New Discoveries of the Burilal Practice During the Iron Age in Eastern Serbia

Abstract

In course of last 3 decades only 3 Iron Age necropolises have been discovered in Eastern Serbia. Necropolises belonging to the Early Iron Age are Signal, Selište and Belavina, while one infant burial from Mokranjske stene belongs to La Tène. Besides in chronology (Hallstatt C-D and La Tène), these necropolises also differ in their practice of specific burial rites with observed pronounced local traditions. While the necropolis Signal near Svrljig is characterized exclusively by inhumation, the Selište necropolis near Bela Palanka indicates that biritual burial was practiced in context of a collective grave. In contrast to these two sites from the Late Iron Age, at the Mokranjske stene-rockshelternear Negotin an infant grave has been discovered from the La Tène period, buried with a great deal of care for the deceased, which represents a rare example of such burials in prehistory. We hope that further analysis will shed more light on the ethnicity of prehistoric communities that lived in the area of Eastern Serbia