The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia : Evolution, Organisation and Consumption of Early Metal in the Balkans

The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia is a landmark study in the origins of metallurgy. The project aimed to trace the invention and innovation of metallurgy in the Balkans. It combined targeted excavations and surveys with extensive scientific analyses at two Neolithic-Chalcolithic copper production and consumption sites, Belovode and Plocnik, in Serbia. At Belovode, the project revealed chronologically and contextually secure evidence for copper smelting in the 49th century BC. This confirms the earlier interpretation of c. 7000-year-old metallurgy at the site, making it the earliest record of fully developed metallurgical activity in the world. However, far from being a rare and elite practice, metallurgy at both Belovode and Plocnik is demonstrated to have been a common and communal craft activity. This monograph reviews the pre-existing scholarship on early metallurgy in the Balkans. It subsequently presents detailed results from the excavations, surveys and scientific analyses conducted at Belovode and Plocnik. These are followed by new and up-to-date regional syntheses by leading specialists on the Neolithic-Chalcolithic material culture, technologies, settlement and subsistence practices in the Central Balkans. Finally, the monograph places the project results in the context of major debates surrounding early metallurgy in Eurasia before proposing a new agenda for global early metallurgy studies. The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia is a landmark study in the origins of metallurgy. The project aimed to trace the invention and innovation of metallurgy in the Balkans. It combined targeted excavations and surveys with extensive scientific analyses at two Neolithic-Chalcolithic copper production and consumption sites, Belovode and Pločnik, in Serbia. At Belovode, the project revealed chronologically and contextually secure evidence for copper smelting in the 49th century BC. This confirms the earlier interpretation of c. 7000-year-old metallurgy at the site, making it the earliest record of fully developed metallurgical activity in the world. However, far from being a rare and elite practice, metallurgy at both Belovode and Pločnik is demonstrated to have been a common and communal craft activity. This monograph reviews the pre-existing scholarship on early metallurgy in the Balkans. It subsequently presents detailed results from the excavations, surveys and scientific analyses conducted at Belovode and Pločnik. These are followed by new and up-to-date regional syntheses by leading specialists on the Neolithic-Chalcolithic material culture, technologies, settlement and subsistence practices in the Central Balkans. Finally, the monograph places the project results in the context of major debates surrounding early metallurgy in Eurasia before proposing a new agenda for global early metallurgy studies. About the Authors Miljana Radivojević holds the Archaeomaterials Lectureship at the UCL Institute of Archaeology (UK), where she graduated in Archaeometallurgy. She has spent more than 25 years publishing on early metallurgy in the Balkans and southwest Asia and the role of aesthetics in the invention of novel technologies. ; Benjamin Roberts has spent over 20 years researching and publishing on European Copper and Bronze Age archaeology and frequently metallurgy and metal objects across Europe. He co-edited with Chris Thornton Archaeometallurgy in Global perspective: Methods and Syntheses (2014) and is currently leading Project Ancient Tin. ; Miroslav Marić is a specialist in the Neolithic-Bronze Age of the central Balkans at the Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Serbia. He is the field director of the Gradište Iđoš project. ; Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković was the Senior Custodian (now retired) at the Homeland Museum of Toplica in Prokuplje, Serbia. She spent more than four decades excavating the site of Pločnik, and developed a unique open air archaeo-park on the site that attracts tourists from the region, and across the globe. ; Prof Thilo Rehren is the A.G. Leventis Professor for Archaeological Sciences and Director of the Science and Technology, Nicosia, Cyprus Cover 1 Inside Cover 2 Dedication 5 Title Page 3 Copyright information 4 Contents Page 7 List of Authors 11 Foreword by Evgeniy N. Chernykh 17 Foreword by Barbara S. Ottaway 19 Foreword by Stephen J. Shennan 21 Acknowledgements 23 Part 1 Introduction 24 The birth of archaeometallurgy in Serbia: a reflection 26 Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković 26 The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Evolution, organisation and consumption of early metal in the Balkans: an introduction to the project 30 Thilo Rehren, Miljana Radivojević and Benjamin W. Roberts 30 Balkan metallurgy and society, 6200–3700 BC 34 Miljana Radivojević and Benjamin W. Roberts 34 The Vinča culture: an overview 61 Benjamin W. Roberts, Miljana Radivojević and Miroslav Marić 61 Introduction to Belovode and results of archaeometallurgical research 1993–2012 70 Miljana Radivojević 70 Introducing Pločnik and the results of archaeometallurgical research 1996–2011 83 Miljana Radivojević 83 Excavation methodology for the sites of Belovode and Pločnik 100 Miroslav Marić, Benjamin W. Roberts and Jugoslav Pendić 100 Part 2 Belovode 103 Belovode landscape and settlement perspectives 105 Miroslav Marić 105 Belovode: geomagnetic data as a proxy for the reconstruction of house numbers, population size and the internal spatial structure 116 Knut Rassmann, Roman Scholz, Patrick Mertl, Kai Radloff, Jugoslav Pendić and Aleksandar Jablanović 116 Belovode: excavation results 130 Miroslav Marić, Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević 130 Belovode: technology of metal production 145 Miljana Radivojević and Thilo Rehren 145 Pottery from Trench 18 at Belovode 174 Neda Mirković-Marić, Marija Savić and Milica Rajičić 174 Chronological attribution of pottery from Trench 18 at Belovode based on correspondence analysis 192 Miroslav Marić and Neda Mirković-Marić 192 Belovode: technology of pottery production 208 Silvia Amicone 208 Figurines from Belovode 221 Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković 221 Ground and abrasive stone tools from Belovode 227 Vidan Dimić and Dragana Antonović 227 Bone industry from Belovode 237 Selena Vitezović 237 Chipped stone industry at Belovode 243 Elmira Ibragimova 243 Chemical and technological analyses of obsidian from Belovode 255 Marina Milić 255 Plant use at Belovode 258 Dragana Filipović 258 Animal remains from the site of Belovode 271 Ivana Dimitrijević and David Orton 271 Belovode: past, present and future 280 Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević 280 Part 3 Pločnik 283 Pločnik landscape and settlement perspectives 285 Miroslav Marić 285 Pločnik: geomagnetic prospection data as a proxy for the reconstruction of house numbers, population size and the internal spatial structure 291 Knut Rassmann, Roman Scholz, Patrick Mertl, Jugoslav Pendić and Aleksandar Jablanović 291 Pločnik: excavation results 301 Miroslav Marić, Jugoslav Pendić, Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević 301 Pločnik: technology of metal production 321 Miljana Radivojević and Thilo Rehren 321 Pottery from Trench 24 at Pločnik 336 Neda Mirković-Marić, Marija Savić and Milica Rajičić 336 Chronological attribution of pottery from Trench 24 at Pločnik based on correspondence analysis 364 Neda Mirković-Marić and Miroslav Marić 364 Pločnik: technology of pottery technology 381 Silvia Amicone 381 Figurines from Pločnik 394 Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković 394 Ground and abrasive stone tools from Pločnik 401 Vidan Dimić and Dragana Antonović 401 Bone industry from Pločnik 412 Selena Vitezović 412 Chipped stone industry at Pločnik 416 Elmira Ibragimova 416 Plant use at Pločnik 427 Dragana Filipović 427 Animal remains from the site of Pločnik 441 Jelena Bulatović and David Orton 441 Pločnik: past, present and future 452 Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević 452 Part 4 The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: a view from the Balkans 456 Relative and absolute chronology of Belovode and Pločnik 458 Miroslav Marić, Miljana Radivojević, Benjamin W. Roberts and David C. Orton 458 The social organisation of the Vinča culture settlements. New evidence from magnetic and archaeological excavation data 474 Knut Rassmann, Martin Furholt, Nils Müller-Scheeßel and Johannes Müller 474 Belovode and Pločnik: site visibility and remotely sensed data 479 Jugoslav Pendić 479 Population size and dynamics at Belovode and Pločnik 496 Marko Porčić and Mladen Nikolić 496 Metallurgical knowledge and networks of supply in the 5th millennium BC Balkans: Belovode and Pločnik in their regional context 503 Miljana Radivojević, Thilo Rehren and Ernst Pernicka 503 The pottery typology and relative chronology of Belovode and Pločnik: concluding remarks 543 Neda Mirković-Marić and Miroslav Marić 543 Pottery technology at the dawn of metallurgy in the Vinča culture 553 Silvia Amicone, Miljana Radivojević, Patrick Quinn and Thilo Rehren 553 Belovode and Pločnik figurines in their wider context 567 Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković 567 Ground and abrasive stone tools from Belovode and Pločnik: concluding remarks 571 Vidan Dimić and Dragana Antonović 571 Bone tool technology at Belovode and Pločnik 575 Selena Vitezović 575 Chipped Stone industries in the Vinča culture 579 Elmira Ibragimova 579 Geochemical characterisation of chipped stones from Belovode and Pločnik 581 Enrica Bonato, Martin Rittner and Silvia Amicone 581 Belovode obsidian in a regional context 585 Marina Milić 585 Plant consumption at Belovode and Pločnik 589 Dragana Filipović 589 Evidence for animal use in the central Balkan Neolithic across the early metallurgical horizon: the animal remains from Belovode and Pločnik in context 600 David Orton, Jelena Bulatović and Ivana Dimitrijević 600 Part 5 The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia and Beyond 614 Balkan metallurgy in a Eurasian context 616 Miljana Radivojević and Benjamin W. Roberts 616 Where do we take global early metallurgy studies next? 634 Benjamin W. Roberts, Miljana Radivojević and Thilo Rehren 634 Appendices 639 Bibliography 642 Inside Back Cover 692 Back Cover 693 The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia is a landmark study in the origins of metallurgy. The project aimed to trace the invention and innovation of metallurgy in the Balkans. It combined targeted excavations and surveys with extensive scientific analyses at two Neolithic-Chalcolithic copper production and consumption sites, Belovode and Plocnik, in Serbia. At Belovode, the project revealed chronologically and contextually secure evidence for copper smelting in the 49th century BC. This confirms the earlier interpretation of c. 7000-year-old metallurgy at the site, making it the earliest record of fully developed metallurgical activity in the world. However, far from being a rare and elite practice, metallurgy at both Belovode and Plocnik is demonstrated to have been a common and communal craft activity.0This monograph reviews the pre-existing scholarship on early metallurgy in the Balkans. It subsequently presents detailed results from the excavations, surveys and scientific analyses conducted at Belovode and Plocnik. These are followed by new and up-to-date regional syntheses by leading specialists on the Neolithic-Chalcolithic material culture, technologies, settlement and subsistence practices in the Central Balkans. Finally, the monograph places the project results in the context of major debates surrounding early metallurgy in Eurasia before proposing a new agenda for global early metallurgy studies