The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Evolution, Organisation and Consumption of Early Metal in the Balkans

The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia is a landmark study in the origins of metallurgy. The project aimed to trace the invention and innovation of metallurgy in the Balkans. It combined targeted excavations and surveys with extensive scientific analyses at two Neolithic-Chalcolithic copper production and consumption sites, Belovode and Pločnik, in Serbia. At Belovode, the project revealed chronologically and contextually secure evidence for copper smelting in the 49th century BC. This confirms the earlier interpretation of c. 7000-year-old metallurgy at the site, making it the earliest record of fully developed metallurgical activity in the world. However, far from being a rare and elite practice, metallurgy at both Belovode and Pločnik is demonstrated to have been a common and communal craft activity.

This monograph reviews the pre-existing scholarship on early metallurgy in the Balkans. It subsequently presents detailed results from the excavations, surveys and scientific analyses conducted at Belovode and Pločnik. These are followed by new and up-to-date regional syntheses by leading specialists on the Neolithic-Chalcolithic material culture, technologies, settlement and subsistence practices in the Central Balkans. Finally, the monograph places the project results in the context of major debates surrounding early metallurgy in Eurasia before proposing a new agenda for global early metallurgy studies.

Table of Contents:
Foreword ;
Stephen J. Shennan ;
Evgeniy N. Chernykh ;
Acknowledgements ;
Authors List ;

Part 1. Introduction ;
1. The birth of archaeometallurgy in Serbia: a reflection - Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković ;
2. The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Evolution, organisation and consumption of early metal in the Balkans: an introduction to the project - Thilo Rehren, Miljana Radivojević and Benjamin W. Roberts ;
3. Balkan metallurgy and society, 6200–3700 BC - Miljana Radivojević and Benjamin W. Roberts ;
4. The Vinča culture: an overview - Benjamin W. Roberts, Miljana Radivojević and Miroslav Marić ;
5. Introducing Belovode and results of archaeometallurgical research 1993–2012 - Miljana Radivojević ;
6. Introducing Pločnik and the results of archaeometallurgical research 1996–2011 - Miljana Radivojević ;
7. Excavation methodology for the sites of Belovode and Pločnik - Miroslav Marić, Benjamin W. Roberts and Jugoslav Pendić ;

Part 2. Belovode ;
8. Belovode landscape and settlement perspectives - Miroslav Marić ;
9. Belovode geomagnetic data as a proxy for the reconstruction of house numbers, population size and the internal spatial structure - Knut Rassmann, Roman Scholz, Patrick Mertl, Kai Radloff, Jugoslav Pendić and Aleksandar Jablanović ;
10. Belovode excavation results - Miroslav Marić, Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević ;
11. Belovode: technology of metal production - Miljana Radivojević and Thilo Rehren ;
12. Pottery from Trench 18 at Belovode - Neda Mirković-Marić, Marija Savić and Milica Rajičić ;
13. Chronological attribution of pottery from Trench 18 at Belovode based on correspondence analysis - Miroslav Marić and Neda Mirković-Marić ;
14. Belovode: technology of pottery production - Silvia Amicone ;
15. Figurines from Belovode - Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković ;
16. Ground and abrasive stone tools from Belovode - Vidan Dimić and Dragana Antonović ;
17. Bone industry from Belovode - Selena Vitezović ;
18. Chipped stone industry at Belovode - Elmira Ibragimova ;
19. Chemical and technological analyses of obsidian from Belovode - Marina Milić ;
20. Plant use at Belovode - Dragana Filipović ;
21. Animal remains from the site of Belovode - Ivana Dimitrijević and David Orton ;
22. Belovode: past, present and future - Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević ;

Part 3. Pločnik ;
23. Pločnik landscape and settlement perspectives - Miroslav Marić ;
24. Pločnik: geomagnetic prospection data as a proxy for the reconstruction of house numbers, population size and the internal spatial structure - Knut Rassmann, Roman Scholz, Patrick Mertl, Jugoslav Pendić and Aleksandar Jablanović ;
25. Pločnik: excavation results - Miroslav Marić, Jugoslav Pendić, Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević ;
26. Pločnik: technology of metal production - Miljana Radivojević and Thilo Rehren ;
27. Pottery from Trench 24 at Pločnik - Neda Mirković-Marić, Marija Savić and Milica Rajičić ;
28. Chronological attribution of pottery from Trench 24 at Pločnik based on correspondence analysis - Neda Mirković-Marić and Miroslav Marić ;
29. Pločnik: technology of pottery production - Silvia Amicone ;
30. Figurines from Pločnik - Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković ;
31. Ground and abrasive stone tools from Pločnik - Vidan Dimić and Dragana Antonović ;
32. Bone industry from Pločnik - Selena Vitezović ;
33. Chipped stone industry at Pločnik - Elmira Ibragimova ;
34. Plant use at Pločnik - Dragana Filipović ;
35. Animal remains from the site of Pločnik - Jelena Bulatović and David Orton ;
36. Pločnik: past, present and future - Benjamin W. Roberts and Miljana Radivojević ;

Part 4. The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: A View from the Balkans ;
37. Relative and absolute chronologies of Belovode and Pločnik - Miroslav Marić, Miljana Radivojević, Benjamin W. Roberts and David C. Orton ;
38. The social organisation of the Vinča culture settlements. New evidence from magnetic and archaeological excavation data - Knut Rassmann, Martin Furholt, Nils Müller-Scheeßel and Johannes Müller ;
39. Belovode and Pločnik: site visibility and remotely sensed data - Jugoslav Pendić ;
40. Population size and dynamics at Belovode and Pločnik - Marko Porčić and Mladen Nikolić ;
41. Metallurgical knowledge and networks of supply in the 5th millennium BC Balkans: Belovode and Pločnik in their regional context - Miljana Radivojević, Thilo Rehren and Ernst Pernicka ;
42. The pottery typology and relative chronology of Belovode and Pločnik: concluding remarks - Neda Mirković-Marić and Miroslav Marić ;
43. Pottery technology at the dawn of metallurgy in the Vinča culture - Silvia Amicone, Miljana Radivojević, Patrick Quinn and Thilo Rehren ;
44. Belovode and Pločnik figurines in their wider context - Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković ;
45. Ground and abrasive stone tools from Belovode and Pločnik: concluding remarks - Vidan Dimić and Dragana Antonović ;
46. Bone tool technology at Belovode and Pločnik - Selena Vitezović ;
47. Chipped Stone industries in the Vinča culture - Elmira Ibragimova ;
48. Geochemical characterisation of chipped stones from Belovode and Pločnik - Enrica Bonato, Martin Rittner and Silvia Amicone ;
49. Belovode obsidian in a regional context - Marina Milić ;
50. Plant consumption at Belovode and Pločnik - Dragana Filipović ;
51. Evidence for animal use in the central Balkan Neolithic across the early metallurgical horizon: the animal remains from Belovode and Pločnik in context - David Orton, Jelena Bulatović and Ivana Dimitrijević ;

Part 5. The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia and Beyond ;
52. Balkan metallurgy in a Eurasian context - Miljana Radivojević and Benjamin W. Roberts ;
53. Where do we take global early metallurgy studies next? - Benjamin W. Roberts, Miljana Radivojević and Thilo Rehren

About the Author :
Miljana Radivojević holds the Archaeomaterials Lectureship at the UCL Institute of Archaeology (UK), where she graduated in Archaeometallurgy. She has spent more than 25 years publishing on early metallurgy in the Balkans and southwest Asia and the role of aesthetics in the invention of novel technologies. ;

Benjamin Roberts has spent over 20 years researching and publishing on European Copper and Bronze Age archaeology and frequently metallurgy and metal objects across Europe. He co-edited with Chris Thornton Archaeometallurgy in Global perspective: Methods and Syntheses (2014) and is currently leading Project Ancient Tin. ;

Miroslav Marić is a specialist in the Neolithic-Bronze Age of the central Balkans at the Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Serbia. He is the field director of the Gradište Iđoš project. ;

Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković was the Senior Custodian (now retired) at the Homeland Museum of Toplica in Prokuplje, Serbia. She spent more than four decades excavating the site of Pločnik, and developed a unique open air archaeo-park on the site that attracts tourists from the region, and across the globe. ;

Prof Thilo Rehren is the A.G. Leventis Professor for Archaeological Sciences and Director of the Science and Technology, Nicosia, Cyprus.