Iron Gates Mesolithic

This article is about a Mesolithic culture of the Balkans. For Iron Age cultures of Romania and Serbia, see Iron Age Balkans.
See also: Prehistoric Europe
Iron Gates Mesolithic
Alternative names
  • Iron Gates culture
  • Lepenski Vir culture
Geographical rangeIron Gates, Danube Valley
PeriodMesolithic
Dates13,000–6000 BCE
Type siteLepenski Vir
Preceded byEpigravettian
Followed byFirst Temperate Neolithic

The Iron Gates Mesolithic is a Mesolithic archaeological culture dated to between 13,000 and 6,000 years cal BCE, in the Iron Gates region of the Danube River, in modern Romania and Serbia.

The people who inhabited the Iron Gates area during this period of time have been surmised, through archaeological discoveries, to have lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, living off food they gather from land or from the Danube River.[1][2] Varying burial practices have also been observed by these people.[3]

Major sites within this archaeological complex include Lepenski Vir. Despite a foraging economy, stages at this site dated at c. 6300–6000 BCE have been described as "the first city in Europe",[4][5][6] due to its permanency, organisation, as well as the sophistication of its architecture and construction techniques.[7][8] Lepenski Vir consists of one large settlement with around 10 satellite villages. Numerous piscine sculptures and peculiar architecture have been found at the site.

  1. ^ Radovanović, Ivana (31 December 2006). "Further notes on Mesolithic-Neolithic contacts in the Iron Gates Region and the Central Balkans". Documenta Praehistorica. 33: 107–124. doi:10.4312/dp.33.12.
  2. ^ Dinu, Alexandru (31 December 2010). "Mesolithic fish and fishermen of the Lower Danube (Iron Gates)". Documenta Praehistorica. 37: 299–310. doi:10.4312/dp.37.26.
  3. ^ Boroneanț, Adina; Bonsall, Clive (2012). "Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic". In Kogălniceanu, Raluca; Curcă, Roxana-Gabriela; Gligor, Mihai; Stratton, Susan (eds.). HOMINES, FUNERA, ASTRA: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Funerary Anthropology, 5-8 June 2011, '1 Decembrie 1918' University (Alba Iulia, Romania). Archaeopress. pp. 45–56. ISBN 978-1-4073-1008-4.
  4. ^ Jovanović, Jelena; Power, Robert C.; de Becdelièvre, Camille; Goude, Gwenaëlle; Stefanović, Sofija (January 2021). "Microbotanical evidence for the spread of cereal use during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Southeastern Europe (Danube Gorges): Data from dental calculus analysis". Journal of Archaeological Science. 125: 105288. Bibcode:2021JArSc.125j5288J. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2020.105288. S2CID 229390381.
  5. ^ Bonsall, C; Cook, G T; Hedges, R E M; Higham, T F G; Pickard, C; Radovanović, I (2004). "Radiocarbon and Stable Isotope Evidence of Dietary Change from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages in the Iron Gates: New Results from Lepenski Vir". Radiocarbon. 46 (1): 293–300. Bibcode:2004Radcb..46..293B. doi:10.1017/S0033822200039606. hdl:1808/16275.
  6. ^ Pavlović, 20 August 2017, p. 20.
  7. ^ Pavlović, 23 August 2017.
  8. ^ Rusu, 2011.