Prehistory of the Rudnik mountain and its surroundings: field survey (campaign 2021)

Abstract

The area of the Rudnik (rudnik=mine) in central Serbia is the second major volcanic area in central Serbia, exploited today for variety of raw materials, which were also exploited by numerous past communities. Historical and archaeological record showed intensive activities especially during medieval and pre-modern times, regarding exploitation of various ores, such as silver and lead. The riches of the Rudnik mountain were exploited in prehistory as well. On the slopes of the Prljuša mountain, a copper mine was discovered in 1980’s. It was briefly excavated in 1980’s, and systematic researches were initiated in 2011 by Institute of Archaeology and are still ongoing. Excavations revealed abundant evidence for malachite ore exploitation during the Bronze Age, and yielded numerous portable finds (in particular, stone hammer-axes), as well as the information that enabled the reconstruction of the ore extraction process. However, very little information is available regarding communities that exploited this mine, and also there is limited evidence for exploitation of other mineral resources in the area. This is why the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade initiated systematic field reconnaissance with the main scope to search for sources of raw materials exploited in prehistory and associated settlements. Here will be presented the preliminary results of the 2021 field survey campaign, which included the areas of the municipalities of Kragujevac and Knić. Particularly interesting are results regarding three modern quarries and their adjacent areas – Ramaća, Rogojevac and Vučkovica. In the vicinity of Rogojevac and Vučkovica, traces of prehistoric inhabitation were found, while Ramaća, although noted previously in archaeological literature, did not yield any archaeological traces during this field survey campaign, and future plans include its revisiting.