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<< Our Photo Pages >> Lepenski Vir - Ancient Village or Settlement in Serbia

Submitted by AlexHunger on Friday, 26 October 2012  Page Views: 12513

DigsSite Name: Lepenski Vir Alternative Name: Orikum
Country: Serbia Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Djerdap  Nearest Village: Boljetin
Latitude: 44.556832N  Longitude: 22.026353E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Creative Commons : Human/fish hybrid carved boulder. A large sculptured boulder representing a human/fish hybrid. From Lepenski Vir (6300-5500 BC). In Lepenski Vir museum (Serbia). Creative Commons image by Dimitrij Mlekuz Site in Serbia (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Settlement in Serbia. Lepenski Vir is probably the oldest known archeological site in Serbia and consist of a series of Mesolithic and Neolithic villages located on a high sandy terrace of the Danube River on the Serbian bank of the Iron Gates Gorge.

This site was the location of at least village occupation periods, beginning about 6400 BCE, and ending about 4900 BCE. The first two phases of occupation relate to a complex foraging society and phase 3 represents a farming community. There are large painted and carved boulders at the Lepenski Vir site as well as trapezoidal hut foundations. Many artifacts have been found and some are at the National Museum in Belgrade.

Between 1965-69, Dragoslav Srejović, Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the University of Belgrade conducted the excavations with two students and ten diggers. Seventeen unique anthropomorphic sculptures were discovered during the archaeological excavations. The position of the sculptures near the hearth suggest that they were figures of worship which may have symbolised river gods. A number of river stones with engraved and bas-relief geometric decorative themes were also found.

The whole site was taken 30 Meters higher to avoid flooding in 1971 due the lake created by the Iron Gorge Dam. A roofed structure was built over the remains.

At the juncture of the Danube and the Boljetinske River.

Note: The Lepenski Vir fish people statues
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Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Another non-figurative engraved boulder displayed in the museum on site. April 2018. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Preserved in situ. April 2018. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Museum on site. April 2018. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Non-figurative engraved boulder. April 2018. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Note the engraved stone : each hut preserved it own. April 2018. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. The largest hut, in the middle of the village. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir, general view. Through the windows, the Danube. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : The Danube at Lepenski Vir, looking downstream. On the opposite bank, Romania. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Creative Commons : The displaced site under a glass roof Creative Commons image by Philipp Weigell Site in Serbia

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Preserved in situ. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Preserved in situ. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir, museum. That one is particularly worn out, all the others being in excellent conditions. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir, Museum on site : a very sober figure. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Amulet, close-up. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Amulets, exhibited un the museum on the site. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. Incised woods, displayed in the museum on the site. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : Lepenski Vir. One of the smallest hut, and two engraved boulders. April 2018.

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Alta-Falisa : The Danube at Lepenski Vir, looking downstream. On the opposite bank, Romania. April 2018. (1 comment)

Lepenski Vir
Lepenski Vir submitted by Creative Commons : Lepenski vir house floor (6300-5500 BC). From Lepenski Vir museum (Serbia). Creative Commons image by Dimitrij Mlekuz Site in Serbia

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 23.0km S 172° Rudna Glava Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 23.0km ENE 66° The face of Dacian King Decebalus* Sculptured Stone
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 25.9km WNW 295° Chindiei 2 Cave* Rock Art
 46.4km E 80° Schela Cladovei* Ancient Village or Settlement
 51.3km E 81° Trajan's Roman Bridge* Ancient Trackway
 66.0km WNW 288° Viminacium* Ancient Village or Settlement
 74.2km S 170° Felix Romuliana* Ancient Palace
 75.4km SSE 164° Zaječar museum* Museum
 91.5km SSW 213° Zavičajni Muzej Paraćin* Museum
 94.4km WSW 239° Grncarica Ancient Village or Settlement
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 113.3km WNW 282° Vinca Belo Brdo* Ancient Village or Settlement
 122.0km SSW 208° Narodni Muzej Kruševac* Museum
 127.2km WNW 284° National Museum in Belgrade* Museum
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 138.1km S 184° Narodni muzej Niš* Museum
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 145.8km NE 37° Luncani-Piatra Rosie Dacian citadel* Hillfort
 146.7km NNW 336° Timisoara Modern Stone Circle Modern Stone Circle etc
 147.1km NNW 335° Museum of Banat Museum
 152.0km NE 35° Ardeu Dacian Hillfort* Hillfort
 152.0km NE 35° Mihu Tower* Stone Fort or Dun
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"Lepenski Vir" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Concepts of the body and personhood - interpreting animal remains from human burials by Andy B on Tuesday, 03 November 2015
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Concepts of the body and personhood in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Danube Gorges: interpreting animal remains from human burials (2015) by Ivana Zivaljevic

In recent years, humanities have brought forward the idea of non-human agency; either in the form of meanings bestowed upon objects, animals and natural phenomena, or through deconstruction of ontological differences between ‘people’ and
‘things’. In case of the former, it has been argued that non-human agents have the power to act as ‘participants’ in social action (e.g. the agentive power of material properties of things, or of animal behaviour).

In this paper, I discuss the practice of placing animal body parts alongside human bodies in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Danube Gorges, by using the concept of perspectivism as a theoretical framework. The choice of species and their body parts varied, but was by no means accidental. Rather, it reflected certain culturally specific taxonomies, which were based on animal properties: how they look, move, feel or what they do.

Common examples include red deer antlers, which have the power to ‘regenerate’ each year, or dog mandibles (physical remains of ‘mouths’) which have the power to ‘communicate’ (i.e. bark). The aim of the paper is to explore how various aspects of animal corporeality, associated with certain ways of seeing and experiencing the world, could be ‘borrowed’ by humans utilizing animal body parts.

https://www.academia.edu/16563035/
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Dating burial practices and architecture at Lepenski Vir by Andy B on Monday, 16 February 2015
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Dating burial practices and architecture at Lepenski Vir [2008] by Clive Bonsall, I.Radovanović, M. Roksandic, G.T. Cook, T. Higham and C. Pickard.

Previous attempts to establish a chronology for Lepenski Vir using three different methods (stratigraphy, radiometric 14C dating of bulk charcoal samples, and AMS 14C dating of human bone collagen) produced inconsistent results. Discrepancies between the human bone and charcoal ages were found to result from a reservoir effect in the bones of people who ate significant quantities of Danube fish. When a reservoir ‘correction’ is applied, the human bone 14C dates are consistent with the charcoal dates, and this raises questions about the excavator’s relative and absolute chronology based on stratigraphy and inter-site comparisons. Single-entity dating of surviving archaeological materials offers the best hope of constructing a reliable chronological framework for Lepenski Vir.

This paper presents the results of a further programme of AMS 14C dating of human remains. Direct dating of 24 burials confirms that different burial practices characterized the Final Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. Previous attempts to assign burials to Mesolithic or Neolithic phases, based on stratigraphic observations, are shown to be broadly correct but not always accurate in detail. The evidence from radiocarbon dating and stratigraphy is used to calculate ‘minimum’ and/or ‘maximum’ ages for certain of the trapezoidal buildings, which suggest that this architectural form was in use during the Final Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. The implications of the human bone 14C dates and associated stable isotope measurements for the timing of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in the Iron Gates are also discussed.
https://www.academia.edu/296620/Dating_burial_practices_and_architecture_at_Lepenski_Vir_2008_
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Three-Fingered Fish Goddess- South Slavic Intangible Oral Memory Traditions by Andy B on Friday, 26 October 2012
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Three-Fingered Fish Goddess- South Slavic Intangible Oral Memory Traditions by Danica Anderson

Lepenski Vir is a Mesolithic site on the banks of the Danube in Serbia, close to the Iron Gates. Dusan Boric and Preston Miracle’s work on the Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of Padina and Hajduka Vodenica, Serbia revealed a long residence of Proto-Slavs from 10,000 BCE in the Danube Gorges.

At Lepenski Vir many Fish Goddesses were found reveling in the aquatic lushness of the Danube river gorges. Perhaps, as a tribute to the huge water reservoir, the Fish Goddesses were important relics for burials and a part of the architectural structures consisting of temples not residences. The impressive fact is age of Lepenski Vir dated to the time of Mesolithic-Neolithic transition 6300-5950 BCE.

It is here that the ‘Three fingered Fish Goddess’ is remembered in modern day Orthodox religion. The Serbian Orthodox sign of the cross performed with three fingers is a South Slavic oral memory tradition that may have originated from Neolithic-Paleolithic.

Read more at
http://magoism.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/essay-three-fingered-fish-goddess-south-slavic-intangible-oral-memory-traditions-by-danica-anderson/

More about Lepenski Vir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepenski_Vir
and the Vinča culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin%C4%8Da_culture
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Re: Lepenski Vir by Andy B on Friday, 26 October 2012
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Some pictures from a visit to Lepenski Vir
http://gcpserbia2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/lepenski-vir.html

and more of the 'fish people'
http://thehistoryofeuropepodcast.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/rather-unhappy-lepenski-vir-sculptures.html
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