Osseous Raw Materials in the Vinča Culture

Abstract

This paper will focus on the analysis of raw and worked osseous materials from several Vinča culture (Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic) sites from central Balkans (Vinča, Kormadin, Selevac, Divostin, Grivac, Drenovac, Slatina, Stragari) – the methods of acquiring of raw materials and managing of available raw materials for certain types of objects. Varieties in presence of red deer and roe deer antlers suggest that they were probably not collected and worked on every site, raise possibilities of an exchange system of raw materials between clustered sites, and also suggest differences in economic organization on Vinča culture sites. The preferences for certain skeletal parts for specific objects suggest high level of technological skills, but also probable symbolic values attributed to certain raw materials.