Svinjaricka cuka site Leskovac
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 7,600 year old house at the site of Svinjaricka cuka near Leskovac. The house is the fourth object found in the area inhabited by the Starčevo culture in present Serbia which includes the horizon of the earliest agricultural societies in the area of the Morava corridor which connect the Mediterranean and the Podunavlje areas.
Vladimir Stevanovic, senior curator and archaeologist of the National Museum in Leskovac explains that a year earlier they have found the remains of a structure as old as 8,100 years.
– It is a rectangular house and they had wooden pillars that held the roof. Interestingly, the 7,600 year old house was directly positioned below the 7,500 year old house. That gives us proof of the continuity of settlements in this area – explains Stevanovic.
Results of the previous excavations proved the long-term settlement on the river terrace during the Old and the Middle Neolithic (6000-5500 p.n.e), the Late Copper era (end of the 4th millenia BC), the Middle and the Late Bronze age (2nd millennia BC), the Old Iron age and the Middle ages.
The Starchevo culture: The locality of Svinjaricka cuka is encircled by two rivers, Caricina and Svinjaricko, and members of the Starčevo culture, the oldest agricultural culture on the territory of Southern Europe, found all the necessary conditions for life on the fertile river terrace.
– Here was also the source of stone raw materials, which consisted of jasper, chalcedony and cornea from which quartz is obtained, and from which stone tools and tools were made. A lot has been found at this site, which told us about how they lived then – explains the curator.
So there is evidence that the ancient inhabitants of this localoty inhabited Svinjaricka cuka for at least six centuries continuously. They lived an agricultural lifestyle, and they raised domestic animals. Along with that, they hunted and planted cereals and green beans from which they used to make flour.
– We also found a large number of stone artifacts – axes, batters, flint knives, saws, then, ceramic objects, such as deep and shallow bowls, jugs, cups… It is painted ceramics, typical of Starčevo culture, which has a beautiful form. We also have a very large number of objects from cults and art, anthropomorphic figurines, i.e. those that have a human shape, some of which are stylized, and some realistic. There are also zoomorph figurines that have the shape of animals. In this case, the figurines of a cow are the most – explains the archaeologist.
Research started in 2018. of the year: Investigations at this site started back in 2018. years, and besides local experts the members of the Archaeological society of the Belgrade Institute work on them in cooperation with Austrian archaeologists and with the support of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Near the settlement from the old stone age: It’s interesting that there are sites with traces of settlements from the old stone age nearby.
– Some fifteen kilometers from here is the locality ‘Petrovac 1′, whose age was estimated at 250.000-300.000 years BC. What is interesting is the connection of that older stone age with the site of Svinjaricka chuka, of course not in a direct continuity, but so far objects from the Middle Paleolithic period have been found here, some 45,000-50,000 years BC. It has been confirmed that a couple of artifacts were used secondary, which means that people from Svinjaricka cuka used those sites afterwards. The site itself has traces of settlements from all periods of younger prehistory: iron, bronze, copper and younger stone age – Stevanovic points out.
The found artifacts should be exhibited in the National Museum in Leskovac from next year, which recently marked 75 years of existence. By the way, it contains about 30,000 exhibits that testify to the eight thousand long history of the Leskovac region. (dnevnik.rs)
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