Ground stone artefacts from Aria Babi

Abstract

The Early Neolithic settlement at the site of Aria Babi (the Danube Gorges or Iron Gates area, northeastern Serbia) is chronologically contemporaneous with the Starčevo horizon at Lepenski Vir, and it is located in its immediate vicinity. Our analysis of the stone tools ncompassed the material from trench 1–2/2005, investigated in 2005 and 2006. Judging on the basis of the ground stone assemblage from this site, and with the same conclusion reached based on the ceramic analysis, a rural household was identified in this place, in a small settlement with ispersed dug-in features, typical of the Starčevo culture. In this household, the every-day life of the community was probably focused on farming. There were items found which were used for food preparation – aside from pottery, such as stone querns – but there were also tools and household items produced from materials softer than stone, such as wood and bone, which were not preserved. Various fragments of raw material, not so numerous in this assemblage, indirectly point to a small-scale ground stone tool production at this place. The secondary use of fragmented abrasive tools bears witness to, in most cases, expedient tools used by the inhabitants of this household. It is probable that in the mountainous hinterland of the Early Neolithic sites discovered along the Danube’s banks in this region existed smaller villages which provided both agricultural and perhaps also some artisanal products.