The original Starcevo site (village) is located about 20 miles east-northeast of Belgrade Yugoslavia (Serbia). This archaeological site is the origin of the Starcevo culture, and is located on the northern bank of the Danube River. This site is also known as and called, the Starcevo-Grad site. There are other sites categorized under the name Starcevo in Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia. All the Starcevo sites in the Balkan area are known for turning up Neolithic age pottery. Along with the pottery, the Starcevo sites are known to represent the earliest agricultural, and cattle-breeding population in the central Balkans.
The concept of a "Starcevo Culture" was derived from an excavation in 1928 by M. Grbic and later from larger scale digs in 1931 and 1932. Here, a lack of stratified sites coupled with scarcity of radio carbon dates, have resulted in a creation of typological ceramic sequences, rather than absolute chronologies. The first attempt of a chronological sequence of pottery from the Starcevo sites was done by V.Milojcic. Milojcic used pottery from various sites to establish a four part ceramic sequence and relative chronology known as: Starcevo I, II, III, IV. Archaeological finds of pottery in Macedonia and Serbia have been dated as far back as 5,800 b.c. Starcevo sites are mainly found on river terraces on gentle slopes near springs and streams. A few cave sites have been found, but most are located in open spaces. Most sites reveal cultural deposits less than 1 meter in depth. At these shallow depths, it is clearly evident disturbances were made by natural and man-made occurrences. In conclusion, the Starcevo sites provide an interesting archaeological history to the ceramic pottery used thousands of years ago. It gives archaeologists a pathway into the past to come up with how humans lived during these times.
Barnett, W. Hoopes,J. (1995). The Emergence of Pottery. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington and London Collins,D.
Whitehouse,R. Henig,M. (1973) Background to Archaelogy . Cambridge University Press
Written by: Mark Kurseth