Lepenski Vir

Lepenski Vir, located in Serbia, is a very important archaeological site. It belongs to what is called the Lepenski Vir culture, which existed during the Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods in the Balkans. This means it was home to people who lived a very long time ago, between about 9500 BC and 5500 BC.

The site includes a large settlement and around ten smaller villages. Archaeologists have found many interesting things there, like special buildings shaped like trapezoids and large stone sculptures that look like fish but have human-like faces. These sculptures are special because they were made so early in human history.

The person who first studied the site was archaeologist Dragoslav Srejović. He thought Lepenski Vir showed a very early and special phase in the development of European prehistoric culture. Because the settlement was planned and well-organized, some people even call it "the first city in Europe".

Today, Lepenski Vir is part of Đerdap National Park, which became a UNESCO global geopark in 2020. The park covers a large area including parts of the Miroč and Kučaj mountain massifs.

Location and geography

Lepenski Vir is found on the right side of the Danube River in eastern Serbia, near the village of Boljetin and close to Donji Milanovac. The area has wide-open views across the river and strong, stable ground that helps it stay in place. Large rocks at the top of a rocky point hold the land firmly, making it a good place for people to live for a long time.

The Danube’s swirling waters create whirlpools that make fishing easier and bring plenty of fish. These swirling waters also helped build up land on the downstream side, making it stronger. Nearby hills and natural shelters provided extra protection and resources for the people who lived there.

Discovery

The site was discovered on 30 August 1960 on land owned by a local farmer named Manojlo Milošević. Archaeologists from the Belgrade Institute for Archaeology began exploring the area because a large dam, called the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station, was planned to be built there. They wanted to learn as much as they could before the area was flooded.

Archaeologists Obrad Kujović and his assistant Ivica Kostić surveyed the Lepenski Vir section. They found many broken pieces of pottery, which looked like they came from a pottery workshop. Kujović realized this was an important place and reported his findings to the institute. Another archaeologist, Srejović, became very interested and asked for more details in 1961.

Excavations

In 1965, a person named Srejović started exploring the Lepenski Vir site with help from Zagorka Letica. They dug deeper each year, and in 1967 they found important old sculptures. This showed how special the place was. The work stopped in 1971 because the site had to move higher to stay safe from a new lake made by a big power station. During these excavations, they found many old buildings and a place where people were buried. The main explorer was a professor from the University of Belgrade.

History

The main site of Lepenski Vir includes several archaeological phases, starting with Proto-Lepenski Vir and continuing through Lepenski Vir Ia to Ie, then Lepenski Vir II and III. These phases cover a period of 1,500 to 2,000 years, from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic period. After Lepenski Vir, the area was taken over by the Vinča culture and Starčevo culture, both located farther up the Danube River.

People living at Lepenski Vir were likely descendants of early European hunter gatherers from the end of the last ice age. The first settlement at Lepenski Vir dates to around 9500–7200 BC, when the climate became much warmer. The area offered limited resources, so the early people there mainly relied on fishing for food.

Over time, the settlement grew and became more organized. Houses were built following a special geometric pattern, and the village had a clear layout. The people buried their dead outside the village, except for a few important elders who were buried behind house fireplaces. They created many special stone sculptures, including ones that look like fish with human faces, showing their rich culture and beliefs.

Lepenski Vir shows us the change from a life based on hunting and gathering to one based on farming. As people began to farm, their way of life and social structure changed. The unique features of Lepenski Vir, like its house designs and sculptures, slowly disappeared as the area became part of a wider Neolithic culture.

Localities

The Lepenski Vir-Kladovska Skela region has about 25 different places, including the main settlement and smaller nearby villages. These places were studied until the 1980s when a big dam was built and flooded the area.

One place is called Kula, near the village of Mihajlovac. It was studied before the water covered it. Kula has three layers showing different times when people lived there. Another place is Lepenski Vir, which is more complicated. It has four main layers and seven smaller layers, showing many years of people living there. The youngest layer is from a time called the Neolithic Starčevo culture. The middle layer is from the Mesolithic time and shows that people lived there for a long time. The youngest layers were damaged when a much later Roman tower was built.

Scientists found changes in old bones that show how people slowly changed over time. They think at least 120 generations, or about 2,000 years, lived in Lepenski Vir. Some think it could be as long as almost 5,000 years.

Architecture

Seven successive settlements were discovered at Lepenski Vir, with the remains of 136 residential and sacral buildings dating from 9500/7200 BC to 6000 BC.

The houses at Lepenski Vir were built on an inclined area that faced the river, arranged in a fan-like pattern. This layout allowed people in houses farther from the river to still access it easily. The tools used for construction have not survived well, but it is believed that the builders had some advanced knowledge for their time. Mostly burned deer antlers were found, and it is thought they used sticks, ropes, and natural features to create the unique trapezoid shape of the houses.

The houses at Lepenski Vir show a gradual change from shrines to homes over time. They were built following the shape of the land, always facing the river. The basic layout included two wings and a central open space that served as a meeting place. The houses were standardized in design but varied in size, from very small to quite large. Some houses were dug into the ground to take advantage of the natural temperature, while others were built on sloping terrain. The floors were made of limestone clay mixed with animal dung and ash, which hardened like concrete. The houses had fireplaces and decorative stone sculptures, and their layout often resembled a human figure. The purpose of many features, such as the fireplaces and stone arrangements, remains a topic of discussion among scientists.

Burials

Some people were buried inside the houses, under the floors. These burials are thought to be of important members of the group, and some of the buried were children.

Researchers have found special ways these people were buried. They believe the people of this place had a strong focus on heads, as many stone sculptures found there are shaped like heads. In these burials, the skull was sometimes removed from the body and placed separately, along with the lower jaw. The skulls were placed on special stone slabs and protected with crushed stones. All the separately buried skulls were from men, and all the lower jaws were from women.

One skeleton found in House 69 was very well preserved. The archaeologist who found it thought he looked very tall and strong, and named him Valentino, after a famous actor. Valentino lived around 8200 BC. Some researchers think the way the skeletons were placed might symbolize birth, no matter if the person was a man or a woman.

Ceramic vessels filled with ash were also found, showing that ash had some special meaning to these people.

Sculptures

The Lepenski Vir sculptures are many old figurines from 7000 BC found at Lepenski Vir. They were carved from round sandstone stones found near rivers.

The sculptures fall into two types: simple shapes and human-like figures. The human figures are especially interesting. They show strong brows, long noses, and wide mouths that look like fish. Some have hair, beards, arms, and hands in a simple style. These sculptures were part of the houses, built into the floors. They are very old and large for their time, and they show mouths and ears unlike other sculptures from the same period.

Controversies

Lepenski Vir was first found by Obrad Kujović, but Dragoslav Srejović is known today as the person who discovered it. Srejović wrote about it in 1969, mentioning that some experts had noticed the place before him in 1960 but did not name them. Kujović later said that Srejović should have recognized the correct year of discovery.

Conspiracy theories

Because the settlement seemed very modern for its time, some unusual ideas appeared. Some people, including ufologists, thought the people of Lepenski Vir might have been aliens from outer space. These ideas were also shared in Russia, and a writer named Erich von Däniken, who supports theories about ancient astronauts, became interested in the place.

Archaeoastronomy

In 2014, during the winter solstice, the first studies of ancient astronomy were done at Lepenski Vir. These studies suggested that a special "double sunrise" might happen during the summer solstice. This happens because of a hill called Trescovăț across the Danube River. The Sun appears, hides behind a rocky part of the hill, and then appears again. This was seen and filmed in 2015 during the summer solstice and lasted just over 4 minutes.

Researchers believe that the people living at Lepenski Vir may have used this "double sunrise" to create a calendar around the years 6300–6200 BC. They were very careful observers of nature. Further studies in 2017 showed that this sunrise could be seen from different parts of the settlement.

Relocation

The Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station started working between 1970 and 1972, creating a large lake called Đerdap Lake. This lake would cover the original spot of Lepenski Vir, so the whole site had to be moved to a new place. The new spot is about 100 meters downstream and 30 meters higher than the old one. Most of the old houses from the earliest time period were moved in 1971.

The old spot of Lepenski Vir is now under about 12 meters of water, and some nearby places are also covered. Scientists made plans to protect the area, but many of these plans were not followed. Much of the area around Lepenski Vir has not been fully explored, and some important parts were flooded and can no longer be studied.

Assessment

The discoveries at Lepenski Vir, first shared with the world in 1967, changed how people think about early European history. Some experts argued that the site couldn’t belong to the Mesolithic period because Europe was mostly empty then, with people living in caves.

Even with these debates, Lepenski Vir stands out as Europe’s oldest planned village. It features special, trapezoid-shaped houses not found anywhere else. The site includes some of the earliest life-sized and larger-than-life sculptures ever made, with detailed features like mouths and ears. The human remains found there are important for future studies.

Lepenski Vir was protected as a cultural monument in 1966 and became a Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in 1979, but it has not yet been added to the UNESCO list, partly due to local bureaucracy and the challenges of moving the site after flooding. Some experts believe it should be protected along with the nearby Iron Gates Gorge, which has a rich history from Roman times to modern industrial development.