The periodisation of IX-XI century necropoles in the lower Serbian Danube river basin

• Main Author: Radičević Dejan
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia 2007-01-01
• Series: Starinar
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0241/2007/0350-02410757349R.pdf
• ISSN: 0350-0241; 2406-0739

It is extremely difficult to periodise the IX-XI century necropoles in the lower Serbian Danube river basin because not enough research has been done on them. Our knowledge is mainly limited to individual graves or to graveyards that have partly been investigated. An examination of the necropolis in Grabovica provided most of the data for establishing the chronology for the graves in Mihajlovac and Prahovo. Besides finds that were identical to the specimens from Grabovica, the graves in Mihajlovac and Prahovo contained finds of earrings, indicating that they may be slightly older than the graves in Grabovica and that burials in those graveyards may have ceased in the first half of the X century. This was a time when the threat of Magyar invasion existed on the right bank of the Danube, downstream from the confluence with the Morava. The graveyard in Grabovica was obviously still in use for a little longer, however, the fact that burials stopped there could have only been connected with the events that led to the end of Bulgarian and reestablishment of Byzantine authority in the Danube river basin. The formation of the necropoles in Korbovo and Kostol may have occurred roughly around that time, given the increased frequency of finds connected with the growing influence of Byzantium. Burials next to the defence wall of the fortifications in Kostol may have begun during the last decades of the X century. The unusual position of the necropolis, right next to the fortress defence wall, indicates that this graveyard was probably formed in wartime circumstances. Otherwise, a more suitable place would have been used for burials, of the kind that certainly must have existed in the neighbourhood of the fortress. One could extend the period of burying the deceased in Kostol and Korbovo to the last quarter of the XI century, at most. The later graveyards in this region are characterised by types of finds that were not discovered in earlier graveyards. An important event at that time, the uprising in 1072, could be the reason for this change in the inventory of grave finds. Earlier literature describes how life ceased in several fortresses downstream from the confluence with the Morava because of that event. It was assumed that the local Slav population had taken part in the uprising, therefore, after its failure, the inhabitants of the Danubian towns, in Đerdap and downstream, were deported or abandoned the fortresses of their own accord.