Vinča-Belo Brdo
Винча — Бело брдо · Vinca · Belo Brdo · Vinča Culture type site
Early to Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic (Starčevo→Vinča)·Vinča culture (Old Europe)·🇷🇸 Belgrade District, Serbia
About
About Vinča-Belo Brdo
Type-site of the Vinča culture (5700–4500 BCE), the most advanced Neolithic-Copper Age tell in Southeast Europe: 9 m cultural layer, 13 habitation horizons, figurines (Lady of Vinča), proto-writing (Tărtăria tablets debate), and earliest copper metallurgy in Old Europe (Pločnik evidence linked). Vasić/Milojević excavations since 1908. Danube terrace tell dominating prehistoric Danubian trade.
Why it mattersType-site Vinča; Old Europe metallurgy; figurine art; Danubian Neolithic urbanism.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Vinča sign script — proto-writing?
- 024500 BCE collapse — climate vs 'Old Europe' invasion (Gimbutas)
Theories
- 01Copper trade hierarchy
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5700–4500 BCE (with later occupations to medieval)
- Period
- Early to Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic (Starčevo→Vinča)
- Culture
- Vinča culture (Old Europe)
- Builders
- Danubian farmers-metallurgists
- Purpose
- Tell village and copper/malacite exchange hub
- Abandoned
- c.4500 BCE Vinča collapse (environment?)
- Rediscovered
- 1908 Miloje Vasić
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1908
Vasić begins 9-year excavation
c.5000 BCE
Copper smelting (early)
On the ground
Structures & features
44.7620° N · 20.6210° E · 115 m · 3 mapped features
Vinča tell stratigraphy (9 m)
tell13-layer cultural deposit
44.7621° N · 20.6211° EFigurine workshop area
workshopVinča figurine kiln cluster
44.7619° N · 20.6209° ECopper workshop and furnace
workshopEarly copper slag
44.7622° N · 20.6210° E