Emily Chan
In southeastern Europe, a sizable prehistoric settlement was discovered. It is around 7,000 years old, dating back to the Late Neolithic period.
The settlement sits near the Tamiš River, which is located in the Banat region of northeastern Serbia, a country in the Balkans. More specifically, it is close to the modern village of Jarkovac in the Serbian province of Vojvodina.
Using geophysical methods, a team of archaeologists has managed to map out the entire expanse of the settlement. They determined that it covered an area of approximately 11 to 13 hectares. In addition, four to six ditches surround the settlement.
“This discovery is of outstanding importance, as hardly any larger Late Neolithic settlements are known in the Serbian Banat region,” said Martin Furholt, a researcher and professor from the Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology (IPPA) at Kiel University in Germany.
Aside from mapping the site, the archaeologists also conducted a survey of the ground surface to try to find some artifacts.
They found materials linking the settlement to the Vinča culture, which dates back between 5400 B.C. and 4400 B.C.
The Vinča culture once occupied a region of southeastern and central Europe in a territory that is now known as Serbia and Kosovo, as well as parts of Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. They are known for creating some of the largest prehistoric settlements in Europe.
While the recently discovered settlement is associated with the Vinča culture according to the materials found on the site, it also shows signs of influence from the regional Banat culture.
Very few settlements in Serbia have contained materials from the prehistoric Banat culture, which makes the discovery all the more remarkable.
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