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Vinča agriculture introduced [[common wheat]], [[oat]] and [[flax]] to temperate Europe, and made greater use of [[barley]] than the cultures of the FTN. These innovations increased crop yields and allowed the manufacture of clothes made from plant textiles as well as animal products (i.e. leather and wool). There is indirect evidence that Vinča farmers made use of the cattle-driven [[plough]], which would have had a major effect on the amount of human labour required for agriculture as well as opening up new area of land for farming. Many of the largest Vinča sites occupy regions dominated by soil types that would have required ploughing.<ref name="Chapman 1981 Environment and Land-Use" />
Vinča agriculture introduced [[common wheat]], [[oat]] and [[flax]] to temperate Europe, and made greater use of [[barley]] than the cultures of the FTN. These innovations increased crop yields and allowed the manufacture of clothes made from plant textiles as well as animal products (i.e. leather and wool). There is indirect evidence that Vinča farmers made use of the cattle-driven [[plough]], which would have had a major effect on the amount of human labour required for agriculture as well as opening up new area of land for farming. Many of the largest Vinča sites occupy regions dominated by soil types that would have required ploughing.<ref name="Chapman 1981 Environment and Land-Use" />


[[File:Винча — Бело брдо 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Vinča ceramics]]
[[File:Винча — Бело брдо 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Vinča ceramics]]


Areas with less arable potential were exploited through [[transhumance|transhumant]] [[pastoralism]], where groups from the lowland villages moved their livestock to nearby upland areas on a seasonal basis. Cattle were more important than sheep and goats in Vinča herds and, in comparison to the cultures of the FTN, livestock was increasingly kept for milk, leather and as [[working animal|draft animals]], rather than solely for meat. Seasonal movement to upland areas was also motivated by the exploitation of stone and mineral resources. Where these were especially rich permanent upland settlements were established, which would have relied more heavily on pastoralism for subsistence.<ref name="Chapman 1981 Environment and Land-Use" />
Areas with less arable potential were exploited through [[transhumance|transhumant]] [[pastoralism]], where groups from the lowland villages moved their livestock to nearby upland areas on a seasonal basis. Cattle were more important than sheep and goats in Vinča herds and, in comparison to the cultures of the FTN, livestock was increasingly kept for milk, leather and as [[working animal|draft animals]], rather than solely for meat. Seasonal movement to upland areas was also motivated by the exploitation of stone and mineral resources. Where these were especially rich permanent upland settlements were established, which would have relied more heavily on pastoralism for subsistence.<ref name="Chapman 1981 Environment and Land-Use" />

Revision as of 22:55, 1 November 2023

Vinča culture
Map showing the extent of the Vinča culture within Central Europe and Southeastern Europe.
Alternative namesTurdaş culture
Tordos culture
HorizonFirst Temperate Neolithic
PeriodNeolithic–Chalcolithic
Datesc. 5700–4500 BC
Type siteVinča-Belo Brdo
Major sitesBelogradchik
Drenovac
Gomolava [Wikidata]
Gornja Tuzla
Pločnik
Rudna Glava
Selevac
Tărtăria
Turdaş
Vratsa
Vršac
CharacteristicsLarge tell settlements
Anthropomorphic figurines
Vinča symbols
Preceded byStarčevo culture
Followed byTiszapolgár culture
class=notpageimage|
Map of Serbia with markers showing the locations of major Vinča archaeological sites.

The Vinča culture (ʋîːntʃa), also known as Turdaș culture, Turdaș–Vinča culture or Vinča-Turdaș culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe, dated to the period 5700–4500 BC or 5300–4700/4500 BC.[1][2][3] Named for its type site, Vinča-Belo Brdo, a large tell settlement discovered by Serbian archaeologist Miloje Vasić in 1908, it represents the material remains of a prehistoric society mainly distinguished by its settlement pattern and ritual behaviour.

Farming technology first introduced to the region during the First Temperate Neolithic was developed further by the Vinča culture, fuelling a population boom and producing some of the largest settlements in prehistoric Europe. These settlements maintained a high degree of cultural uniformity through the long-distance exchange of ritual items, but were probably not politically unified. Various styles of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines are hallmarks of the culture, as are the Vinča symbols, which some conjecture to be the earliest form of proto-writing. Although not conventionally considered part of the Chalcolithic or "Copper Age", the Vinča culture provides the earliest known example of copper smelting in the Old World.[4]

Geography and demographics

The Vinča culture occupied a region of southeastern Europe (i.e. the Balkans) corresponding mainly to modern-day Serbia and Kosovo, but also parts of Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Greece.[3]

This region had already been settled by farming societies of the First Temperate Neolithic, but during the Vinča period sustained population growth led to an unprecedented level of settlement size and density along with the population of areas that were bypassed by earlier settlers. Vinča settlements were considerably larger than any other contemporary European culture, in some instances surpassing the cities of the Aegean and early Near Eastern Bronze Age a millennium later. One of the largest sites was Vinča-Belo Brdo (a suburb of Belgrade, Serbia), it covered 29 hectares (72 acres) and had up to 2,500 people.[5]

Early Vinča settlement population density was 50–200 people per hectare, in later phases an average of 50–100 people per hectare was common.[1] The Divostin site was occupied twice between 4900 and 4650 B.C. and an estimate based on 17 houses suggests that given a lifespan per house of 56 years. 1028 houses were built on the site during that period with a final population size estimated to be between 868 and 2864.[6] Another large site was Crkvine-Stubline from 4850/4800 BC. it may have contained a maximum population of 4,000. The settlement of Parţa maybe had 1,575 people living there at the same time.[7][8][9][10][6][11]

Chronology

Vinča figurine, Cleveland Museum of Art
One of the Tărtăria tablets, dated to 5500–5300 BC

The origins of the Vinča culture are debated. Before the advent of radiocarbon dating it was thought, on the basis of typological similarities, that Vinča and other Neolithic cultures belonging to the 'Dark Burnished Ware' complex were the product of migrations from Anatolia to the Balkans. This had to be reassessed in light of radiocarbon dates which showed that the Dark Burnished Ware complex appeared at least a millennium before Troy I, the putative starting point of the westward migration. An alternative hypothesis where the Vinča culture developed locally from the preceding Starčevo culture—first proposed by Colin Renfrew in 1969—is now accepted by many scholars, but the evidence is not conclusive.[12][13]

The Vinča culture can be divided into two phases, closely linked with those of its type site Vinča-Belo Brdo:[14]

Vinča culture Vinča-Belo Brdo Years BC
Early Vinča period Vinča A 5700–4800
Vinča B
Vinča C
Late Vinča period Vinča D 4800–4200
Abandoned

Decline

In its later phase the centre of the Vinča network shifted from Vinča-Belo Brdo to Vršac, and the long-distance exchange of obsidian and Spondylus artefacts from modern-day Hungary and the Aegean respectively became more important than that of Vinča figurines. Eventually the network lost its cohesion altogether and fell into decline. It is likely that, after two millennia of intensive farming, economic stresses caused by decreasing soil fertility were partly responsible for this decline.[15]

According to Marija Gimbutas, the Vinča culture was part of Old Europe – a relatively homogeneous, peaceful and matrifocal culture that occupied Europe during the Neolithic. According to this hypothesis its period of decline was followed by an invasion of warlike, horse-riding Proto-Indo-European tribes from the Pontic–Caspian steppe.[16]

Economy

Subsistence

Most people in Vinča settlements would have been occupied with the provision of food. They practised a mixed subsistence economy where agriculture, animal husbandry and hunting and foraging all contributed to the diet of the growing Vinča population. Compared to earlier cultures of the First Temperate Neolithic (FTN) these practices were intensified, with increasing specialisation on high-yield cereal crops and the secondary products of domesticated animals, consistent with the increased population density.[17]

Vinča agriculture introduced common wheat, oat and flax to temperate Europe, and made greater use of barley than the cultures of the FTN. These innovations increased crop yields and allowed the manufacture of clothes made from plant textiles as well as animal products (i.e. leather and wool). There is indirect evidence that Vinča farmers made use of the cattle-driven plough, which would have had a major effect on the amount of human labour required for agriculture as well as opening up new area of land for farming. Many of the largest Vinča sites occupy regions dominated by soil types that would have required ploughing.[17]

Vinča ceramics

Areas with less arable potential were exploited through transhumant pastoralism, where groups from the lowland villages moved their livestock to nearby upland areas on a seasonal basis. Cattle were more important than sheep and goats in Vinča herds and, in comparison to the cultures of the FTN, livestock was increasingly kept for milk, leather and as draft animals, rather than solely for meat. Seasonal movement to upland areas was also motivated by the exploitation of stone and mineral resources. Where these were especially rich permanent upland settlements were established, which would have relied more heavily on pastoralism for subsistence.[17]

Although increasingly focused on domesticated plants and animals, the Vinča subsistence economy still made use of wild food resources. The hunting of deer, boar and aurochs, fishing of carp and catfish, shell-collecting, fowling and foraging of wild cereals, forest fruits and nuts made up a significant part of the diet at some Vinča sites. These, however, were in the minority; settlements were invariably located with agricultural rather than wild food potential in mind, and wild resources were usually underexploited unless the area was low in arable productivity.[17]

Industry

Generally speaking craft production within the Vinča network was carried out at the household level; there is little evidence for individual economic specialisation. Nevertheless, some Vinča artefacts were made with considerable levels of technical skill. A two-stage method was used to produce pottery with a polished, multi-coloured finish, known as 'Black-topped' and 'Rainbow Ware'. Sometimes powdered cinnabar and limonite were applied to the fired clay for decoration. The style of Vinča clothing can be inferred from figurines depicted with open-necked tunics and decorated skirts. Cloth was woven from both flax and wool (with flax becoming more important in the later Vinča period), and buttons made from shell or stone were also used.[18]

The Vinča site of Pločnik has produced the earliest example of copper tools in the world. However, the people of the Vinča network practised only an early and limited form of metallurgy.[19] Copper ores were mined on a large scale at sites like Rudna Glava, but only a fraction were smelted and cast into metal artefacts – and these were ornaments and trinkets rather than functional tools, which continued to be made from chipped stone, bone and antler. It is likely that the primary use of mined ores was in their powdered form, in the production of pottery or as bodily decoration.[18]

  • The Tărtăria tablets
    The Tărtăria tablets
  • Vinča figurine, the Goddess on the Throne
    Vinča figurine, the Goddess on the Throne
  • Double-headed figurine
  • Vinča figurine, British Museum
    Vinča figurine, British Museum
  • Vinča figurine
    Vinča figurine
  • Vinča pottery
    Vinča pottery
  • Vinča pottery
    Vinča pottery
  • Pottery with sculpted lid (reconstruction)
    Pottery with sculpted lid (reconstruction)

Major Vinča sites

Area of the Vinča culture

See also

Chalcolithic
Eneolithic, Aeneolithic,
or Copper Age
↑ Stone Age
↑ Neolithic
By region
Africa (2600 BC–1600 AD)
Naqada culture, Gerzeh culture, A-Group culture, C-Group culture, Kerma culture

West Asia (6000–3500 BC)

Ghassulian culture, Uruk period

Europe (5500–2200 BC)

Metallurgy during the Copper Age in Europe
Vinča culture, Varna culture
Cucuteni–Trypillia culture
Yamna culture, Corded Ware
Cernavodă culture, Decea Mureşului culture, Gorneşti culture, Gumelniţa–Karanovo culture, Petreşti culture, Coțofeni culture
Remedello culture, Gaudo culture, Monte Claro culture

Central Asia (3700–1700 BC)

Botai culture, BMAC culture, Afanasevo culture

South Asia (4300–1800 BC)

Periodisation of the Indus Valley civilisation, Bhirrana culture, Hakra Ware culture
Ahar–Banas culture
Kaytha culture, Malwa culture,
Savalda Culture, Jorwe culture, Anarta tradition
Ajay culture

China (5000–2900 BC)

Mesoamerica (6500–1000 BC)
Related topics
Metallurgy, Wheel,
Domestication of the horse
↓ Bronze Age
↓ Iron Age

Notes

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Suciu 2011
  2. ^ Perić 2017
  3. ^ a b Chapman 2000, p. 239.
  4. ^ Radivojević, Miljana; Rehren, Thilo; Pernicka, Ernst; Šljivar, Dušan; Brauns, Michael; Borić, Dušan (1 November 2010). "On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe". Journal of Archaeological Science. 37 (11): 2775–2787. Bibcode:2010JArSc..37.2775R. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012. ISSN 0305-4403.
  5. ^ Chapman 1981, pp. 40–51.
  6. ^ a b Porčić, Marko (31 December 2011). "An exercise in archaeological demography: estimating the population size of Late Neolithic settlements in the Central Balkans". Documenta Praehistorica. 38: 323–332. doi:10.4312/dp.38.25.
  7. ^ Archaeological Exhibitions. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ S., Jovanovic; Mila, Savic; Ruzica, Trailovic; Z., Jankovic; Dusko, Sljivar (2003). "Evaluations of the domestication process in Serbia: Plezoological remnants at neolithic settlement of Blovode". Acta Veterinaria. 53 (5–6): 427–434. doi:10.2298/AVB0306427J.
  9. ^ The rise of metallurgy in Eurasia: Evolution, organisation and consumption of early metal in the Balkans. 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Porčić, Marko (2012). "Social complexity and inequality in the Late Neolithic of the Central Balkans – reviewing the evidence" (PDF). Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia. p. 171. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  11. ^ Newsletter of the Association for Coroplastic Studies Number 12, Summer 2014 (PDF). 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Chapman 1981, pp. 1–5.
  13. ^ Chapman 1981, pp. 33–39.
  14. ^ Chapman 1981, pp. 17–32; calibrated with CalPal.
  15. ^ Chapman 1981, pp. 132–139.
  16. ^ Gimbutas 1976.
  17. ^ a b c d Chapman 1981, pp. 84–116.
  18. ^ a b Chapman 1981, pp. 117–131.
  19. ^ Cvekic 2007.

Bibliography

Further reading

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