Vinča-Belo Brdo, Serbia: the times of a tell

Abstract

First paragraph: This paper, focused on the great tell of Vinča-Belo Brdo near Belgrade, Serbia (figs 1–2), is ultimately a contribution to understanding the development of the Neolithic way of life in the southern part of the Carpathian basin, in the northern Balkans of south-east Europe. It confronts some of the key questions about the trajectory of change in the Neolithic period, through the study of a single site, which can now be dated — as presented in this paper — from the first decades of the 53rd century cal BC to the later part of the 46th century cal BC. Much attention has been directed, across Neolithic studies as a whole, to the processes of transition and transformation involved at the start of the period, but comparatively less sustained effort has been given to examining in detail how subsequent change unfolded; basically evolutionary or gradualist models have frequently been applied, in which Neolithic communities are seen to have become progressively more settled, more numerous and ultimately more socially differentiated, leading on to even more complex society in the Copper and Bronze Ages.