The Becoming of a Prehistoric Landscape: Palaeolithic Occupations and Geomorphological Processes at Lojanik (Serbia)

Camille Lesage (), Alvise Barbieri, Jovan Galfi, Dragan Jovanović and Vera Bogosavljević Petrović
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Camille Lesage: ICArEHB—Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Campus de Gambelas, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Alvise Barbieri: ICArEHB—Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Campus de Gambelas, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Jovan Galfi: ICArEHB—Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Campus de Gambelas, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Dragan Jovanović: City Museum of Vršac, Bulevar Žarka Zrenjenina 20, 26300 Vršac, Serbia
Vera Bogosavljević Petrović: National Museum in Belgrade, Trg Republike 1a, Stari Grad, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: Accomplishing long-term plans to harvest and modify natural resources has been a crucial skill for the survival of our species since early Prehistory. Research on this first step of production mostly focuses on the provenience study of lithic artifacts uncovered at archaeological sites, using petrographic and geochemical analyses to correlate the artifacts with potential geological outcrops. Although fundamental for understanding key aspects of landscape use and mobility, regional raw material economy, and extraction technology, Palaeolithic raw material sources have been less intensively investigated, as they are often difficult to locate and challenging to tackle with traditional archaeological approaches. Lojanik in the Central Balkans is one of the largest Prehistoric quarrying areas known in Europe, showing numerous lithic raw material outcrops exploited from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Chalcolithic periods, over an area of 18 hectares. In this paper, we present the results from our renewed research program in this region. Combining airborne LIDAR mapping, geomorphological and archaeological survey, and techno-typological analysis of lithic artifacts, we were able to reconstruct the geomorphological evolution of the landscape and its use by prehistoric societies.

Keywords: archaeological survey; LiDAR; geomorphology; lithic analysis; Middle Palaeolithic; Upper Palaeolithic; Serbia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2292-:d:1002950

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