Relative and Absolute Chronology of Selevac (Chapter 03) (1990)

This chapter was written with Dusan Krstic, although I wrote most of it and take responsibility for both the parts with which you agree and those with which you don’t agree. We incorporated into this chapter a discussion on chronology which was submitted by John Chapman as part of his manuscript for Chapter 2 of this volume. With his permission we have included it here with our own discussion on the absolute and relative chronology of Selevac. Much of my own thinking in this chapter was developed first in research that I undertook for a conference in Saarbrucken in 1988 that was published in the monograph “Die Kupferzeit als historische Epche” in 1991 in a chapter entitled “In Anbetracht der Vinca-Plocnik-Phase der Vinca-Kultur:  Die Manipulierung der Zeit”.

Abstract

The chronological position of the occupation of Selevac-Staro Selo relative to the Vinça culture of Yugoslavia and to other Neolithic and Eneolithic sites in southeast Europe  has been established on the basis of the  typology of ceramic form and decoration and of  clay  figurine morphology. The sequence of ceramic and figurine types was analyzed  in the context of the  stratigraphy of the cultural deposits,  providing the basis for a comparison of Selevac with other stratified sites in southeast Europe.  The absolute chronological position of Selevac-Staro Selo in terms of calendric years  has been determined on the basis of  radiocarbon dates for samples from  both Selevac (an important series of 8 radiocarbon dates) and other  sites. This chapter evaluates the evidence from Selevac and other sites for both the relative and absolute chronological determination of the Neolithic of Southeast Europe.

Citation

Tringham, Ruth and Dusan Krstic (1990) Relative and Absolute Chronology of Selevac. In Selevac: a Neolithic village in Yugoslavia, edited by R. Tringham and D. Krstic, pp. 45-56. Monumenta Archaeologica #15. Institute of Archaeology Press, UCLA, Los Angeles.