The Living and The Dead, Memory and Transition: Bayesian Modelling of Mesolithic and Neolithic Deposits from Vlasac, the Danube Gorges

Abstract

Summary The paper applies Bayesian statistical modelling to radiocarbon dates obtained for a stratigraphic sequence comprising occupation features and superimposed burials from the Late Mesolithic (c.7400–6200 cal BC) to the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition (c.6200–5900 cal BC), from Vlasac in the Danube Gorges region of the north‐central Balkans. This sequence, investigated in the course of excavations at the site in 2006–9, yielded stratigraphic evidence of the transformation of local forager populations as a result of contact with Neolithic communities. Our paper provides a reliable chronological framework for changes from Late Mesolithic burial rites to new, Neolithic types of ornamental beads at the top of the sequence. The use of the same burial location and continuities in burial rites over a considerable period of time raise significant questions about the role of tradition and the potential for enduring practices in prehistoric societies.

Cannibalism versus funerary defleshing and disarticulation after a period of decay: comparisons of bone modifications from four prehistoric sites

“…A sample of 4,368 disarticulated human bone fragments from 98 burials and cultural layers was analyzed. This excludes remains uncovered during recent excavations by Borić conducted at the rear area of Vlasac (e.g., Borić & Griffiths, ; Borić et al ). Over 2,600 specimens were identifiable to a specific element (813 from Lepenski Vir, 396 from Padina, and 1,399 from Vlasac) and this allowed for the recognition of at least 26 individuals at Lepenski Vir, 11 at Padina, and 24 at Vlasac; the majority of which (88%) are adult (Supporting Information 2).…”

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods

“…Radiocarbon dates from both old and new excavations suggest that the site was more or less continuously occupied from the Early Mesolithic, from ∼9500 cal. BC, but the intensity of occupation increases from the mid-eighth millennium BC (18,19). The Late Mesolithic occupation/use of the site covers the period between ∼7400 and ∼6200 cal.…”

Revealing the “hidden” Pannonian and Central Balkan Mesolithic: new radiocarbon evidence from Serbia

“…Eventually, during the period coinciding with the appearance of the first farming communities in the wider area (c. 6200-6000/5900 cal BC), some of these locations (e.g. Lepenski Vir and Padina) saw the emergence of complex fisher-hunter-gatherer settlements with reddish limestone trapezoidal-base buildings and distinctive sculpted boulders (Bonsall 2008;Borić 2011Borić , 2016Borić , 2019Borić and Dimitrijević 2009;Bonsall et al, 2015;Borić and Griffiths 2015;Borić et al 2014Borić et al , 2018.…”