h emgei uvyietfid19aoais huh ob ersfo tutrsof structures from debris be to thought 5–7m anomalies, approximately 189 identified survey geomagnetic The survey Geomagnetic Neolithic periods Early main the two years): spans 700 that approximately ( thick, of 6.5m hiatus central a to by of up Star (separated deposits occupation Morava cultural of Middle with site, the unique stratified offers in floors Slatina-Turska located second-storey of site collapsed is The organisation. of social and preservation household best-preserved into the the insights amongst particular, rank In Serbia, Europe. Drenovac, at in excavated houses Neolithic Late The Peri Slaviša Serbia Valley, Morava the Middle in settlement Neolithic a Drenovac: ∗ undertaken excavations large-scale first the and (Vetni 1966, 1971 in and recorded 1968 first between was site The BC). antiquity 2017 Ltd, Publications Antiquity © nttt nBlrd odce ute xaain oipoeudrtnigo the of understanding improve (Peri dynamics to occupation excavations and processes further formation stratigraphy, conducted chronology, site’s Belgrade in Institute eod mle ic aallt t steedthshv o enecvtd ecannot we excavated, been with not settlement, have ditches the these of As edge it. western to the parallel ditch along smaller identified second, was a boundary, a these settlement. as to the interpreted clue around possible and a within Yet no ditches time. are the over there in structure and found and uniformly, be size say and may its one to in questions continuously any impossible changes occupied potential is at was any it site on settlement Currently, data entire the organisation. the economic inhabited not and or that social whether people their raises of this about turn, number and In time, the contemporaneous. were about features inevitable these questions an of extent, further all its whether and to settlement as Neolithic 700 arises Late approximately question the estimate, we of with, longevity 40ha the Vin around Given covered latest structures. have the must in whole a anomalies as geomagnetic settlement and finds surface on Based emgei uvyhr fesetariayisgt notelyu n xeto h Late the ( excavations of extent targeted and enabled layout Romano– the and into extensive settlement, the An insights Neolithic Technologies. extraordinary New with offers for here Centre (Peri survey cooperation Viminacium geomagnetic the Institute with in Archaeological 2013, and German 2011 2012 between the and of 2008 Commission Germanic between undertaken excavations Peri h emgei uvyietfidanme flna nmle.Telretditch, largest The anomalies. linear of number a identified survey geomagnetic The nttt fAcaooy nz ial 54 10 egae eba(Email: Serbia Belgrade, 11000 35/4, Mihaila Kneza Archaeology, of Institute Peri & c ´ eoClue(1050 C n h aeNoihcVin Neolithic Late the and BC) (6100–5900 Culture cevo ˇ 137 4(07:17doi: 1–7 (2017): e4 357, 91 c ´ c ´ ∗ 2014 .Goantcsreswr are u nprle ihfurther with parallel in out carried were surveys Geomagnetic ). × 01mi ie(Peri size in 10–12m c ´ 1974 2–9 Peri 125–39; : 1 c ´ tal et . 2016 c ´ 2004 ,etnigoe nae f10ha. of area an over extending ), iue1 Figure .In ). aClue(5300–4700/4500 Culture ca ˇ iue1 Figure [email protected] 2004 apae h Drenovac the phase, ca ˇ ). h Archaeological the , c ´ 10.15184/aqy.2017.41 .I sadeeply a is It ). tal et em,Drenovac, cesma, ˇ . 2016 c ´ )and, 2009 ) ;

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Figure 1. Drenovac—geophysical plot. determine whether they were contemporaneous or whether they marked the settlement’s changing extent in different phases. In the north-east part of the site, a small curvilinear anomaly was noted, possibly a minor ditch encircling a sub-section of the settlement (Figure 1). Within the surveyed area, some 300 regularly shaped, rectangular anomalies were recorded, along with approximately the same number of irregular, often smaller, anomalies. The former can be confidently classified as the remains of houses, while the function of the irregular anomalies remains less certain. The most common house size is 10 × 5m, followed by 12 × 5m, although there are also both smaller and larger examples. The majority of structures are oriented south-west to north-east (Figures 1 & 2). In some areas of the site, the distribution of anomalies is regular, and in others, rather less so. In the regular areas, houses are set in parallel rows, with 2–6m between structures and up to 10m between rows, suggesting the presence of streets. In these regular areas, the spatial organisation resembles that of urban settlements, and the density of the structures would not have allowed for associated garden plots. The space enclosed by the ditch(es) (above) was allocated exclusively for residential and associated activities. Given the size of the settlement and its presumed population, arable land must have been located beyond the settlement. Some animals may have been penned next to houses, but as yet, excavation has recovered no evidence of such practices. Within the settlement, there are also zones that appear to be ‘empty’ (Figure 1). In some, no geomagnetic anomalies have been identified, while in others, only very weak signals have been detected. It is possible that any archaeology in these areas is more deeply buried. © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017

2 etrdtrerossprtdb atto al.Teesenadcnrlroswr of were ( rooms smaller central was room and western eastern the The while dimensions, walls. same partition the by approximately separated rooms three featured he fteecvtdhue a w try.Tescn oro aho hs houses these the via of access each with floor-plan, of the floor of second two-thirds that across The room. stretching claimed gallery, storeys. western be a two of confidently had form can important the houses It took most excavated the structures. the of two-storey One of of not. three identification had which the one was and spaces results survey, the geomagnetic and the houses by the identified exploring on ( focused them have between 2015 and 2012 between Excavations excavations House houses. burnt of Remains 2. Figure eetermiso hr vnta,eiety a alnfo h alr tryabove. storey gallery house the the from of fallen section had evidently, north-east that, the oven In third receptacle. a clay of a remains side inside western the lay the were grindstone On side. a eastern oven, oven’s the the the and along corner, of adjoining set south-west was two its receptacle, to had and shallow attached narrow, room was horseshoe-shaped a eastern shape other, were circular the irregular ovens in of oven Both one receptacles: The room. ( clay dimensions. western room same central the the the in approximately of features had wall fixed northern the no on were another there and room eastern the of ( colluvium visible. clearly artefacts portable and w vn eefound were ovens Two os ntec I stebs-rsre,peual hnst t hc oe of cover thick its to thanks presumably best-preserved, the is XIX trench in 1 House iue 4 Figures rnvc elti eteeti h ideMrv aly Serbia Valley, Morava Middle the in settlement Neolithic a Drenovac: iue3 Figure iue2 Figure & .Fv osswr netgtd oro hc a enpreviously been had which of four investigated, were houses Five ). hw n fteclasdgleiswt soitdfie fittings fixed associated with galleries collapsed the of one shows 5 nsitu in .I a w-trysrcue 12 structure, two-storey a was It ). ntegon or n enn gis h otenwall northern the against leaning one floor: ground the on 3 niut ulctosLd 2017 Ltd, Publications Antiquity © × m h rudfloor ground the 5m; iue5 Figure iue 4 Figures ). & 5 );

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Figure 3. Burnt house with collapsed gallery.

The distribution of fixtures and finds provides a basis for the identification of discrete activity zones. With grindstones and many pottery vessels, the spaces around the ovens were undoubtedly used for food preparation; the clay container standing along the south wall of the eastern room, with stacked pottery vessels, could also have been connected with the food-preparation zone. Interestingly, the ‘set’ of food-related features—oven, vessels, grindstones—was repeated in multiple rooms, and may also have been present on the gallery-level above; in addition to the oven (above), the location of individual grindstones and pottery vessels suggests that some were derived from the upstairs gallery. These hypotheses will be tested through detailed stratigraphic analyses. Space was clearly allocated for weaving in house 1. There were two locations with clay objects, probably used as loomweights: the first along the western wall of the western room, and the second along the southern wall of the central room. A small clay table was found next to the weights in the central room (a similar situation was noted in a house at Divostin, Bogdanovic´ 1988: 68). Another three tables were found in house 1, two of them next to the oven in the central room (Figure 6). As the weights in the central room did not lie on the floor surface, unlike the ones from the western room, we are inclined to think that both the weights and the table in the central room derived from the gallery © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017

4 iue4 os ntec I ihtermiso he vn n lycnanrsadn ln h ot alo the of wall south the along standing container clay and ovens three of remains the with XIX trench room. eastern in House 4. Figure ftedvso fatvte nietedeln n h oshl’ oilognsto.The organisation. social household’s the activities interpretation and the dwelling certain for the significant that inside be activities reveals may of This analysis division house. the preliminary the of of This rooms separate house. in the repeated were of collapse the during inventory. interior and walls partition visible with XIX trench in house the of Orthophotograph 5. Figure rnvc elti eteeti h ideMrv aly Serbia Valley, Morava Middle the in settlement Neolithic a Drenovac: 5 niut ulctosLd 2017 Ltd, Publications Antiquity ©

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Figure 6. House in trench XIX—central room with marked clay tables. fact that ovens appear in almost every room of the house—even the gallery—may indicate that two or three nuclear families shared the same house. In the spaces outside the houses, no fixed structures, such as ovens or hearths (or, indeed, pits) were identified. Along the external southern wall of the house in trench XX, there was a considerable quantity of broken pottery, in addition to both worked and unworked stone and animal bone. No specific activity spaces, however, could be recognised. The spaces between houses bear no identifiable traces of burning, despite clear evidence that the houses themselves were destroyed by fire. Additionally, none of the structures investigated thus far has produced any evidence to suggest that the residents might have been injured or killed. Hence, the questions arise as to how and why these structures were burned and what happened to their residents. With these and many other questions still to resolve, it is nevertheless clear that Drenovac has enormous research potential concerning the many facets of the occupation and lifeways of a major Neolithic settlement.

Acknowledgements This paper is a result of the project ‘Archaeology of Serbia: cultural identity, factors of integration, technological processes and the role of the central in the development of European prehistory’ (reference OI177020), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

References Peric´, S. 2004. Problem of Neolithization in central Pomoravlje, in S. Peric(ed.)´ The central Pomoravlje Bogdanovic´, M. 1988. Architecture and structural in Neolithization of south east Europe. The Neolithic features at Divostin, in A. McPherron & in the Middle (volume 1): 11–33. D. Srejovic(ed.)´ Divostin and the Neolithic of central Belgrade: Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade Serbia: 35–141. Pittsburgh (PA): University of Regional Museum , Regional Museum Pittsburgh, Department of Anthropology. Paracin.´

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6 09 h letclua oio ftec Vat XV trench of horizon cultural oldest The 2009. – Peri relgj rii rjkiAhookgisiuau Godini instituta 2013. Arheološkog projekti Srbiji: u Arheologija 2013. u istraživanja arheološka Drenovac: Drenovac. c ´ , S. & .Peri O. trnrLVIII/2008 Starinar 21.Bord relšiinstitut. Arheološki Beograd: 12–16. : rnvc elti eteeti h ideMrv aly Serbia Valley, Morava Middle the in settlement Neolithic a Drenovac: c ´ 04 Slatina—Turska 2014. . 94.Beograd. 29–41. : Cesma, Godini, ˇ 7 Vetni Peri einlMsu Para Museum Regional Belgrade, Archaeology, of Institute Belgrade: economy and insights settlements new Valley: into Morava Middle the in Neolithic Peri S. in results, Morava Valley—preliminary Middle the in settlements Neolithic Schafferer G. relšoduto rdk ue Subotica. muzej Gradski društvo, arheološko Materijali Pomoravlju. srednjem u zemljoradnika prvih c ´ , c ´ S. , S. , .Rummel C. 94 Po 1974. SADJ niut ulctosLd 2017 Ltd, Publications Antiquity © 06 emgei uvyof survey Geomagnetic 2016. . eird aiptvnukulture ispitivanju na rada ceci ˇ Х , 2–3 ega:Srpsko Beograd: 123–63. : .Peters D. cin ´ vlm ) 9–25. 2): (volume , .Wendling H. c(ed.) ´ The &

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