Iron Gates Mesolithic Culture

The Iron Gates Mesolithic is a Mesolithic archaeological culture, dating to between 13,000 and 6,000 years cal BCE, in the Iron Gates region of the Danube River, in modern Romania and Serbia.

The people who inhabited the Iron Gates area during this period of time have been surmised, through archaeological discoveries, to have lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, living off food they gather from land or from the Danube River. Varying burial practices have also been observed by these people.

Major sites within this archaeological complex include Lepenski Vir. Despite a foraging economy, stages at this site dated at c. 6300–6000 BCE have been described as "the first city in Europe",Pavlović, 20 August 2017, p. 20. due to its permanency, organisation, as well as the sophistication of its architecture and construction techniques.Pavlović, 23 August 2017. Lepenski Vir consists of one large settlement with around 10 satellite villages. Numerous piscine sculptures and peculiar architecture have been found at the site.

Archaeology

Survey and Site Discovery

During the 1960s to the 1980s the Yugoslav and Romanian governments constructed two hydroelectric dams along the Danube River. The first dam (Iron Gates I) was constructed between 1964-1971, and the second (Iron Gates II) between 1977-1984. Archaeological survey during this period lead to the discovery of over 50 caves and other sites in this area, which together with more excavations lead to many discoveries of ancient artefacts, burial sites and art. The study of these findings, through scientific methods such as carbon dating and isotope analysis, revealed that they date back to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic periods.

Most of the sites discovered during the time the dams were being built are now submerged underwater due to those respective dams, however since the 90s new excavations have been recommenced.

Methods and Practices

Improvements in archaeological techniques have led to increasingly accurate findings and more information of the location and people who inhabited the Iron Gates during the Mesolithic period. Methods such as carbon dating and stable isotope analysis from soil samples and human remains from burial sites, have led archaeologists to more accurately find what time period these people lived in and the genetics of the people who resided in the Iron Gates Mesolithic. An example of which is the use of isotopic analysis of nitrogen and sulphur to determine the diets of the people in comparison to other parts of Europe.

Major Artefacts/Discoveries

Many special artefacts have been found in this area. These include decorated objects, such as tools made from stone, bone and antlers with decorations and stone artefacts (ornamental boulders, altars and sculptures). Major discoveries of the area include various sites and towns, most notably Lepenski Vir, which is an Iron Gates settlement containing several trapezoidal building and has revealed a lot of information on the settlements in the area since the excavation of the town.

History

The chronology of the Iron Gates Mesolithic is a bit contentious due to discrepancies in use of terminology and dates produced by carbon-dating and isotope analysis. However, based on more modern radiocarbon dates, the Mesolithic period in the Iron Gates region last from approximately 13,000 cal BC to 6,000 cal BC. This is then split into three stages called the Early, Middle and Late Mesolithic.

From the Mesolithic sites observed, it has been discerned that the hunter-gatherer sites show increasing sedentism, especially during the early Holocene period (around 7,600 cal BC) where the people living in caves and rock shelters, began to leave to settle in more permanent communities by the Danube River. This almost coincides with the shift from Early to Middle Mesolithic, however some historians regard this event as the true beginning of the Mesolithic, and that beforehand was the ‘Epipalaeolithic’. This shift from a more nomadic lifestyle to a permanent settlement, caused the people of this area to depend more on the river for food, which can be seen through an increased amount of nitrogen isotopes in the bodies from this period as well as an increased representation of fish in art, sculptures and decorations.

Culture

Diet

The diet of the people of the Iron Gates Mesolithic relied heavily upon the Danube River, which was a key element of the life of these people. The regular findings of fish bones in the Iron Gates, combined with the increased nitrogen isotopes when compared to other communities in Europe, reveal the people's dependence on the marine life for food. The Danube River contained many different fish during this Mesolithic period, including sturgeon, however the most common fish consumed were ''Cyprinus carpio'' (carp) and '' Silurus glanis'' (catfish), due to their year-round presence in the river compared to other seasonal fish.

Despite this, a wide variety of animals were also consumed, deduced by animal remains in the towns of the Iron Gates, revealing that large herbivores such as red and roe deers, pigs and aurochs were hunted for meat. Other animals were also hunted for their fur or feathers, however from the Romanian-British excavations at these sites, it was discovered that fish bones still outnumbered the bones from these other animals suggesting that this was a large part of their diet.

Like many hunter-gatherer societies, winter provided challenges with food availability. The solution for this in the Iron Gates was the domestication of large amounts of dogs, which were eaten when food was low. This was seen by the many dog bones found with scorch marks and butchery marks on them.European Association of Archaeologists. “The Iron Gates Mesolithic – a case of hunter-gatherer complexity?” ''YouTube'', presented by Clive Bonsall, 2 Oct. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpaUqvgEOEA

Burial Practices

Several different types of burials have been seen at various sites in the Iron Gates including primary and secondary inhumation, collective burials, and cremation.

In the case of primary inhumations, similar to modern-day burials, a majority of the Iron Gate burials consisted of the person being in a supine position, with their hands laying on their sides or on their chest. There are other cases in which various limbs are flexed while the body remains in the supine position and in extreme cases there have been burials discovered at Padina, Vlasac and Lepenski Vir with crossed legs, which suggests that the bodies were buried in graves too small for them. Secondary inhumations involves the burial of separate body parts prior to the body being decomposed. There were many examples of this technique in the Iron Gates, with the secondary burial of crania and jawbones being widespread. Instances of collective burial has been observed at some sites within this region as well as evidence of cremation, however there is only one site (Vlasac) in the Iron Gates that provides this evidence of cremation.

Most burials in the Iron Gates Mesolithic are hard to determine due to no observable characters on the surface, however some burials are below low stone mounds or encircled by large stones. The people of the Iron Gates have sometimes been found to have objects with them in their graves, including animal and human skulls, antlers, tools and body ornaments. However, some of the bone objects found in burials can't be considered burial goods, due to the Iron Gates Mesolithic people's often burying people in areas previously used for other burials and settlement. The most notable object found in burials are marine shells and carp pharyngeal teeth

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