REDISCOVERING OLD FINDS? NOTES ON THE BRONZE AGE GRAVES WITH AMBER IN WESTERN SERBIA (original) (raw)

2019, ANALELE BANATULUI, S.N., ARHEOLOGIE - ISTORIE, XXVII, 2019

The study is the result of rechecking details of funerary practices in the Bronze Age of Western Serbia. Potential presence of amber in grave inventories provided an impetus to examine burial contexts and ways how exotic goods reached the innermost parts of the Balkan Peninsula. Arrival of the first amber artefacts at the territory of Serbia is connected with the Middle Bronze Age, which is later than the earliest finds of the Baltic amber in south Europe and the Mediterranean. e sites with amber artefacts are neither numerous nor with even spatial distribution. e region of Western Serbia stands out from the rest of the broader zone because of its early excavated and early dated amber finds. In all of the cases, the amber finds have funerary context. Focal point of the study is on the rediscovered amber find from the necropolis in Stapari and its context. Based on the data from the documentation and publications, it is not very likely that the necropolis in Stapari can be defined as a flat one. All regional characteristics of synchronous funerary practices must be taken into consideration along with the state of preservation of the site in the 20 th century. Consequently, the necropolis can be added to the large group of tumular necropolises, which comprised necropolis in Vranjani, which was analysed as well, due to a problematic amber find. Recent analyses confirmed the Baltic provenance of the amber from the West Morava basin, but contribution to at least partial reconstruction of regional routes which brought the material to this part of the Central Balkans has additional importance. e region settled by the bearers of the Belegiš culture, which was suspected to have served as a starting point for regional trade southwards, provided the first amber find with settlement context.

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Precious Resin for Rising Elites? Amber in the Bronze Age Funerary Contexts in Western Serbia

The Mechanism of Power. The Bronze and Iron Ages in Southeastern Europe. Proceedings of the 3rd PeBA Conference held in Ohrid, 25–28 May 2022 (eds. M. Gavranović, D. Heilmann, M. Verčík, P. Ardjanliev). Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, Rahden/Westf., 2024

To trace the surviving indicators of social identity, and possibly social inequality, of the Bronze Age communities was inspired by the attractive amber finds from the territory of Western Serbia. Grave context, where every detail was precisely prepared and set for eternal life of the deceased, following strict ritual norms and loaded with symbolic meaning, deserves special treatment in our study. Additionally, the premise for the study was that everything that we now have as remnants of past can be useful to indicate a specific social agenda. Not only that the corpus of the material has been enlarged by recent excavations in the region as well as reevaluation of already published material (sites: Belotić-Šumar, Bela Crkva-Cerik Bandera, Banjevac-Jovanin Breg, Brezjak-Paulje, Vranjani-Veliki Lug, Jančići-Ravnine, Jabuka-Savin Lakat and Gračane-Gračanska Polja), but the direction towards its context analysis and interpretation has been changed to some extent. The chronological position of the earliest grave units comprising amber finds has been consolidated in the frames of the local Middle Bronze Age. The analysis of the grave equipment, with presence of amber in focus, can shed some light on the emergence of local elites or, at least, some in¬fluential local agents, who could have played a significant role in trade networks and exchange of desirable goods. This approach, comprising the analysis of position of the grave itself, bodily treatment, and the number and type of grave goods, would enable an attempt in reconstruction of a model of a privileged grave appearance. Thus, the amber can reveal us the preferred combinations in the graves of the raising elites. Presence of amber at the Bronze Age sites in Western Serbia can testify to vivid social relations of the local communities with distant regions of northern Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as of existence of spatially and chronologically overlapping regional and micro-regional networks. The amber, albeit present in small amounts, reveals the importance of this precious resin, initial procurement of which was not an easy and safe assignment.

Bronze Age amber in Western and Central Balkans

Arheološki vestnik, 2020

The paper touches upon the issue of amber inflow to Western and Central Balkans, and its circulation between individual regions situated in this zone, during the Bronze Age (more specifically around 1600–900 BC). By using several computational methods, currently available data related to this topic is re-analysed. Previously distinguished types of amber beads show chronological differentiation that allows separating them into two major assemblages assignable to the Middle and Late Bronze Age respectively, with some forms having a prolonged use, overlapping both periods. Many types are also characterized by specific patterns of distribution, potentially revealing local styles of amber processing. The types are further compared with amber artefacts from neighbouring zones of amber acquisition. Supplementing the considerations with selected artefacts co-occurring with amber sheds a light on internal dynamics of amber circulation, and points the potential exchange participants.

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