Vrbjanska Čuka is a tell site in the region of Pelagonia (Macedonia) established 8000 years ago by the Neolithic communities. Later it was used as an agricultural unit during the Roman era and the ...Middle Ages when it was also employed as a burial area. The excavations performed in the 1980s and during the last five years indicate a Neolithic farming society that constructed large buildings made of daub in a settlement enclosed by a circular ditch. The buildings had many clay structures, such as ovens, granaries, bins and grinding areas for processing cereals and bread production. The Neolithic communities used sophisticated fine pottery and modeled figurines and altars, while the stone tools were mainly used for cutting trees, harvesting and grinding. Apart from the cereal-based food (einkorn wheat, emmer wheat or barley), the inhabitants of Vrbjanska Čuka consumed lentils, peas and a variety of gathered wild fruits, while cattle, caprovine, mussels, fish and wild game meat was also part of a diet, as well as the dairy products. This paper will be a summary of a variety of data provided from the current international and multidisciplinary research of the site that involves excavation, prospection, geomagnetic survey, study of material culture, examination of architecture, radiocarbon dating, geoarchaeological, archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, lipid and use-wear analyses, as well as the topographic and 3D modeling. The recent knowledge on Vrbjanska Čuka provides novel understanding of the Early Neolithic in Pelagonia and contributes to the more extensive research of first farming societies in the Balkans.
Arheološko nalazište Vrbjanska Čuka je nalazište tipa tel kakvo je uobičajeno na području Pelagonije. Nalazi se oko 1,3 km južno od Slaveja, a toliko je udaljeno i od Vrbjana (Republika Sjeverna ...Makedonija). Nalazište je istraživano od 1979. do 1989. godine, a nova multidisciplinarna istraživanja na ovom telu počela su 2016. godine. U nedavnim arheološkim istraživanjima otvorena je sonda veličine 15 x 10 m u kojoj su otkrivene dvije kuće s pećima, jamama za otpatke, ogradama i platformama. Materijalna kultura je obilježena tipičnim značajkama pelagonijskog neolitika, ali zabilježeni su i ostaci iz antičkog i srednjovjekovnog razdoblja. Osim iskopavanja i dokumentiranja arheološkog materijala, istraživanja iz 2016. su obuhvatila i arheobotaničku analizu organskih uzoraka, geomagnetsku prospekciju cijele površine istraživanja, digitalno topografsko modeliranje tela i trodimenzionalnu rekonstrukciju njegovog izgeda kao i rekognosciranje prapovijesnih nalazišta oko Vrbjanske Čuke. Ovaj multidisciplinarni pristup rezulturao je novim podacima i sveobuhvatnijim razumijevanjem procesa razvoja ovog nalazišta.
PDF
