An international team of archaeologists with the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence has discovered a Late Neolithic settlement near the Tamiš River in the northernmost part of Serbia.
The newly-discovered settlement is located near the modern village of Jarkovac in the Serbian province of Vojvodina.
“This discovery is of outstanding importance, as hardly any larger Late Neolithic settlements are known in the Serbian Banat region,” said Kiel University’s Professor Martin Furholt.
“With the help of geophysical methods, we were able to fully map its extent in March of this year. It covers an area of eleven to 13 ha and is surrounded by four to six ditches.”
“A settlement of this size is spectacular,” said Fynn Wilkes, a doctoral student at Kiel University.
“The geophysical data also give us a clear idea of the structure of the site 7,000 years ago.”
“Parallel to the geophysical investigations, we also systematically surveyed the surfaces of the surrounding area for artifacts.”
“This surface material indicates that the settlement represents a residential site of the Vinča culture, which is dated to between 5400 and 4400 BCE.”
“However, there are also strong influences from the regional Banat culture.”
“This is also remarkable, as only a few settlements with material from the Banat culture are known from what is now Serbia.”
The ROOTS archaeologists also investigated several Late Neolithic circular features in Hungary.
“These so-called rondels are attributed to the Lengyel culture (5000/4900-4500/4400 BCE),” they said.
“We also used both geophysical technologies and systematic walking surveys of the surrounding area.”
Thanks to the combination of both methods, we were able to differentiate the eras represented at the individual sites more clearly than before.”
“This enabled us to re-evaluate some of the already known sites in Hungary,” said Dr. Kata Furholt, an archaeologist at Kiel University.
“For example, sites…
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