Iron Age in the Balkans

Pre-requisites: None

Course objectives: Acquiring basic knowledge regarding the material and spiritual culture among the ancient Balkan inhabitants from I millennium B.C.

Course description: This course is a review of the leading Iron Age cultures in the western Balkan region (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania), central Balkans region (Serbia, Macedonia) and eastern Balkan region (Bulgaria, Romania); the appearance of iron, and the question of Thraco-Cymerians. Form of settlements and the changes in the burial ritual during the later Iron Age. The problem of Greek imports in the central and east Balkans. Archaeological written sources; necessary for defining boundaries between large ethnic groups in the Balkans, above all Illyrians and Thracians. Ancient Balkan inhabitant’s art overshadowed by the Greek world; Hellenistic influence and Celtic La-Tene in Serbia.

Learning Outcomes: Midterm examination and oral examination

Literature/Reading:

• - PRAISTORIJA JUGOSLOVENSKIH ZEMALJA V (Željezno doba), Sarajevo 1987. R
• Starije gvozdeno doba u zapadnoj Srbiji i Metohiji. Gospadari srebra. Gvozdeno doba na tlu Srbije (ur. J. Jeftović) Narodni muzej Beograd, Beograd 1990, 51-60
• On Tools for Ornamentation of the Pottery in the Basarabi Culture, Banatica 12/I, Reşiţa 1993, 113-128.
• Prehistoric barrows at Gračani near Novi Pazar. U: Uzdarje Dragoslavu Srejoviću, Beograd 1997, 303-314.
• - COLLIS J., The European Iron Age, London, 1984
• - KRISTINASEN K., Europe before history, Cambridge University Press, 1998
• ARHEOLOŠKI LEKSIKON BOSNE i HERCEGOVINE. Tom 1 (urednik. B. Čović) Sarajevo, 1988
• KELTOI: Kelti i njihovi savremenici na tlu Jugoslavije (ur. D. Božič), Ljubljana 1984
• Vasić R., Kulturne grupe starijeg gvozdenog doba u Jugoslaviji, Beograd 1974