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One of the most important traits of the Late Neolithic Vinča culture, widespread in the territories of the central Balkans and the southern Carpathian basin, was rich figural imagery. Anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and hybrid figurines were particularly frequent, and there are also findings of prosopomorphic lids, zoomorphic vessels, and altars and other vessels with zoomorphic protomes. These types of objects were frequent on all Vinča culture sites; reaching up to several hundred of figurine fragments, and often display high quality of production. Early Eneolithic Bubanj-Hum I culture, widespread in the parts of previous Vinča culture areas, on the other hand, has very limited evidence for figural imagery. Clay figurines are scarce, and usually produced with limited labour investment. On the other hand, stone figurines, rare in the Vinča culture, now disappear completely, but figurines are now occasionally produced from bone – raw material that was never used in the Vinča culture. This change in quantity, quality and stylistic characteristics points to the significant changes in the symbolic value of the figural imagery, as well as overall changes in social and ritual lives of these prehistoric communities. However, Eneolithic figurines received very little attention in the archaeological literature thus far. In this paper will be provided an overview of evidence for figural imagery from the Early Eneolithic Bubanj-Hum I culture, part of the Bubanj-Sălcuţa-Krivodol cultural complex, from the sites on the territory of central Balkans. Figurines will be presented from stylistic and technological viewpoint, and also their place in the context of the Early Eneolithic will be discussed.

Bird bones were rarely used for production of artefacts, due to various reasons – they were much smaller and thinner than bones of mammals usually selected for tool production; they also have specific shapes and fine structure, inadequate for the majority of common artefact types. They were occasionally used for some specific objects, such as flutes, pipes, needle cases, amulets, etc. When it comes to the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in south-eastern Europe, bird bone artefacts are rare; only few have been discovered thus far. In this paper, we will present one additional finding of a bird bone artefact, from the site of Zók–Gradina, situated in present-day Hungary. Excavations carried out in 1920 by the National Museum in Belgrade revealed a multi-period site, with major parts of the stratigraphic sequence belonging to the Late Eneolithic / Early Bronze Age Vučedol culture (2900–2500/2400 BC). Vučedol layers yielded relatively large quantities of worked bone, including one artefact produced from a bird bone, that will be presented here. The object in question was produced from the right radius of a Cygnus sp.; it is in the shape of an elongated tube; carefully cut at both ends. The function of this item is uncertain – it may have served as some sound-producing instrument (flute), or it was some sort of a handle or needle case. It is interesting to note that bird representations, in particular ornithomorphic vessels, are among the specific traits of the Vučedol culture; therefore, the choice of a bird bone for the production of this artefact may have had a certain symbolic significance as well.

In this paper we present the first results of an interdisciplinary research project focused on Late Bronze Age metallurgy in the western and central Balkans. The comprehensive chemical and lead isotope analysis, and a strict consideration of archaeological criteria, has provided a deeper insight into supra regional metal exchange networks between the 14th and 9th century BC in this part of Europe. Particularly interesting and surprising are results regarding the provenance of raw materials for copper production, which have a chemical composition and lead isotope ratios that closely correspond to ore deposits in the southern Alps (North Italy). Based on the examination of 57 objects of different functions, chronology and distribution, it becomes apparent that copper from the southern Alps was almost an omnipresent raw material in the territories of the western and central Balkans with only a few finds from North Macedonia to indicate alternative sources. The analyses demonstrate that the reuse of fahlore-based copper is attested for the first time in the regions under study. The remarkable fact that other archaeological parameters do not indicate such an intensive connection between the Balkan area and Northern Italy raises a number of questions. The sustained and long-lasting networks of raw material procurement stand in contrast to the expected cultural interaction between metal producing and metal consuming prehistoric societies. The results of this work also highlight the currently underestimated role of the southern Alps as one of the main copper producing areas in Bronze Age Europe, and demonstrate for the first time that the region of western and central Balkans was one of the major recipients.

Bird bones were rarely used for production of artefacts, due to various reasons – they were much smaller and thinner than mammal bones; they also have specific shapes and fine structure, inadequate for majority of common artefact types. However, they were ocasionally used for some specific objects, such as flutes, pipes, needle cases, amulets, etc. When it concerns Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in the south-eastern Europe, bird bone artefacts are rare; only few were discovered thus far. The multi-layer prehistoric site of Zók is situated in present-day Hungary, in vicinity of Pécs. Major parts of its stratigraphic sequence belong to the Late Eneolithic / Early Bronze Age Vučedol culture, but there are also certain remains that may be attributed to the early and middle Eneolithic. The site was extensively excavated in 1920 by National museum in Belgrade. These excavations also unearthed large quantities of worked bone, mainly from Late Vučedol layers, including one artefact produced from bird bone, that will be presented here. The item in question was produced from right radius from Cygnus sp. The object in question is in the shape of an elongated tube; carefully cut at both ends. The function of this item is uncertain – it may have served as some sound-producing instrument (flute), or it was some sort of handle or needle case. It is interesting to note that bird representations, in particular ornitomorphic vessels, are one of the specific tratis of the Vučedol culture; therefore, the choice of bird bone for production of this artefact may have had a certain symbolic significance as well.

Pitali smo naše poznate arhitekte gde i kakvu kuću za odmor bi sagradili za sebe kao i da li bi je projektovali sami. Odgovori će vas iznenaditi! Pandemija koronavirusa uticala je da mnogi ljudi postave sebi pitanje da li prednosti koje pruža život u gradovima odjedanput postale mane. Mnogi su počeli da maštaju o boravku u prirodi, a potraga za „svojim parčetom zemlje“ na Avali, Kosmaju, Fruškoj gori ili Zlatiboru postala je nezaobilazna tema. U cilju popularizacije boravka u prirodi i promocije arhitekture kuća za odmor, naš portal započeo je sa novim 3×3 serijalom intervjua, pod nazivom „Kad bi arhitekta bio klijent„. U prvom grupnom intervjuu, našim poznatim arhitektama Predragu Milutinoviću (MAPA), Jovanu Mitroviću i Goranu Vojvodiću (Biro VIA) postavili smo tri ista pitanja – a odgovori se veoma razlikuju.

Figural representations from the Eneolithic period in the south-east Europe are not very common, especially in comparison with the Neolithic period, and they are also seldom discussed in the archaeological literature. In the Early Eneolithic Bubanj-Hum I culture, part of the Bubanj-Sălcuţa-Krivodol cultural complex, anthropomorphic figurines were produced from clay and bone; however, particularly in the central Balkan area they are rarely found. In this paper, we will present a fragmented figurine so far unpublished from the eponymous site of Bubanj. The figurine was discovered in 1956 and is currently stored at the National Museum in Belgrade. We will present its typological and technological traits and we will also discuss the place of this figurine within the wider context of the Early Eneolithic communities in the central Balkan area.