ELEUTHEROMANIA: THE VERY FIRST EUROPEAN CITY

Vinča, 5700 BC

A fine example of Vinča pottery.
The fact that it was made without a potter's wheel makes it even more remarkable.

If you leave Belgrade by boat and slowly cruise 14 km downstream the Danube River, you should reach Vinča (pronounced Vincha) within a couple of hours. By road, Vinča is just 23 km away from Belgrade city center. But a cruise is, definitely, more relaxing and picturesque: herons, wild ducks and swans break the monotony of the water surface, while luscious vegetation holds the banks in place. As you approach Vinča, you feel envious of the residents on the hill with the best view. Still, Vinča is not a very popular place to live in today. It is a small settlement on the outskirts of Belgrade, left to its own meagre devices to fight with gigantic problems, one of them being nuclear waste. What a sad ending for an abundant town with origins back in 5700 BC.

The Danube, Europe's second longest river.

Professor Miloje Vasić

The Neolithic archeological site of Belo Brdo (which translates as the White Hill) was first discovered by prominent Serbian archaeologist Miloje Vasić in 1908. Following extensive excavations, numerous layers were found all the way down to 10,5 meters below the surface, topped and protected by an old Serbian cemetery. One could say that, apart from professor Vasić and few enthusiasts that still persist today, the bones of the dead Serbs gave the biggest contribution to preservation of the archaeological site: they kept it intact and in perfect condition.

Map of the Vinča culture - from Wikipedia

The Vinča culture spread over the central Balkan Peninsula, covering the area of today’s Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. The Vinča – Belo Brdo settlement covered 29 hectares and held a population of 2.500. The deepest Neolithic layer is from the Early Vinča period 5.700 – 4.800 BC, above which sits the Late Vinča layer (4.800-4.200 BC). It is followed by Roman, Early Slavic and Early Christian periods. To a 21^st century human, it is difficult to imagine how old that is – well, we might get a better idea if we compare the facts that the Egyptian pyramids were built in 2.700-1.700 BC, and the Stonehenge era was in 3.000-2.000 BC.

Avala Mountain on the outskirts of Belgrade

One would say that people living back in 5.700 BC must have been savages. Mr Dragan Janković, Curator of the Vinča site and gallery, completely refutes the idea.

The Vinča people settled on the bank of the Danube, close to the confluence of the Bolečica River, for a good reason.

A Google map with marked Belgrade, the Danube, Vinča and Avala Mountain

The Danube gave them food, water and means to travel, while the Bolečica, although small, gave them direct access to Avala Mountain, containing the most valuable treasures of the time – the cinnabarite and malachite ores. From the former, the red mercury sulfide, they made the luscious red dye, and the latter, the beautiful green mineral, was used to produce jewels as well as the green dye. The sources were sufficient to cater their own needs as well as to trade: they exchanged the ores for obsidian from Carpathian Mountains, or special shells from the Aegean coast.

It would take only two weeks for the Vinča traders to reach on foot the territory of today’s Thessaloniki. Along the way, apart from the precious shells, seeds and minerals, they would collect cutting edge technologies, information and knowledge.

Some of the figurines displayed at the Vinča Belo Brdo site gallery. Most of them represent women, implying that the fertility cult was dominant at the time.

Obsidian - from Wikipedia

What did those people look like? Obsidian is a razor-sharp mineral which is used for precise surgical scalpel blades even today. The fact overrules the stereotypical image of a bearded savage – they must have been shaven and well groomed. The figurines discovered at the site, depicted with open-necked two-piece garments, and buttons made from shell or stone, prove that they were the people with high sense of beauty, which is also confirmed by their pottery: immaculate, precise, polished, decorated with intricate geometrical images, and dyed with cinnabar and limonite.

Reconstruction of a house

The standard of living of the old Vinča people was outstanding for the period: the houses were built methodically, in streets, floored with wooden planks covered by a mixture of mud and chaff (perfect thermal isolation) and polished with river pebbles. The houses consisted of two to five rooms which were occupied by a single family. Central hearths were not used for heating and cooking, but furnaces, like the ones used to bake pizza today. The waste was all neatly deposited in special pits (priceless source of information for today’s archaeologists).

Remains of an ancient Vinča house, well preserved owing to a fire.

There is some evidence that farmers used cattle-driven plough which meant less human effort and larger crops. However, the Vinča people were more craftsmen and traders than farmers. They lived in a tight urban community in houses without gardens. And that is the main foundation for the theory that Vinča, in fact, was the first European metropolis. One of the reasons they thrived for so long was that they were a peace-loving nation. The archaeological discoveries contain numerous objects for everyday use, art, jewelry and tools, however – no weapons at all. There is strong evidence that these people lived in peace for 2000 years, which is difficult to believe today, in the ever war-stricken Balkans.

A dish with a prosopomorphic lid, a distinct feature of the Vinča culture. The lid must have had dual function - to protect the contents from humidity and insects, as well as the evil spirits. It could come in handy even today to scare greedy children away from biscuits

The Vinča site is small and poorly protected. Despite the enormous importance attributed to it by the archaeologists and historians, and the efforts of the virtuous few, the politics, unfortunately, is always the one to pass the final judgment. Unresolved land ownership issues are the main reason why Vinča is not on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The government is more willing to invest in 'panem et circenses' that would provide them better chances in winning the next elections, than in protecting the 7500 years old cultural heritage.

I wish we could all learn from the ancient Vinča people…