Bronze Age funerary practices on the Pešter Plateau and neighbouring regions of Western Serbia

Abstract

The Pešter plateau and neighbouring regions of southwestern Serbia are characterised by tumular necropolises from the Bronze Age. The earliest burial horizon, confirmed in two mounds at the site of Gomile in Crnoča and one smaller mound at the site of Glavica in Brnjica, can be cautiously connected with the Early Bronze Age. The horizon is characterised by cremation, cenotaphs and some traces of ritual activities which followed the funeral itself. The second horizon, chronologically positioned in the final phase of the Middle Bronze Age and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, is represented by graves with inhumed deceased in mounds at the sites of Gračanska Polja in Gračane and Latinsko Groblje in Glogovik. The last burial horizon belongs to the bearers of the Late Bronze Age Brnjica culture, who settled the region during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. Their standard funerary practice included cremation and placing bodily remains in urns covered with large bowls, well protected by stone constructions inside smaller tumuli with peripheral stone enclosures. Such necropolises were discovered at the sites of Humpa in Dojeviće, Igralište in Novopazarska Banja, Utrine in Delimeđe and Latinsko Groblje in Glogovik, and more recently at two sites - Vlaško Groblje and Grčka Crkva - in the village of Pružanj. Some uncertain finds from the sites of Tabačina and Ras - St. Peter and Paul church, and also unsystematically excavated sites in Miščići, Seosko Groblje in Dojeviće, and Mali Divič in Dunište, can be added to this burial horizon. Comprehension of funerary practices, despite being limited to less than fifteen necropolises in the region, sheds light on the Bronze Age communities, their mobility and connectivity during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC.