Prehistory of Northeastern Serbia on the Example from Felix Romuliana and its sourroundings

Abstract

In the chronological range from the 6th to the 1st millennium BC, the territory around the Crni Timok Basin in north-eastern Serbia was inhabited by many cultures such as Starčevo, Vinča, Bubanj-Salcuta-Krivodol, Kostolac-Cotofeni, Vatin-Verbicioara, Gava, Bassarabi, and Zlot cultural groups. The topography and distribution of settlements in prehistory were determined by the geomorphological characteristics of the Timok eruptive basin, while the economy and way of life depended on climatic fluctuations and tehnological inovations, primarily on agriculture, exploatation of ore and metallurgy. Several surveys conducted over the past ten years in the area around Felix Romuliana and Bor (okr. Bor) have helped to clearly see the pattern of change inthe setting of these areas as well as to identify the causes that affected the greater or lesser density of settlement in accordance with technological developments during certain epochs of the end of the Stone Age (Neolithic) and the periods where the production of metals dominated (the Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages). Material culture and funeral customs show that these two areas were culturally homogeneous during prehistory, especially during the Bronze Age, when it was possible to reconstruct intensive economic interaction between the agricultural and metallurgical occupational groups of settlement