "

PI. VII. 5-6 ll)e gold pins from grave no . 2 of the Nosa neeropolis near Subotica belollg to the same hori zon; o n the b" , is of "mi lk pot" vessels anJ analogues with the Jaszladany necropoli s and grave no. II at Fenycslitkc they are Jated into the late BodrogkereSztLlr horizon. ;)

PI. I -- Pottery types of the Tizsapolgar culture

frorn sites in Vojvodina

o

JI41110.U] APE]

26 The Eneol ithic cul tures of Central and West Balkans __ .c::..::c-=c

***

T he development of the pus t-Neolithic (Early Eneolithic) c ultu res ends with the emergence of the Hunyadi-Vajska sites in the Southern Pan-nonian zone. T he pwhlem uf this culture, group, ur variant is a complex one fi)!' a number of reasons. To begin with, opiniul\s va ry as tu its independence, its place within the development of the Tiszapolgar-Bodrugkeresztur complex, and its absolute da ting. So far it has been described in literature as an independent c ulture, a phase of Bodrogkeresztur, ur part uf a larger clltl1plcx, the so-called Scheibenhenkel pottery.\J T he phenomenon has not been studied thoruughly enough for a definite sta nd to bc rnken. We sha ll herc disc uss the stylistic and chtl1nulogica l att ri bution of the fin ds from what is by now the on ly certain site - the Baba Sivaka necropolis near Vajska , south of SOlllbor. '4 Small-sca le excavation work at the site has uncovered six graves with typical

PI. VIII. 1-8 Hunyadihalolll material. W hat is specific of the culture, and of Vajska in part icular, is its plain ware with fluring handles , which is why some archaeolo-gists have placed it within the Scheibenhenkel horizon and rela tcd it to Salema IV ware in western Romania, southern Banat (OpOV() , Baranda) , and Srem (Zelllun-Prigrevica) . Pec ul iar to Vajsko arc the gold pendan ts f,)und in grave

Fig,2/4-5 no. 5 of the necropolis . Their significance is more than typological: they are important in establishing thc chronologica l framework of Hunyadi-Vajska ware and the Vajska necropolis . Ana logues fur these fi nds are to be encountered in Bodrogke resztur and other con temporary cult ures, most particularly the Hen-cida hoa rd, grave 16 in jaszl ad:S ny, grave no. 4 in Pusztai stvanhaza, and a ho use in T raian, Romania. II B. Brukner notes that the chemi cal composition (l the Vajska pendants (Ag 4,Cu 0.09, As 0.04) is very similar to that of Tibava finds; he dates them somewhat larer, to phase II of Bodrogkeresztur. )O

The profile of Hunyadi -Vajska, its mate ri al culture and ch ronology might become clearer with rhe publication of the resu lts oflarge-sca le system-atic excavations a r T izsal uc near Mikole, in itiared as far back as 1974. 5) Preliminary reports say that it is a sizable se t tl emen t (29 houses have been registe red) with plenti ful ce ramic, lithi c, and copper material, and sound analyses of palacozoological material. A report by P. Patay indicates that the culture in quest ion is an independent one, whose position has been srrarigraphi-cally determined: it emerges near the end of Bodrogkeresztur (the presenCt' of BodrogkeresztLrr decoration on Hunyadi potte ry) and outl ives the earlier culture. It is replaced, at thi s particular site, by Boleraz. n 1is allows us tu establ ish more acc urate ch ronological relati ons not on ly among the cultures of the upper T isw val ley but also a111 (l11g those of the broader arc'a of the eastern Carpathian Basin, including southern Pannonia .

n 1ese daw, as well as o ther comparative studies (e.g. oi the relation-ships between Tiszapolga r, Vina and Lengyel poucry on the one ha nd and

Early Eneolith ic _ _ _ _ 27

Bodrogkeresztur- Hunyadi-Vajska and Salcum IV on the other), allow us to establish relative chronology of the Early Eneolith ic cultures in the South Pannonian zone and the cul tures which developed in the region' s immediate vicinity . Four chronological horizons can be distinguished:

I. Transitiona l horizon: Herpaly-Csl1szhalom-Oborin - final Lengyel - Vina D I

II. Early Eneolithic I : Tiszapolgar - Sopot-Lengyel lll -Vina D2 - Salcura II

Ill. Early Eneo lithic II : Bodrogkeresztur l - Balaton-Lasinja I - Salcura III - Bubanj la

IV. Early Eneolithic Ill : Bodrogkeresztur ll, Hunya di- Vajska, Balaton-Lasinja II - Salc ura IV -Seheiben henkel hori zon

This periodiza tion of the Early Eneolithic (post-Neolithic) cultures is an elaboration of that provided in Volume III of Tite Preltistory of Yugoslavia. The end of the Early Eneulithie in the South Pannonian zone and further afield, all the way from southern Poland to the central Balkans and from the Carpa-thians tO the Alps, was marked by the emergence of a funda menmlly new culture, which inaugurated the Middle Eneoli th ic in these regions. It was Cerna voda Ill -Boleraz, the comerstone of a new process of development, the continuity of which would remain un broken til i the very end of the Eneolithic and the beginning of the Early Brom e Age.

The western parts of South Pannonian zone experienced a slightly diffe ren t cultural development. During the Middle and Late Neolithic, the area west and southwest of the Dan ube was dominated by Lengyel and its variants. Such an autochthonous foundation was bound m produce, in the Early Eneoli thic , the cultures differing from the ones nase d on 1l,eiss . South of the Danube, more precisely between the Sava, the Drava , and the Danube , numerous Lengyel, i.e . Sopot-Lengyel, settlements have b$cn une arthe d (SOPOt , Bapska , Sarva, Vinkovci, Gradina on the Bosut near Sid, Budjanovci near Ruma, etc.). Quite a few belong m "SOPOt III" according loS. Dimi trijevi's c1assifi cation;58 by analogy wi th the situation in Vina (sy>1Chronieity with

Vina 01 -02), this level already belongs to the Eneoli th ic , although it is essentiall y sti ll a part of Neoli thic civilization . In any case, the late phase of Sopot (Sopot-Lengyel) has served as a foundation for the new cultures of the Early Eneolithic in the region. 1l,ere is not enough reliable stratigraphic data, although most of the sites enumerated are stratified. Reports on excava tions in the late thirties and early forties (Bapska , Sarva) have not been published in full, which has made it diffi cul t lo reconstruct the gradual development from terminal Neoli thic cultures to early Eneolithic ones. 1l,e more recen tl y exea-vated Gradina on the Bosut (near id) has yi elded more information, not so much because of the ri chness of its Neolithic and Encolithic layers but because continuity of development has been established between late SOPOt, Balamn-Lasinja I and Boleraz 59 Level I belongs lo the tail-end of Sopot- Lengyel ; Ila

28 The Eneol ithic cul tures of Centra l and West Balkans ""----_._-----

conmins eDfly Lasinja (Balmon- Lasinja I) materi al, whil e II b belon~s tl> J Boleraz sett lement. The impression left hy the site's stmtigraphy and the typolo~i ca l analysis of its potte ry is of continuous uevelopmenr unbroken hl' major populmion anu other changes . Anal ysis ot the mate rial cultu re of the Lengyel and Lasinja styles trom other si tes has conn rmed thi s, anu some authors O. and P. Koroec, fu r instance) refer to the new c ul w re, tl)unued on Lengycl in the Eneoli thi c period, as "thl' Alpine facies of Le ngyel"60 The same view is to be founu, somewhm moditl eu, in F. Lehen' s and S. Dimi trijevi 's explanation of the origins of Lasinja.bl Since L~sinja (Balaton-Lasinja I) is only a peripheral phenomenon in the South Pannonian Zlme, ha vin.~ affec teu only its southwest pam, we shall uiscuss it in gremer uemil in a section dcvoteu to the Early Eneolithic c ultures of the Alpil1l' region.

b) The central Balkan zone

T he geographic feawres of the region, crisscrosseu as it is by moun-mins, are a major obstacle to the study of the emergence and de velopment of the Early Eneolithic cultures. Besides, they had helped creare aurarchic zones where cu ltures have Ia sted longer and ass umed highly conservative traits. This is especially true of the ve ry heginning of thc' Eneolithic, the time when Tiszapolgar and Bubanj -Sa lcum emerged and developed in the Danube region and eastern Serhia, whil e Vina still survived in the remOte areas uf western Serbia and in KOSOVL). The questicm of their relationship, espec ially thn t of

Vina and the early Bubanj-SalcutD, is c,fspecial relevance in thc Moravn basin , Kosovo , and southwest Serbia, as regarus both rela tive chronology and mutual influences in materi al and non-ma terial culture . In the Morava basin, Buhanj sites have been registered (Owards the north, 31most as far as Krucva c (Makrdani, Eneolithic layer) ;62 in eastem Serbia, the border runs near Rudna Glava and Majdanpek; in Kosovo, Vin a set tlements are to be tl)und in the

PI. I. I 7 Ibar valley (Vala, bfl)s), whil e Bubanj sites are encountered further south, near Lipljan and Suva Reb. T he rela tionship between the two cultures, which must have been partly cuntempomneous, is therefore very interesting tO srudy. In areas which remained unaffec ted by the spread of Bubanj-Salcuta and the incursions of the T iszapolg5r-Bodrogkeresztur complex (e .g. westem Serbia)

Vina se ttl ements !ived un in isolation (Stapari, Radojnja) .bJ A related problem is that of the Plo nik copper hoards. The four

hoards unearthed at Ploni k contain copper axes, chiscl s, brace lets, pins with PI. II I. 4-7 curving heads, and light white stone axes . Most authors believe that the hoards

Fig. 36/ 1-4 "ptobably belong to the terminal phase of this important settlement of the later Vina group in the southern Morava basin" (B. ]ovanov i) b4 and are contem-poraneous with Vina-Plonik II , Gumelnita-Karanovo VI B, and Tiszapolgar (M. Kuna) .b\ If these views are accepted, the Plonik hoards would ha ve to be da ted into a later period fo r, according to M. (Jaraanin, "Bubanj -Hum I

PI. III. 3. 4. 6. 7 directly succeeded Vin a-Plonik I at Plo ni k " . "b Bubanj material !l)und ar

EarlyEneo~[~it~h~ic~ ________ __ 29

Plonik has less often been mken into account in attempts to attribute the copper hoards . Recent excavations at the site has esmbli shed the existence of a Bubanj settlement destroyed fo r the most part by land cultivation; in view of 13. Stalio" remark that hoard IV was dug imu the Vina /wrizu)l, the more logical conclusion would be that thc hoards belonged to the time when the bearers nf rhe Bubanj culture arrived ar the sire.b ) Such a solution o bviates the illogica lity of linki ng the latest Vina horizon ar Plonik wi th Tisza polg6r, Karannvo V I, ( ;umeinit3, and thereby Bubanj-Saicuta.

The Bubanj culture , pan of the extensi ve Bubanj-Salcu ra -Kri vodol complex, deve lo ped in the central and eastern parts oi th e central Bal kan zone, whence it spread so uthwards to Skopsko Polje and Pelagoni a. The a rea can be subd ivided into three zones, each with spec ific local ieatures in the styl e o f its material culture: easte rn Serbia with the Danubian region (from (;olubac to I\ego tin); a part of Kosovo with southeast Metohija and the Skopje basin; and Pclagonia. Three t)'pes o f settl ements a re current : the most freljuent are bu il t o n elevated ground by a river, protected by the river's cou rse and stee p slopes; cave settlements make up the second gtelUp; the third type, typical of the southern zone, cons ists of lowland settlements of th e "tum be" (tell) type . The best examples of the first type are Bubanj near Ni, Kovilovo near Zajear, Krivdj near Bor, Uadimljc and Hisar in Koso vo, and Skupsko kale b8 A dominant pelSition, natumlly or artificially fl)rtihed, is characteristi c of these se ttl ements . The Krivdj settlement was protected by a wall nf srackeJ stune , fig.8/1 8 while Bubanj and Gadimije were deiended by a ditch and a palisade. T he tendency to look for safe dwel ling-placcs is reflec ted in thc choice o f caves as dwellings. A number of caves inhabited at the time of Bubanj-Sakuta have bee n registered in Romania and Bulgaria (Horilor, Romanesti, Deve taka, Magura, etc.);69 Zimska and Bogo vinska caves, as well as the caves in Fig.50/1 -5 Knja e vac area, are examples from easte rn Serbia. ln Pe lagonia and ne ighbo ur-ing Albania there are twO groups of se ttl ements belonging to the sa me cultural complex: the so-ca ll ed "tum be" are the most numerous and belong to the fai rly widespread type of tell-settlement pa rt icularl y frequent in Macedonia, TI1race , and Thessaly. O f special relevance fo r the study of the Pelagonian fZrouP of the Bubanj-Salcuta-Krivodol complex are the excava tions of strarified se ttlements at Bakarno Gumno, Crnobuki , Karam an, ctc .10 Finally, there are also fortified settlements built on elevated ground, such as uplevec .7J

TI10ugh many se ttl ements belo nging to Bubnnj-Saicuta have been discovered so uth of the Danube, onl y one grnve has been unenrthed, providing minimal information about the culture 's burini cus toms. A Bubanj-Saicuta grave has been found dug inw the Ently Encoli thi c strn tum of Lepenski Vir. The body was lying pronc (!), in a crouched position . ( ;rave goods w nsisted of four vessels; of great typol ogical importance is a In rge , thick-rimmed bowl-dish

PI. X, 2-4 Fig. 24/9

Fig, 8/5

PI. XI. I PI. XII. 1,4, 7, 8

PI. XI. 7,8

30 The Eneol ithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

with a broad band uf graphite-bumished deCllration, Using analogues fi-om Romanian sites (Ostrovul Corbului) , Z, Letica placed the grave in the Salcuta II peri od according to D, Berciu,72

EASTERN SERBIA

Numerous Bubanj-Salcuta sites have been discovered in eastem Ser-bia, from the Niava in the south tO the Danube in the north. Their greatest concentration is in the region ofNi; and, especially, Bor, Zajear, and Negotin, Besides Bubanj and Humsb Cub, both excavated partly before and partly after W orld War II , the sites having ptOvided most information about material culture include Kovi lovo, Vajuga-Pesak near Korbovo, Krivelj, and Zlotsb

peina, where systematic research has been carried out. lJ The best-preserved settlement remains (houses, hcmths, remains off,xtifications) have been found at Bubanj and, to a lesser extent, Krivel j and Kovilovo, They have ena bled us to attempt at least a partial reconstruction of this type of settlement: smaller in scale, they were built on elevated ground by a ri ver, with houses rather close tO each other. Their shape has best been registered at Bubanj, where three houses of approximately square shape (6,40 x 5,50 m) have been excavatcd, all containing hearths (sroves) ,74 The settlements have yielded an abundance of pottery, especially in houses that had been destroyed by fire (e,g. in Kovilovo and Bubanj), The most frequent shape is that of characte ristic two-handled cups ("kamaros") ; also numerous are bowls of various shapes and profiles (conical with a thickened rim, biconical with or without a neck, etc. ), deep pors, amphorae, lids, etc. Decoration is typical of the entire culture : by fluting, pinching, pricking; graphite-burni shed decoration is also found at some sites (Zlo tska peina, Bubanj, the Lepenski Vir grave), Analysis of the material has shown that two horizons of the culture can be distinguished: one containing graphite burnished ware and f1aring handles (Bubanj, Zlotska peina), and one ;"hich entirely lacks both these two elements and high-quality fabri c (Krivelj, Smedovac, Kovilovo), The two horizons have not been confirmed by vertical stratigraphy, and it is hard tO say which is the earlier one, Other finds worthy of mention include anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, frequcnt bone tools and copper finds, in remarkable quantities for this culture. An especially good site in this respect is Zlo tska peina, where the Bubanj-Salcura layer has yielded more than 50 copper artefacts : pins, aw ls, axes, daggers, etc. 75 The cave is supposed to have been an important processing centre, for pieces of amor-phous copper have also been found there, as well as smaller vessels which could have been used in casting,

Early Eneolith ic 31

KOSOVO

Kosovo and Metohija was the second region affected by the south -wards movemen t ofBubanj-Salcuta from the Danube Basin . Several sites have been registered in the mountain-encircled area, but major eXGl vati ons have only be~n ca rri ed out at Hisar and Cadimlje near Li pljan.lb lInfonuna te ly, although it has been qui te a while since the completion of excava tion work ( l963 in the case of Hisar), no results have been published, except for a preliminary report on Hisa r. TI,e present text will therefore have to be based on the author's own insight into the material, which is ofgrea t importance both because it presents a clear pictu re of the style of a local variety of Bubanj -Salcuta and because of the cul ture's relationship with Vina, which was very strong and long-lived in this region (Predionica, Vala, Fafos, itkovac, etc.).

TI,e position of Bubanj-Salcum sites in Kosovo is simila r to that of the sites in eastern Serbia . TI,e se ttlements at Hisar and Gad imij e have been built on hills overlooking river valleys, and bear traces of fortification . TI,e footi ngs of the houses are well -preserved, and there is a considera ble amount of ceramic material. The fact that both sites, especially Hisa r, are stratifi ed has made it possible to study the relationship between Bubanj-Salcuca.and the later Eneo-lithic cultures of the region. The classification of Hi sar' s Eneoli thi c layer has not been sufficiently backed by archaeological material, and should be taken with some rese rve. l t is certai n, however, that the lowest layers contain the remains of a Bubanj-Salcura settlement , and that another settlement was formed above them, belonging to a variety of the Baden-Kostolac style where Kostolac elements predominated. The problem of the chronological conti nuity of the two settlements rema ins unresolved. Analogues from other regions (the Yugoslav parc of the Danube Basi n , Oltenia, north Bulgaria) suggest the possible existence between these twO cultural phenomena of another phase in Eneolithic development, the phase contemporaneous with Bolen'iz-Cernavoda III and Baden .

PELAGONIA

Bubanj-Salcuta sites in the Skople region form a transitional zone between the Kosovo sites and those in Pelagonia. There is very scant dara about them. Apart from Skopsko kale, where some typical finds have been discovered (bowls, pieces of a lid, double weights), they are irrelevant to the problem of the Eneoli thic cul tures of thc region. II Much more information is provided by the sites in Pelagonia , some .of which have been systematically excavated (Crnobuki, Baka rno Gumno , Suplevec) .18 Two basic tYRes of settlement are to be fo und there ; one is characterized by its defences (uplevec) while the other, much more frequent , developed overl ying the Late Neoli thic lowland settlemenrs and be long to the tell type widespread in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Albania at the time.

PI. IX. 1-4 PI. X. I . 7

Fig 18/ 1-9

Flg 3 Fig_ 1 1 Fig_ 4 1

PI. X. 5-6 PI. XI I. 2. 3. 6

PI. XIII. 1. 3.5

Fig. 41 PI. X. 6

PI. XII. 18

32 Th e Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans --- ---- .-~~-~

The strati graphy of the sites (Babrno Gumno, Crnobuki, uplevec) and the typologica l analysis of the porre ry have allowed us to single out at least two stages in the development of the PeiJgonia n vari ety llI' Bubanj-SalcutQ or Crn obuki and Bakarnll Gumno-uplevec, as the culture is also referred roN Tl1e situation is very much the same as in eastern Serbia: some sites have yielded thick-rimmed bowls, and graph ite burni sheJ anJ painteJ (with thick red or white paint) ware, which is entirely miSSing from other sites. This is why it is believe d thDt the lowest layers ot Crnobuki (strata I anJ Il) and the lower ones at Bakar~1(l C;umno bdong tu the very beginning of the Eneoli thic, while sites such as Suplevec (the later Inye rs - Suplevec Il) belollg to a later Enelliithi c period, when "steppe clements" appeareJ, e .g. corded wa re, the "corde [Otdue" technique, and the well -known sceptre whose steppe llrigi n is undeniable 80

***

Throughout the eastern pan of the central Balkan zone, Kosovo, and Pelagonia, the materi al cul ture of the Bubanj-Salcuta- Kri vodol complex dis-plays both a unity of style and some spec ific traits due to the intluence of autoch thonous cultures and their mingling with more recent phenomena (Kosovo, Pelagonia) . ThLlugh not all the si tes in this extensive area belLlng to the same chronological horizon , it is possible, especially in pottery, to single llut certain ubiq uirous shapes ur types of decora tion. Shallow , thic k-rimmed plates, often decorated on the insiJe by painting, burnishing, or graphite burnishi ng (Bubanj, Zlo ts ka peina, Crn Ll buki), arc one of thc main featu res of the style, even of its earliest phase, as wirnessed by thc same l,m11 of pl ate f'J und at later

Vin8 sites (Gradac, Predi on ica) . Anothe r very widespread shape is that of the two-handled goblet uf the "kantaros" type encountered wi th the same fre-quency in eastern Serbi", the Niava valley , Kusovo, anJ Pelagoni a. Severni varieties have been founJ . Tl1C presence of such goblets and uf the sa me type of sh allow plate as the une described above at sites in Romania , Bulgaria, and even northern Greece (Dikili Tash, Sitagroi ) indica tes that they all belong to the same complex of the east Balbn gmphite burnished ware , located in t he areas between the Carpathians to thc north and the Aegean CLlast in thc suuth, as the Gumelnita (Karanovll VI) culrure81 O ther pottery shapes include bowls with turned-in rims, biconical bowls, pots of vmious profiles, anJ ampho-rae decorated with pinch ings, cuts ur incised lines (Krivdj, Bubanj, Hi sa r). Finally, mention shLluld be made of the fairly freljuent truncated lids (Bubanj, Hisar, Crnobuki) and do uble weigh ts of the kind fo und in abundance 111 Sateuta, Romanias2 (Skopsko kale', uplevec) .

Figurines are another importan t tra it of the materi al culture of Bubanj-Salcuta. Tl,ey are not as numerous as in, say, the Vina culture, but

PI. 2. -- Pottery shapes of the Bu banJ--Sal cuta --Krivodol cl uture

from si tes ln Serbia and Macedonia

lU fl{ JI

::.34-'--_____ ____ ___ --'Tcch."-e En eolithi c cultures of Central and West Balkans

they are an important typologic

~arly Eneolithic 35

culture, i.e. that it belongs to J wider horizon, known as Scheibenhenkel. A stylistic analysis of the available material, pottery in the first place, Flg.8/1 8

and, tO a lesser extent, stratigraphic inf'Jrmation (Bubanj, Hisar), have made Fig.18/1 9 it possible to define two phases of Bubanj-Salcuta in Yugoslavia: the tIrst is eharaeterized by shallow, thick-rimmeu plates, graphite-burnisheu ueeoration, the use of white or reu lean paint, e tc (Bubanj la, Zlotska peina, Hisa r - the lowest level, Crnobuki, Bakarno Cumnll l , etc .); the features of the second are a somewhat coarser fabric anu the absence of the above elements (Krivdj,

KO\~lovo, Hisar lb, Bakarno C3umno ll , uplevec). So-ealleu "steppe elements" are more frequent in the later phase; the l: include cordeu ware (Krivelj, Kovilovo) and "corde tordue" decoration (Suplevec) , anchor pendants, o r stone seeptres (uplevec) . The hiswrical development of Bubanj -Salcuta south PI. XI II. I. 3 S of the Danube could be deduced as follows: the culture', primary nucleus was in the Serbian, ROl11anian, and Bulgarian parts of the Danube Basin (sites like Salcuta, Herculana, Zimska peina, etc.). The pressure of the "steppe cultures" on the Early Eneolithic cultures of the lower Danube Basin resulted in a southward move. ln a chain reactilm, the cultures from Oltenia, eastern Serbia, and northwest Bulgaria l110ved towards Kosovo, Pelagonia, and as far as Albania (Maliq Ib).88 ln this phase, steppe elements appea r at Early and Middle Eneolithic sites as far as 1l1essaly and the Greek Aegean coast.89

e) The Alpine slopes zone

The continental part of Slovenia and nllfthwest Croatia bclong to a broad ly conceived sourhwest Alpine zone, which was a unitIeu region al enti n during the Eneolithic periou. lt is characte rized by a huge hiatus between the termina l Neolithic cultures and the early Eneolith ic ones, f,x which no da ta about life in this particular region is available. lt is hard, therefore, ro speak of "post-Neolithic development" h ere anu of ties with autuchthonous cultures. W e should rather discuss "Lengyel colonization", the movement of the bearers of Lengyel from west Pannonia tu the hilly areas of the Alpi ne region . They entered, so to speak, an empty space and, with time, created a new local culture in different geographic and climatic conditions. ln archaeological literature it is encounte red under various names, which reflect the inui viuua l authors ' \~ews of its origins and emergence . .J. Koroec, who insisted on the Lengyel compel-nent in its style, named the new culture tite Alpine facie, of Lmg}el90 R. Pittioni, one of the tIrst to have defined this type of pottery in Aus tri a, called it PolshaLI-Strappel

36 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans ~--------------------~~~~~~,

stressed (S. Dimitrijevi ),94 nnd with the cultures of the Adriatic coast (T. Bregant, . Batovi) 9 .5

Excavations in Slovenia in the past twenty-odd years have enabled a PI. XXXV. 4.9 elearer view of the Early Eneolithic in the area. The stratigraphy of some sites

Fig. I (Resnikov prekop, Ajdovsb jama pri Nemki Vnsi, Drulovka, etc.) and a typological nnalysis of the mnterial have shown that two phases can be dem-onstrated in the development of the "Alpine facies of Lengyel", a view supported by J. Koroec.96 The first, characterized by the finds from Resnikov prekop, the lowest levels at Ptuj ski grad, Drulovb, and even Ajdovska jama, is closer to Lengyel models. I t consists of fragments of coloured and painted vessels, . tall-footedgoblets, bowls of various shapes.97 The later phnse is that of ceramic vessels viewed as belonging to the Lasinja culture: bowls whose upper part is decorated with sloping incised lines Oermnnovn jama, Drulovb), vesse ls with ribba"n handles starting from the rim (Ptuj ski grad), goblets on a broad foot with linear decoration (Krievci) , etc.98 By this phase the painted wnre, a key element of the style of most varieties of bte Lengyel, has disappeared. The suggested division of the Earl y Eneolithic of the Alpine zone refl ects the logica l development of cultures in the area as the effect of the westward and southward shift of the nucleus of the Lengyel culture. At fi rst, the ea rl y phase of the "Alpine facies" has all the features of the Lengyel style (e .g. Blatna Brezo vica). It has not yet had time to emancipate itself from the cultural development of its original area. Only several generations bter, under the influence of changed economic condi tions and wenkened ties with the lands of ori gin, does the creation of a new styl e and cultural group take place. This would seem to justify the opinions relating both to the name of the culture and to its origin. The earliest phenomena registe red at Eneolithic sites in Slovenia, Styria, and Carinthia belong to tite Lengyel culture; they are somewhat modifi ed and bear loca l traits, but not to su~h an extent as to represent another culture altogether. On the other hand, as a result of further development, the Adriatic influence in Slovenia, and the central Balkan influences (Butmir, Vina) in Croa tia and north Bosnia, a new culture emerged. The fonner is best referred to as "the Alpine faci es of Lengyel" , which, stylisti cally, it is, while the latter might be tenned the Lasinja culture, as S. Dimitrijevi would have it, or Balaton-Lasinj a; this, however, would encoinpass only the material attributed to Lasinja I and II (i.e. Balaton I and II) , while pottery with Furchenstich decoration is not related to this cultural and stylistic phenomenon.99

The Lasinja culture in Slovenia and northwest Croatia is part of a large post-Lengyel complex which comprised all of Transdanubi a, Carinthia, and a part of Styria . Having crossed the Sava in the south, it is to be found in north and central Bosnia (Ljupijanica and Vis near Derventa, Gornji Dru-

govii, Donji Klakar, Gornja Tuzla, and the site at Radosavska near Banja Luka), while its easternmost si tes are Trnica near Vinkovci and Gradina on the Bosut near id. F. Leben and S. Dimitrijevi list some 50 sites oofthe Lasinja

Ea rly Eneolithic 37

culture, most of them concentrated between the Drava and Sava rivers lOO Most settlements are temporary ones, with pits and pit-dwellings. There are no remains of permanent architecture, which has led to the conclusion that they were, in fact, seasonal nomadic stations, built also at greater altitudes (Kevderc is at 810 m) . Cave settlements, especially frequent in Slovenia (Ajdovska jama, Ljubnika jama, Krka jama, etc .) and northwest Croatia (Vindija cave), arc of the same nature. Howe ver, settlements built in the Lt' ngye\ (Zengc)varkony) tradition appear simultnneously; they are to be t'Jund in the lowbnds and consist of exceptionally large houses partly dug into the soil (Draguevac nea r Cerje Novo). As a rule the cultural layer is thin (up to 0.80 m) , as elsewhere at Lasinja sites, with one habitation horizon. This makes it diffi cult to peri odize the culture with accuracy; judging by the typological features of the pottery, it went through several stages in its development. More evidence might, perhaps, be provided by the stratigraphy of Ajdovska jama, both the settl emnt and the necropolis; there a stra tum containing Lengyel pottery is followed by two strata with Lasinja pottery, more precise\y Lasinja I, lA, and IIB, accurdin g co S.

Dimitrijevi. I OI Working with these dara, stratigraphic conclusions fi-om Vis near Derventa and Gornja Tuzla, anU typological analyses, S. Dimitrijevi divided the Lasinja culture into three phases (f,)Ur levels: I, ilA, IIB, III). This is close tO N. Kaliez's division of Balacon, though the two differ in the contents of the individual phases. 102 As already noted, Lasinja III and Bala ton III, which have not been stratigraphically confirmed, consist of pottery with Furchenstich decoration. Stylis(ically it differs eonsiderably from Lasinja I and II pottery, and it seems that S. Dimitrij evi ' s ea rlier opinion, as modifi ed by Z. Markovi , might be more correct, i.e. that Lasinja wenl through two srages ,,( development , Lasinja A and Lasinja B. IOJ The ca rlier phase is charneterized by plain ware of Lengyel affiliations, while the later comprises pottery with linear mocifs, dotted pricks, and new shapes (bowls with a ribbon handie starting from the rim, cups with a handie above the rim, etc.). Compared with the most recent division of Lasinja in Vol. III of Tite Preitistory of Yugoslavia, Lasin ja A would he rhe equivalent of stage I, while Lasinja B would correspond to stages II and III. L04

The chronological framework of the L1sinja culture has been estab-lished on the basis of two elements: a) its genesis and b) stratigrnphic data in Ajdovska jama, Vis, and Gornja Tuzla. If we accept the conclusion that Lasinja is the result of the evolution of a Lengyei substratum, influenced also by later

Vina (Vina D- l and D-Z) and Sopot (Sopot-Lengyel) in the south and cast, then the end of these cultures would provide a tenniHus post quem for the emergence of early Lasinja se ttlements. In Ajdovska jama, thc eontin uity of development has been confirmed by vertical stratigraphy . On the other hand, setting an upper chronologicallimit CO the duration of Lasin ja is a much more complex matter. According to some authors, it lasted until Vuedol, and even

PI. XXXV. 1-3 . 7. 8 PI. XXXVI. 7

PI 3

Fig. 17 Fig. 44

",38,,---~~~~~~~~~~~~T'.Ch,,:e,-,Ec"n.'::eo~l ,,:it~h l:c cultures of Central and West Balkans

ran parallel with it (S. Dimitrijevi ).I O) If, however, we el iminate rurchenstich po ttery as a constitucnt part of Lasinja-Bala ton, then its enu wo ulu be some-what earlier. In the Alpine zone, that would mean before or at the beginning of Retz-Gajary. ll1C srratigraphies of Gradina on the Bosut and partly of Vis near Derventa have establisheu an approximate upper limit for thc duration uf Lasinja in these parts. At Grauina on the Bosut , a layer belonging to a Roleraz se ttlement was overlying a layer containing early Lasinja pottery. IOb W e could conclude, thcrei()re, th at Lasinja survived in Slavonia anu wes tern Srem until the appearance of the bea rers of Cerna voda III-Boleraz, i.c. that it covered the period of the Early Eneolithic in these regions. In the eastern Alpine zone it might have lasteu slightly longer, but not much later than thc appearance of Retz-Gajary potte ry (Ke vdcrc, Postojna) which some authors unjustifiably assign to Lasinja or Balaton (N. Kalicz, F. Leben)., o7 If Retz-Ua jary pottery is placed within the same Furchenst ich horizon as Kostolac, it would mean that in Sloveni a Lasinja was conremporaneous with Boleraz, anu even Baden. On the basis of a fragment of a Kostolac vcssel fo unu in stra tum III of Ajdovska jama, S. Dimi t rij e v i drew hi s conclusion about the longevity of Lasinja. lOS However, even if this can be accepteu in the case of thc relatively isolateu Alpine zone, the conclusion coulu nor be appli ed to the regions of Srem and Slavonia, where Lasinja was succeeded first by Boleraz, and thcn by Bauen.

d) The Adriatic zone

ll1e long and narrow strip of the cast coast of the Adriatic , from Istria in the north to the Skauarsko Lake in the south, fo ll owed a specific CDurse of development. Thi s was conditioned by the vari ous cultural influences that were fel t in the region : that of the "Alpine facies of Lengye l" on thc Encoli thic cultures ofI stria and the karst regi l)n; that nf Lasinja, fe lt in the same areas but also, to a lesser extent , in centra l Dalmatia; and finally, the presence of a strong

Vina tradition and elements of Bubanj-Salcuta at sites in south Dalmatia and the Montenegrin li ttoral. ll1e heterogeneous development of the cultures, insufficient research, especia lly in the hinterland, and the non-publication of results from some strati fied sites (Gudnja, Vela Luka) make it very difficult to present.? complete picture of the development of Eneolith ic cul tures in the region. S. Barovi has described two phases in the "Adriatic Eneolithic" of northern and central Dal ma tia : the fi rst is illustrateu by finds fro m Brijuni (the Brijuni group) in the north anu the central Dalmatian sites of Biskupija near Knin, Crape va pilja, Ka i i, Cct ina , and others; the other comprises pottery from the later strata ofGudnj a, Grapeva pilja, the Tradanj cave near ibenik, Gradina Sveti Spas near Knin, c tC .I09 This division has been harshly criticized,

PI. 3. -- Pottery shapes of the Lasinja cu lture

from the si tes in Croatia and Bosnia

-

O~ .' l':: ,. "

......

PI XLII, 1-9

PI XLII , 1-3

Fig, 16/ 1-3

40 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

primarily because ofits earl y dating of the Cetina gro up (placed in the first stage of the Eneoli thi c) but al so because of a lack of clea r strarigraphic evidence which would support it, A more realistic approach tO the problem of the Adriatic Encolithic is ro be found in the works of N, Pe tri, S, Dimitrij e vi and, more recently, B, Marijanovi and , Marko vi , who dealt with the Eneolithic of Herzegovina and the Montenegrin litwral. l lo S, Dimitrije vi suggested the existence of three cultural and chronological hori Zllns, noting, however, tha t the scarcity of material was bound to make this division hypothetica l. Thc first hori Zlln would be marked by the appearance of prom-Na kovana and Nakovana pottery, the second by the penetration of the continental Eneo lithic (Lasinj a and steppe elemcnts), and thc third by the second impact of a post -Vuedol type of the continental Eneolithic , i,e. the Ljubljmw culture, On thc basis of these divisions and of issues raised in the works of A. Benac , N, Pe tri , B, ovi ,

. Markovi , . Barovi, 13. Marijanovi , B, (;ovednrica, and othersi ii it is possible tO describe th ree stages in the development of the Eneolithic on the Adriatic coast and in the hinterland (Montenegro, Herzegovina): a) the hori zon of fl uted ware (Odmut IV, C;udnja IV, Spila Ila, Grape va pilja, Markova pilj a, e tc.); b) the hori mn of the Nakovana culture (Odmut V, Vela pil ja near Vela Luka, (;udnj a V, Spila in Nakovana), and c) a post-Vuedol culture of the Ti vat-Rube type, chronologically fo llowed by a hori zon of the Ljubljana culture (Grape vn pilja , Trndanj, Gudnja VI and VII , Ra vlia peina IIIA, Gradina Sv, Spas near Knin), The hori zon of the Cetina cultu re is set aside ; althLl ugh , Barovi pl aced it in the first phase of the Adriatic Eneol ithic, it actually belongs to the peri od of transition rowards the Early Bronze Age , III The first two stages of the above division form an evolutionary unity, with the earlier based directly on Neolithic tradition and preserving many of its stylistic features , while the later gradually moves away frLlm autochthonLlus models and introduce s new stylistic elements characreri sti c of the Peljeac and Nakovana cultures. Viewed in this perspecti ve , the development of the Eneoli thi c cul tures of the central and southern Adriatic best illustrates the theory of their post-Neolithic nature. In this context f1uted ware is of particular importance, especially in explaining the genesis of the Early Eneolithic on the Adriati c coast , The frequent presence of this kind of pottcry at coastal and island sites has been linked with its appearance in the Hvar c ulture on the one h and and with a strong continental Vina influence on the o ther. At Hvar, in Markova pilja and Grapeva pilja, this kind of ware is found in the Neolithic stratum, whence it was taken over by the bearers of the Nakovana culture, along with some other elements ("crusted" painting), says N , Petri, l lJ S. Dimitrijevi, on the o ther hand, gives priority to the Vin

Ea rly Eneolithic 41

ide ntica l shapes of the Nakovana culture and with the Vina culture in Kosovo and further north. Simllar ware has been found in the Spi ln cave near Per3st; it was loca ted in strata ll a-c which, according tO . Markovi, belong to the Early and Middle Eneolithic. 116 At Monrenegrin sites, it has to be noted, fluted ware is also found in earlier, Neolithic strata (Spila lc , Beran kr I, Odmut III), when ce it was obvio usly adopted by the Early Eneolith ic. l 11;s could also apply to sites in Herzegovina (Ravlia pein a IIc , individual finds from Badanj), where fluted ware is also found in the lowes t Eneolith ic strata. 111is is why B.

Marijanovi considers themconremporaneous wi th the final phase of the Hvar cul ture, '17 thereby pos tulating a "H var o rigin of fluted ware" in the Adriatic hinterland (Badanj), in spite of the fl) regoing arguments, very con\~ncing, about Vina models fo r the flut ed ware of central and south Dal mati a.

The sca rcity of data on the c ultural development of the Adriatic region, the restri c ted n umber of systematically excavated sites and the lack of published material make it impossible [o present more than a summary picture of tbe post-Neolithic (Early Encolithic) cultures of the region. It consists, as we have already noted, of three sub-regions: a) Istria and K varner, b) central and south Dalmatia, and c) the Montenegrin littoral with the hinterland. The Eneoli thic cultures in these regions developed by a gradual evolution of a Neolithic basis. The Brijuni group (or culture) emerged in Istria anci Kvarner, its development based on both the "Alpine facies ofLengyel" and the traditions of the Hvar culture. On the basis of these lin ks and the appearance nf fluted decoration , . Baro vi dated the group as transitional be tween the Neolith ic and Eneolithic. " s In its further development , the region was submitted tel strong Lasinja influence from Sl ovenia. Central and south Dalmatin and their hinterland (the Nere tva valley, Herzegovina) are characterized by the emer-gence of the Nakovana culture, a product, according to S. Dimitrijevi , of a symbiosis of thc Hvar and Vina cultures. 119 A number of sites belonging to th is culture have been registered (Spila in Nakovana , and Gudnja in Peljeac, Vela pilja near Vela Luka on Korul a, Ravlia peina, Badanj, etc.); most have been excavated but, unfortunately, there has been no extensive data, except in the case of Ravlia peina. Better insight into the excava ted material and appropriate documentation will no doubt allow us to distinguish between a t least two stages in the early Eneolithic development of the regions. S.

Dimitrij evi's suggestion abolIt the exi stence of the proro-Nakovana and Nakovana cultures is not sufficiently backed by material and stratigraphic evidence. Viewed in a broadercontext, this division fits in with the theory that there was an earlier, post-Neol ithic horizon containing flu ted ware, which would comprise the prolO-Nakovana style, and a later one, where new styl istic elements appea red (under the influence of Lasi nja, Bubanj-Salcuta, Maliq Il a, etc .) re lated with the Nakovana culture.

On the Montenegrin coas t and further inland (the Piva and Lim valleys), the Early Eneolithic was largely characterize d by the development of the Nakovana culture, but also by strong influences of the Vina culture . The

Fig.30/1-4 Flg.40

PL 4/a -d

42 The Eneolithic cultures of Central and West Balkans

stratigraphy of Spib near Perast allows the possibility of as many as three phases Llf Eneolithic development (Spila Ila-c), with Ila and IIb belonging to the

Fig.30 region's Early Eneolithic. The stratigraphy of Odmut and Seran kr has added tD our knowledge about the Eneolithic in these parts. lt should be nL)ted, however, that the habitarion of Beran kr ceased as early as the beginning of the Eneolithic (Beran kr Ile), while at Odmut it ran parallel with the devel-opment of the Spila near F'erast (Odmut IV, V, VI).m The end of the Early and Middle Eneolithic in these parts was marked by a powerful thrust uf a

post-Vue dol culture uf the Tivat-Rube type putting an end tD the lengtllY development of the post-Neolithic cultures, which endured much lunger in this region than in the more turbulent areas uf eastem and northern Yugosla via.

,

, ,

/

/ '" /'" /' " '"

---- I-----~ ,,/ --- - _/

PI. 4 --The pottery of the Nakovana culture from

Briun i - Istria (acc. to N. Petri. 1979.216)

MIDDLE ENEO LITHIC Cultures of the period

of Inda-European migration

The term "lndo-European migration" is here used conditi Llna lly. lt is used to deno te a lengthy period of mi>:r8tions, of cu ltu ral shi ft s fmm east tO west, from the steppes of southern Russia tO the Pannonian Plain and the Balkans.12l 1l1ese movements were the cause of numerous changes in material and non-materi al culture , and especially in prehiswric economy, where no-madic paswralism superseded the already worn out agrarian civilizati on of the Neoli thic. The bearers of these changes were the tribes nf steppe pastoralists, mobile , without Hxed abode, and quickly spreading over the vast e xpanses of East , Central , and Southeast Europe . lt is IIp to palaeolinguist s and furhter studies to establish whether they are tO be identified with the bearers of the grea t lndo-European migrat ion . ln any case, archaeological materi al shows that the Middle Eneolithic in the Danube Basin and further afielJ , in the Carpath ian Basin and the Balkans , witnesseJ the demise of post-l\eolithic cultu res of the Tripolye, later Vina, Theiss, Lengyel, Bubanj -Salcura, and GUll1el nira types and their varieties, and the emergence of the widespread cultural complex of Cerna voda lll -Boleraz and the Baden culture, whose economy, way of life , anJ organiza ti on of se ttlements was entirely J ifferent. 1l1e cause of these changes, so important for the further deve lopment of prehisrori c society in the Yugoslav Danube Basin and the Balkans, is w be sought in a wave of migrations, the shift of the steppe tri bes from the Euro-Asian zone (the Orenburg steppes and the area north of the Caspian Sc a) in the east towards Central and Southeast Europe in the west. 1l1is movement was spearheaded by the bearers of thc Pit-grave culture with their specifi