Vinča Culture: Balkan Neolithic Tells, Figurines and Symbols

The Vinča culture was a Neolithic and early Copper Age culture that flourished in the central Balkans, mainly in present-day Serbia, Kosovo and western Romania, from about 5700 to 4500 BC. Its farmers built large, long-lived villages, produced thousands of expressive clay figurines, scratched enigmatic signs known as the Vinča symbols on their pottery and were among the first people anywhere to smelt copper. It is one of the best-studied prehistoric cultures in Europe.

Discovery, date and extent

The culture is named after Vinča-Belo Brdo (“White Hill”), a mound on the right bank of the Danube about 14 kilometres downstream from Belgrade. The Serbian archaeologist Miloje Vasić began excavating there in 1908 and returned in several campaigns until 1934.

Vasić found roughly 10 metres of layered settlement debris, one of the deepest Neolithic sequences in Europe. At first he believed the site was much younger and linked to Aegean or even Greek colonists. Radiocarbon dating, introduced after the Second World War, showed that it was thousands of years older than he had thought.

Excavations at Vinča resumed in the late twentieth century and continue today, and the site is protected as a cultural monument of Serbia. Part of the mound has been lost to erosion and landslides along the river bank.

Traditionally the Vinča culture is dated c. 5700-4500 BC. More recent radiocarbon programmes suggest that the characteristic Vinča material began somewhat later, around 5400-5300 BC, and ended around 4650-4500 BC. Archaeologists divide it into phases, usually labelled Vinča A to D.

Vinča sites cover a large area of the central Balkans. Besides Belo Brdo, well-known sites include Pločnik, Selevac, Divostin and Belovode in Serbia, Gomolava in Vojvodina, Predionica near Pristina in Kosovo, and Parța and Tărtăria in Romania.

Villages and economy

Vinča people lived in substantial villages of rectangular houses built of timber posts, wattle and daub. Houses were often divided into several rooms and contained ovens, grinding stones and storage vessels. Many villages were occupied for centuries, so rebuilding on the same spot created tells, or settlement mounds.

Some settlements were very large for their time, covering tens of hectares, and may have housed a thousand or more people, although population estimates are uncertain. Farmers grew einkorn and emmer wheat, barley, lentils and flax, and kept cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Hunting and fishing in the Danube and its tributaries remained important.

Many Vinča houses were destroyed by fire. Some archaeologists think the burning was often deliberate, perhaps marking the end of a household, while others see it as the result of accidents or conflict.

Figurines

The Vinča culture is famous for its clay figurines, found in their thousands. Many are stylised human figures with triangular or pentagonal, mask-like faces, large eyes and incised clothing. Most appear to be female, but some are male or of uncertain sex, and there are many animal figurines too.

Well-known examples include the “Goddess on the Throne” from Predionica in Kosovo and seated figures from Belo Brdo. The Lithuanian-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas interpreted such figurines as evidence of a goddess-centred religion in what she called “Old Europe”. Many archaeologists now consider this view too simple, and suggest the figurines could have served many purposes.

The Vinča symbols

Vinča potters and figurine makers often incised small signs: straight lines, crosses, chevrons, combs and other shapes. More than 200 distinct signs have been identified, collectively called the Vinča symbols or the Old European script.

The most famous objects carrying such signs are the Tărtăria tablets, three small clay tablets found in Romania in 1961. Their date and context are disputed.

Most scholars do not regard the Vinča symbols as true writing, because they rarely form long sequences and cannot be shown to represent a spoken language. They may have been marks of ownership, ritual symbols or a limited system of communication. A minority view, associated with Gimbutas and the linguist Harald Haarmann, holds that they were an early form of script.

Exchange, burial and society

Vinča villages were linked by networks of exchange that reached far beyond the central Balkans. Obsidian came from the Carpathian region, and ornaments made from the shells of Spondylus, a spiny oyster from the Aegean and Adriatic, were worn as bracelets and beads. Fine stone for polished axes and adzes also travelled between communities.

Compared with the abundance of houses and figurines, burials are surprisingly rare. A few cemeteries are known, such as Botoš in Vojvodina and a burial area at Gomolava, but most of the population must have been treated in ways that left little trace. Graves that have been found contain relatively modest offerings.

There is little evidence of strong social hierarchy, such as palaces or rich elite tombs. Most archaeologists see Vinča society as made up of large, relatively egalitarian households and village communities, though larger settlements may have had leaders or councils that coordinated building and exchange.

Copper and the first metallurgy

The Vinča culture played a key role in the beginnings of metallurgy. At Belovode in eastern Serbia, researchers led by Miljana Radivojević identified copper slag from around 5000 BC, published in 2010 as among the oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting in the world.

Vinča communities also mined copper ore. At Rudna Glava, also in eastern Serbia, ancient miners dug shafts into a hillside to extract ore around 5000 BC. Copper axes, chisels and ornaments from Pločnik show that metal objects were being made and used, alongside stone tools, in the later Vinča period.

End and legacy

Around 4500 BC many Vinča settlements were abandoned, and the culture gave way to new Copper Age traditions. Possible causes include climate change, shifts in farming, social upheaval and contact with peoples moving in from the east. No single explanation is accepted, and the transition probably differed from one region to another.

The Vinča culture belongs to a wider world of Balkan and Danubian societies, including the Gumelnița and Varna cultures and the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, which together formed some of the most complex communities in Europe before the Bronze Age.

Myths and facts

Myth: The Vinča symbols are the world’s oldest writing. Fact: The signs are older than Mesopotamian cuneiform, but most specialists do not accept them as writing, because they do not appear to record a spoken language. They are better described as a symbol system or, at most, proto-writing.

Myth: Vinča figurines depict aliens or a lost super-civilisation. Fact: The mask-like faces are a stylised artistic convention, comparable to stylisation in many prehistoric cultures. Everything known about Vinča villages, crops and tools fits a farming society of the Neolithic and Copper Age.

Timeline

• c. 5700-5300 BC: Vinča culture emerges in the central Balkans (start date debated).
• c. 5000 BC: Copper smelting at Belovode and mining at Rudna Glava.
• c. 4800-4600 BC: Late Vinča settlements such as Pločnik use copper tools.
• c. 4500 BC: Many Vinča settlements are abandoned; the culture comes to an end.
• 1908: Miloje Vasić begins excavating Vinča-Belo Brdo.
• 1961: Tărtăria tablets discovered in Romania.
• 2010: Belovode smelting evidence published.

Why it matters

The Vinča culture shows that the farmers of the Balkans developed sophisticated villages, art and technology long before the first cities of Mesopotamia. Its figurines and symbols continue to fascinate, and its copper smelting places south-east Europe at the forefront of one of humanity’s most important inventions.