Prehistoric Serbia

Prehistoric Serbia is the period from the first appearance of humans on the territory of modern-day Serbia, to the establishment of the Serbs in 620AD. The best known cultural archaeological discoveries from the prehistoric period are the Starcevo and Vinca cultures dating back to 6400-6200BC. A fragment of a human jaw, was found in Sicevo and believed to be up to 250,000 years old. Two skeletons of Mammoths have been found in Serbia, the first in Kikinda in 1996, the second in Viminacium (Kostolac), June 2009, 1,5 million year old (mammuthus meridionalis) thus one of the oldest mammoths of Europe. Many archaeological sites have been destroyed because of floodings.

Neolithic
The archaeological cultures of Serbia before the forming of Balkan ethnogenesis (1200-800BC)

Agriculture in Serbia is from the time of 8,500BC to 10,500BC.

The Neolithic Starčevo and Vinča cultures existed in or near Belgrade and dominated the Balkans (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor) about 8,500 years ago. Some scholars believe that the prehistoric Vinča signs represent one of the earliest known forms of Writing systems (dating to 6000-4000BC).


 * Starcevo culture- 6400BC
 * Vinca culture- 5500BC
 * Sălcuţa-Krivodol-Bubanj- 4000BC
 * Kostolac culture- 3250BC
 * Vatin culture- 1600BC
 * Brnjica culture- 1400BC

First evidence of Human Metallurgy is recorded between the 5th and 6th millennium BC in Archaeological sites of Majdanpek, Yarmovac and Plocnik and Rudna Glava Mine in Serbia and Ai Bunar Mine in Bulgaria

The oldest copper axe in Europe was found at Prokuplje, that indicated that Human use of metals (Metallurgy) started in Europe around 7,500 years ago (~5,500BC in the Vincha culture) hundreds of years earlier than previously believed

Sites

 * Lepenski Vir: civilization dating to 7000BC, surrounding caves inhabited 20,000BC
 * Bresnica - Anište: Neolithic (Starcevo culture)
 * Gornja Gorevnica - Trsine: Early Copper Age (Vinča)
 * Klenak - Adžine, Njive: Early Neolithic - Early Bronze Age (Starcevo-Vinca)
 * Mala Vrbica - Ajmana: Neolithic onwards (Proto-Starcevo)
 * Vršac: Upper Palaeolithic, Late Neolithic (Vinča), Bronze Age, Late Iron Age
 * Donja Branjevina: Neolithic
 * Vlasac: Mesolithic-Neolithic
 * Opovo: Neolithic (Vincha)
 * Karaburma, Horseman's grave
 * Krajčinovići, Bronze age
 * Bukovac, necropolis

Paleo-Balkan Tribes of Serbia
Tribes dwelling in Roman Serbia:


 * Dardani, a Thraco-Illyrian tribe inhabited southern Serbia and Macedonia, with the largest towns were those of Ulpiana (Pristina), Naissus (Niš), Therranda (Prizren), Vicianum (Vučitrn), Skopi (Stoc, Skopje), and its capital was Damastioni.


 * Triballi, a Thracian tribe inhabiting southeastern Serbia.
 * Scordisci, a Celtic tribe formed in Serbia after the Gallic invasion of the Balkans.
 * Moesi, a Thraco-Dacian tribe inhabiting Serbia, giving their name to the Roman province of Moesia.
 * Agrianians, a Thraco-Paionian tribe settled in Macedonia with territory in Serbia encompassing the whole Pčinja District.
 * Amantini & Cornacates, tribes of disputed origin in present-day Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium)
 * Gepids, a Gothic tribe in Vojvodina, Serbia.
 * Picenses, tribe of disputed origin in Central Serbia.
 * Timachi, tribe of disputed origin in Central Serbia.
 * Tricornenses
 * Autariatae, tribe inhabiting the Tara mountains

A Triballian site was uncovered in Pozarevac, June 2008. Constantine the Great (280 - 337) was born and raised in Nish, Serbia. He erected a majestic residence in one of the luxurious suburbs of ancient Naissus.

Serbia's strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many peoples. Greeks colonized its south in the 4th century B.C., the northernmost point of the empire of Alexander the Great being the town of Kale. Belgrade, Prehistoric capital of Europe, is believed to have been torn by 140 wars since Roman times. The northern Serbian city of Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica) was among the top 4 cities of the late Roman Empire, serving as its capital during the Tetrarchy. Contemporary Serbia comprises the classical regions of Moesia, Pannonia, parts of Dalmatia, Dacia and Macedonia. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on the Byzantine borders in great numbers. Slavic people have been under nominal Serbian rule since the 7th century. They were allowed to settle in the Byzantine Empire by its emperor Heraclius after their victory over the Avars. The chief towns of Serbian Upper Moesia in the Principate were: Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (sometimes called municipium Aelium; modern Kostolac), Remesiana (Bela Palanka)

Throughout its history, various parts of the territory of modern Serbia have been colonized, claimed or ruled by: No fewer than 17 Roman Emperors were born in the land that is now Serbia.
 * Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians, Celts
 * the Greeks and Romans, the Western and Eastern Roman Empires
 * challenged by the incursions of the Huns, the Ostrogoths, the Sarmatians, the Avars, the Serbs, the Frankish Kingdom, the Great Moravia, the Bulgarians, the Ottoman Empire and finally, the Hungarians).