Vinča

The Vinča Culture is the most advanced European Neolithic culture (between the 5th and 4th millennium B.C.). It bears the name of the archaeological site in Vinča (Belo Brdo), and was spread all over the Balkans, the Danube and the Morava rivers regions, all the way to Macedonia and Bosnia – covering the territory geater than any other Neolithic culture of Europe. Its settlements were even bigger than the first towns of Mesopotamia, Aegean region or Egypt.  Vinča itself was a town – a metropolis greatly populated, a commercial and cultural centre. The Vinča people were farmers, doing the land and raising animals, they also hunted, fished and gathered food. They raised domestic animals and grew plant cultures we still grow today – the metal age starts just there, in Vinča.

LANGUAGE

It is not known what language the Vinča people spoke, but their pottery revealed sign (the (the Vinča Symbols) upon which the scholars cannot agree yet – whether it is a real alphabet or just signs and symbols.

ART

The Vinča figurines made of fired clay are the best examples of prehistoric art.  The best known are the Lady of Vinča and the Vidovdanka, female figurines, and the Hyde vase.

GEOGRAPHY

The village of Vinča, on the Danube right bank, is 11 km from Belgrade

HISTORY

Excavations in Vinča started in 1908, and only before the Second world War Vinča became world famous. The works continued after the war and then again in 1998, but now with the application of  computer technology.

OUTSTANDING FIGURES

Miloje Vasić, and archaeologist