Ancient site · Settlement
Starčevo
The village of Starčevo, on the north bank of the Danube opposite Belgrade, is the type site of the Starčevo culture: the first farmers of the central Balkans. These communities came north from Greece and Anatolia, bringing wheat, barley, domestic animals and pottery.
They lived in small villages of pit-houses and timber houses along the rivers. Radiocarbon dates from 2020 suggest farming spread up the river valleys of Serbia from about 6200 BCE. Their descendants helped carry farming on into central Europe.
- Dates
- culture dated c. 6200–4500 BCE
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 44.81° N, 20.70° E
How we know
No writing existed; dates come from radiocarbon results at many Starčevo-culture villages, not just this one.
Nearby sites
- Vinča–Belo Brdo c. 5700–4500 BCE (later reoccupied)
- Lepenski Vir c. 9500/7200–5500 BCE (trapezoid houses c. 6300–6000 BCE)
- Sarmizegetusa Regia 1st century BCE – 106 CE
- Varna Necropolis c. 4570–4340 BCE
- Hallstatt salt mines and cemetery c. 1200–350 BCE (prehistoric mining)
- Sesklo c. 7000–4400 BCE (earliest levels possibly older)
Related
- Starčevo culture archaeological culture